The Federal Trade Commission has shut down one of the largest global spam operations that promoted prescription drugs and bogus male-enhancement products

The FTC says it has received more than three million complaints about spam messages connected to the operation known as HerbalKing. It estimates that it may be responsible for sending billions of illegal spam messages.

The Federal Trade Commission has shut down one of the largest global spam operations that promoted prescription drugs and bogus male-enhancement products

The FTC says it has received more than three million complaints about spam messages connected to the operation known as HerbalKing. It estimates that it may be responsible for sending billions of illegal spam messages.

The Federal Trade Commission has shut down one of the largest global spam operations that promoted prescription drugs and bogus male-enhancement products

The FTC says it has received more than three million complaints about spam messages connected to the operation known as HerbalKing. It estimates that it may be responsible for sending billions of illegal spam messages.

The Federal Trade Commission has shut down one of the largest global spam operations that promoted prescription drugs and bogus male-enhancement products

The FTC says it has received more than three million complaints about spam messages connected to the operation known as HerbalKing. It estimates that it may be responsible for sending billions of illegal spam messages.

The US Senate is holding a series of hearings on online advertising, behavioral targeting and privacy to determine whether they should consider legislation protecting consumers online in these areas.

The Senate has turned to Google, Microsoft, the FTC, Facebook, privacy watchdogs and others for their opinions in the matter. Some, like Google, welcomed a “comprehensive privacy law that would establish a uniform framework for privacy and procedures to punish bad actors.”

The chipmaker’s long-standing dismissal of antitrust claims by its main rival, AMD, will receive a test as Federal Trade Commission regulators take a closer look at Intel.

In the never-ending Yahoo-Microsoft mess, we might be getting somewhere; Carl Icahn has received a wave from the FTC.  The billionaire can buy even more shares of Yahoo’s stock and push his proxy fight forward.

Online advertisers using behavioral targeting to find their audience attracted the attention of the Federal Trade Commission, who have called for principles of self-regulation for that type of marketing.

Online advertiser ValueClick, Inc. will pay a record $2.9 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that its advertising claims and emails were deceptive and violated federal law.

The agency also charged that ValueClick and its subsidiaries, Hi-Speed Media and E-Babylon did not secure consumer’s sensitive financial information, even though they claimed to do so.

Lead generation practices by ValueClick’s Hi-Speed Media division aroused the ire of the Federal Trade Commission, but the company managed to settle without admitting any wrongdoing.

A federal judge has ordered Sili Neutraceuticals, LLC and Brian McDaid to pay more than $2.5 million for making false advertising claims and sending email messages that violated the FTC Act and the CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act).

The Federal Trade Commission has reached an agreement with Member Source Media, an online advertising company for its use of spam emails with misleading subject lines that failed to disclose to consumers that they would have to spend money to receive "free" items.

Privacy watchdog groups have filed a complaint with the FTC about AskEraser, claiming that the six-week-old service doesn’t live up to its promises of erasing all user search data even when enabled.

The Federal Trade Commission plans to keep an ear open for complaints now that they have given Google and DoubleClick their blessing to get together.

UPDATE: No sooner had I hit “publish,” I get an email from Google confirming the deal has been approved by the FTC. The announcement reads in part…

FTC chair Deborah Platt Majoras isn’t the only commissioner with a matrimonial connection at the Jones Day law firm, but neither she nor William Kovacic will recuse themselves from the Google/DoubleClick antitrust review.

The Center for Digital Democracy and the Electronic Privacy Information Center have filed a Freedom of Information Act request for information from the FTC about DoubleClick and law firm Jones Day.

As if the title weren’t enough to tip you off, take a peak at some of the headlines that have gotten my attention today (don’t worry, this isn’t Linky Goodness or Pilgrim’s Picks, I’m still going to hold your hand and tell you what to think):

The Federal Trade Commission settled a case with the sexually explicit website over its ads, which popped up with graphic content.

For the first time in over a year, there’s a serious enough issue with Facebook that CEO Mark Zuckerberg was compelled to write on the company blog (normally handled by lesser underlings developers and directors).

The Federal Trade Commission has reached an agreement with Adteractive, an online advertising company, for its use of misleading spam emails and online advertising to attract people to its Web sites.