Network Solutions, LLC; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment, 19666-19667 [2015-08386]

Download as PDF mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES 19666 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 70 / Monday, April 13, 2015 / Notices The proposed consent order has been placed on the public record for thirty (30) days for receipt of comments by interested persons. Comments received during this period will become part of the public record. After thirty days, the Commission will again review the agreement and the comments received, and will decide whether it should withdraw from the agreement and take appropriate action or make final the agreement’s proposed order. This matter concerns alleged false or misleading representations that AIM made to consumers concerning its participation in the Safe Harbor privacy framework agreed upon by the U.S. and the European Union (‘‘EU’’) (‘‘U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework’’). The U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework allows U.S. companies to transfer data outside the EU consistent with European law. To join the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework, a company must self-certify to the U.S. Department of Commerce (‘‘Commerce’’) that it complies with a set of principles and related requirements that have been deemed by the European Commission as providing ‘‘adequate’’ privacy protection. These principles include notice, choice, onward transfer, security, data integrity, access, and enforcement. Commerce maintains a public Web site, www.export.gov/safeharbor, where it posts the names of companies that have self-certified to the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework. The listing of companies indicates whether their self-certification is ‘‘current’’ or ‘‘not current.’’ Companies are required to re-certify every year in order to retain their status as ‘‘current’’ members of the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework. American International Mailing provides a service for transporting mail, parcels, and freight worldwide. According to the Commission’s complaint, AIM has set forth on its Web site, www.aimmailing.com/ privacy.html, privacy policies and statements about its practices, including statements related to its participation in the U.S-EU Safe Harbor Framework. The Commission’s complaint alleges that American International Mailing falsely represented that it was a ‘‘current’’ participant in the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework when, in fact, from May 2010 until January 2015, AIM was not a ‘‘current’’ participant in the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework. The Commission’s complaint alleges that in May 2006, American International Mailing submitted its self-certification to the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework. AIM did not renew its self-certification in May 2010 and Commerce subsequently updated American VerDate Sep<11>2014 18:02 Apr 10, 2015 Jkt 235001 International Mailing’s status to ‘‘not current’’ on its public Web site. In January 2015, American International Mailing removed its Safe Harbor representation from its Web site privacy policy. Part I of the proposed order prohibits American International Mailing from making misrepresentations about its membership in any privacy or security program sponsored by the government or any other self-regulatory or standardsetting organization, including, but not limited to, the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework and the U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor Framework. Parts II through VI of the proposed order are reporting and compliance provisions. Part II requires American International Mailing to retain documents relating to its compliance with the order for a five-year period. Part III requires dissemination of the order now and in the future to persons with responsibilities relating to the subject matter of the order. Part IV ensures notification to the FTC of changes in corporate status. Part V mandates that American International Mailing submit an initial compliance report to the FTC, and make available to the FTC subsequent reports. Part VI is a provision ‘‘sunsetting’’ the order after twenty (20) years, with certain exceptions. The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the proposed order. It is not intended to constitute an official interpretation of the proposed complaint or order or to modify the order’s terms in any way. By direction of the Commission. Donald S. Clark, Secretary. [FR Doc. 2015–08480 Filed 4–10–15; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6750–01–P FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION [File No. 132 3084] Network Solutions, LLC; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment Federal Trade Commission. Proposed consent agreement. AGENCY: ACTION: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or practices. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both the allegations in the draft complaint and the terms of the consent order—embodied in the consent agreement—that would settle these allegations. SUMMARY: PO 00000 Frm 00037 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 Comments must be received on or before May 7, 2015. ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://ftcpublic.comment works.com/ftc/networksolutionsconsent online or on paper, by following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ‘‘Network Solutions, LLC—Consent Agreement; File No. 132 3084’’ on your comment and file your comment online at https:// ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/ networksolutionsconsent by following the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ‘‘Network Solutions, LLC— Consent Agreement; File No. 132 3084’’ on your comment and on the envelope, and mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite CC– 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20024. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Evans, Bureau of Consumer Protection, (202) 326–2026, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34, notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement containing consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained from the FTC Home Page (for April 7, 2015), on the World Wide Web at: https://www.ftc.gov/ os/actions.shtm. You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to consider your comment, we must receive it on or before May 7, 2015. Write ‘‘Network Solutions, LLC—Consent Agreement; File No. 132 3084’’ on your comment. Your comment—including your name and your state—will be placed on the public record of this proceeding, including, to the extent practicable, on the public Commission Web site, at https://www.ftc.gov/os/ publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of DATES: E:\FR\FM\13APN1.SGM 13APN1 mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 70 / Monday, April 13, 2015 / Notices discretion, the Commission tries to remove individuals’ home contact information from comments before placing them on the Commission Web site. Because your comment will be made public, you are solely responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any sensitive personal information, like anyone’s Social Security number, date of birth, driver’s license number or other state identification number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any sensitive health information, like medical records or other individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not include any ‘‘[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information which . . . is privileged or confidential,’’ as discussed in Section 6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 4.10(a)(2). In particular, do not include competitively sensitive information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas, patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names. If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).1 Your comment will be kept confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the public interest. Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your online comment, you must file it at https:// ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/ networksolutionsconsent by following the instructions on the Web-based form. If this Notice appears at https:// www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also may file a comment through that Web site. If you file your comment on paper, write ‘‘Network Solutions, LLC— Consent Agreement; File No. 132 3084’’ on your comment and on the envelope, and mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, 1 In particular, the written request for confidential treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c). VerDate Sep<11>2014 18:02 Apr 10, 2015 Jkt 235001 Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite CC– 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20024. If possible, submit your paper comment to the Commission by courier or overnight service. Visit the Commission Web site at https://www.ftc.gov to read this Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws that the Commission administers permit the collection of public comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that it receives on or before May 7, 2015. You can find more information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in the Commission’s privacy policy, at https:// www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm. Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment The Federal Trade Commission (‘‘Commission’’) has accepted, subject to final approval, an agreement containing a consent order from Network Solutions, LLC (‘‘Network Solutions’’). The Commission has placed the proposed Order on the public record for thirty days for receipt of comments by interested persons. Comments received during this period will become part of the public record. After thirty days, the Commission will again review the agreement and the comments received, and will decide whether it should withdraw from the agreement and take appropriate action or make final the agreement’s proposed Order. Network Solutions advertises and sells web hosting services. The company’s web hosting services allow customers to make Web pages available on the internet by storing their Web page information, including programming code, images, and videos, on Web servers owned or leased by Network Solutions, and by providing the technology and internet connectivity required to serve the Web pages on the internet. Network Solutions has sold its web hosting services subject to a thirtyday money back guarantee. It has advertised that guarantee on its Web site. The Commission’s proposed Complaint alleges that Network Solutions failed to disclose adequately that its web hosting thirty-day money back guarantee could be subject to a cancellation fee. This cancellation fee PO 00000 Frm 00038 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 9990 19667 was sometimes a substantial portion of the purchase price. Network Solutions did not disclose the cancellation fee on its Web pages advertising the guarantee. Instead, at the bottom of those Web pages, Network Solutions included a hyperlink to ‘‘Terms and Conditions’’ for the guarantee. This link often appeared in smaller print than the rest of the Web page and sometimes also appeared in blue text against a black background. The link opened a pop-up window that disclosed the existence of the cancellation fee. The Commission’s proposed Complaint alleges that, coupled with the triggering representation that it offers a thirty-day money back guarantee, Network Solutions’ failure to disclose adequately the cancellation fee is a deceptive act or practice under Section 5 of the FTC Act. The proposed Order contains provisions designed to prevent Network Solutions from engaging in the same or similar acts or practices in the future. Section I of the proposed Order requires Network Solutions to clearly and conspicuously disclose the material terms of any money back guarantees applicable to Web hosting services, including the existence and amount of any fee applicable to money-back guarantees. It also requires Network Solutions to refund the full purchase price of Web hosting sold under a money back guarantee, in response to a request that complies with the terms of that guarantee, unless any applicable fees are disclosed clearly and conspicuously. Section II of the proposed Order broadly prohibits misrepresentations with regard to refund or cancellation policies or any other material fact concerning the Web hosting services that Network Solutions offers or sells. Sections III through VI of the proposed Order are standard reporting and compliance provisions that allow the Commission to better monitor Network Solutions’ ongoing compliance with the Order. Under Section VII, the Order will expire in twenty years, with certain exceptions. The purpose of this analysis is to aid public comment on the proposed Order. It is not intended to constitute an official interpretation of the Complaint or proposed Order, or to modify in any way the proposed Order’s terms. By direction of the Commission. Donald S. Clark, Secretary. [FR Doc. 2015–08386 Filed 4–10–15; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6750–01–P E:\FR\FM\13APN1.SGM 13APN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 70 (Monday, April 13, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19666-19667]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-08386]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[File No. 132 3084]


Network Solutions, LLC; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid 
Public Comment

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Proposed consent agreement.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged 
violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or 
practices. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both 
the allegations in the draft complaint and the terms of the consent 
order--embodied in the consent agreement--that would settle these 
allegations.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before May 7, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/networksolutionsconsent online or on 
paper, by following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of 
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``Network Solutions, 
LLC--Consent Agreement; File No. 132 3084'' on your comment and file 
your comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/networksolutionsconsent by following the instructions on the web-based 
form. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``Network 
Solutions, LLC--Consent Agreement; File No. 132 3084'' on your comment 
and on the envelope, and mail your comment to the following address: 
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania 
Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver 
your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office 
of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, 
Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Evans, Bureau of Consumer 
Protection, (202) 326-2026, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 
20580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal 
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34, 
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement 
containing consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with 
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been 
placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The 
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the 
consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic 
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained 
from the FTC Home Page (for April 7, 2015), on the World Wide Web at: 
https://www.ftc.gov/os/actions.shtm.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before May 7, 2015. 
Write ``Network Solutions, LLC--Consent Agreement; File No. 132 3084'' 
on your comment. Your comment--including your name and your state--will 
be placed on the public record of this proceeding, including, to the 
extent practicable, on the public Commission Web site, at https://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of

[[Page 19667]]

discretion, the Commission tries to remove individuals' home contact 
information from comments before placing them on the Commission Web 
site.
    Because your comment will be made public, you are solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number, 
date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification 
number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial 
account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive health information, like medical records or other 
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not 
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information 
which . . . is privileged or confidential,'' as discussed in Section 
6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 
4.10(a)(2). In particular, do not include competitively sensitive 
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas, 
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
    If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential 
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for 
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained 
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\1\ Your comment will be kept 
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole 
discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the 
public interest.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ In particular, the written request for confidential 
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and 
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions 
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule 
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to 
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit 
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your 
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/networksolutionsconsent by following the instructions on the Web-
based form. If this Notice appears at https://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also may file a comment through that Web site.
    If you file your comment on paper, write ``Network Solutions, LLC--
Consent Agreement; File No. 132 3084'' on your comment and on the 
envelope, and mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade 
Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite 
CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the 
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 
Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex 
D), Washington, DC 20024. If possible, submit your paper comment to the 
Commission by courier or overnight service.
    Visit the Commission Web site at https://www.ftc.gov to read this 
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws 
that the Commission administers permit the collection of public 
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The 
Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that 
it receives on or before May 7, 2015. You can find more information, 
including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in the 
Commission's privacy policy, at https://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.

Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment

    The Federal Trade Commission (``Commission'') has accepted, subject 
to final approval, an agreement containing a consent order from Network 
Solutions, LLC (``Network Solutions''). The Commission has placed the 
proposed Order on the public record for thirty days for receipt of 
comments by interested persons. Comments received during this period 
will become part of the public record. After thirty days, the 
Commission will again review the agreement and the comments received, 
and will decide whether it should withdraw from the agreement and take 
appropriate action or make final the agreement's proposed Order.
    Network Solutions advertises and sells web hosting services. The 
company's web hosting services allow customers to make Web pages 
available on the internet by storing their Web page information, 
including programming code, images, and videos, on Web servers owned or 
leased by Network Solutions, and by providing the technology and 
internet connectivity required to serve the Web pages on the internet. 
Network Solutions has sold its web hosting services subject to a 
thirty-day money back guarantee. It has advertised that guarantee on 
its Web site.
    The Commission's proposed Complaint alleges that Network Solutions 
failed to disclose adequately that its web hosting thirty-day money 
back guarantee could be subject to a cancellation fee. This 
cancellation fee was sometimes a substantial portion of the purchase 
price. Network Solutions did not disclose the cancellation fee on its 
Web pages advertising the guarantee. Instead, at the bottom of those 
Web pages, Network Solutions included a hyperlink to ``Terms and 
Conditions'' for the guarantee. This link often appeared in smaller 
print than the rest of the Web page and sometimes also appeared in blue 
text against a black background. The link opened a pop-up window that 
disclosed the existence of the cancellation fee. The Commission's 
proposed Complaint alleges that, coupled with the triggering 
representation that it offers a thirty-day money back guarantee, 
Network Solutions' failure to disclose adequately the cancellation fee 
is a deceptive act or practice under Section 5 of the FTC Act.
    The proposed Order contains provisions designed to prevent Network 
Solutions from engaging in the same or similar acts or practices in the 
future. Section I of the proposed Order requires Network Solutions to 
clearly and conspicuously disclose the material terms of any money back 
guarantees applicable to Web hosting services, including the existence 
and amount of any fee applicable to money-back guarantees. It also 
requires Network Solutions to refund the full purchase price of Web 
hosting sold under a money back guarantee, in response to a request 
that complies with the terms of that guarantee, unless any applicable 
fees are disclosed clearly and conspicuously. Section II of the 
proposed Order broadly prohibits misrepresentations with regard to 
refund or cancellation policies or any other material fact concerning 
the Web hosting services that Network Solutions offers or sells. 
Sections III through VI of the proposed Order are standard reporting 
and compliance provisions that allow the Commission to better monitor 
Network Solutions' ongoing compliance with the Order. Under Section 
VII, the Order will expire in twenty years, with certain exceptions.
    The purpose of this analysis is to aid public comment on the 
proposed Order. It is not intended to constitute an official 
interpretation of the Complaint or proposed Order, or to modify in any 
way the proposed Order's terms.

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-08386 Filed 4-10-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P
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