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ARTICLE · 04 OCTOBER 2017

FTC Commissioners Disagree On Deceptive Omission Charges

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Personal computing titan Lenovo ran afoul of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) when it was hit with a complaint regarding ad-injecting software developed by Superfish Inc. that Lenovo...

United StatesConsumer Protection
Alan Friel
Alan Friel
Linda Goldstein
Linda Goldstein
Holly Melton
Holly Melton
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Lenovo settlement occasions interesting debate

Gift Horse

Personal computing titan Lenovo ran afoul of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) when it was hit with a complaint regarding ad-injecting software developed by Superfish Inc. that Lenovo pre-installed on a number of laptop models between 2014 and 2015.

The FTC alleged that when a laptop user hovered the mouse cursor over a product image while shopping online, the software, called VisualDiscovery, displayed pop-up ads regarding similar products sold by Superfish's marketing partners. The FTC also alleged that the software served as a local proxy that stood between the consumer's browser and all internet websites that the consumer visited, including encrypted websites. According to the FTC, this allowed VisualDiscovery to see consumers' sensitive personal information, including login credentials, Social Security numbers, financial accounts and medical information. While only a subset of this information was

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