Sheila Millar

Connect: Read more about Sheila Millar
Firm/Organization: Keller Heckman
Blogs: Consumer Protection Connection, The Continuum of Risk

Latest Articles

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In 2015, a group of NGOs filed a petition with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), asking CPSC to ban additive, non-polymeric organohalogen flame retardants (OFRs) in four product categories: infant, toddler, or children’s products; upholstered furniture; mattresses; and plastic electronics’ casings. The petitioners argued that the entire chemical class is toxic and poses a risk to consumers and that the CPSC should ban them under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA). However, a…
website privacy
After hacks of two websites, i-Dressup.com and ClixSense.com, resulted in the compromise of personal information for millions of users – including, in the case of i-Dressup, hundreds of thousands of children under 13 – the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued complaints against the websites and their operators for lax security and other privacy violations. Notably, in addition to requiring beefed-up security and third-party monitoring programs in the settlement agreements, all five FTC Commissioners took the…
The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has weighed in on the interplay between the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the ePrivacy Directive in response to questions from the Belgian Data Protection Authority (DPA). Addressing how and when each set of rules applies to processing data, the EDPB stated that “these questions concern a matter of general application of the GDPR, as there is a clear need for a consistent interpretation among data protection authorities…
Making the same false country-of-origin claims that initially resulted in a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) consent order is a good way to land a company with substantial civil penalties and corrective advertising obligations. iSpring Water Systems LLC found this out the hard way. Instead of complying with its earlier promise not to falsely advertise its products as made in the USA, the water filtration systems company breached a 2017 administrative order. Ispring is now…
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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released its annual report highlighting its work on privacy and data security during 2018. The FTC initiated five enforcement actions arising out of data breaches and nine data privacy enforcement actions in 2018, including cases against online payment system Venmo and mobile phone maker BLU for misrepresenting their privacy protections and providing inadequate security. One of the most high-profile enforcement actions of 2018 was the FTC’s expanded settlement with…
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As expected, 2019 is shaping up to be the year for privacy reforms, including possible amendments to the 20-year old Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Senators Edward Markey (D-Mass) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) have introduced legislation that would expand COPPA’s scope to offer new protections to minors age 13-15, establish new limitations on collecting personal information on children and minors, and create a new division within the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged with overseeing…