[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 47 (Tuesday, March 11, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13651-13653]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-05262]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[File No. 122 3121]


ADT LLC; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Proposed Consent Agreement.

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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged 
violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or 
practices. The attached Analysis of Proposed Consent Order 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.

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DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 7, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/adtconsent online or on paper, by 
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``ADT LLC--Consent 
Agreement; File No. 1223121'' on your comment and file your comment 
online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/adtconsent by 
following the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file 
your comment on paper, mail or deliver your comment to the following 
address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-113 
(Annex D), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michelle Rusk, Bureau of Consumer 
Protection, (202-326-3148), 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 March 6, 2014), on the World Wide Web, at 
http://www.ftc.gov/os/actions.shtm. A paper copy can be obtained from 
the FTC Public Reference Room, Room 130-H, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20580, either in person or by calling (202) 326-2222.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before April 7, 2014. 
Write ``ADT LLC--Consent Agreement; File No. 1223121'' 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 http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of 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.
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    \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).
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    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/adtconsent by following the instructions on the web-based form. If 
this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also may 
file a comment through that Web site.
    If you file your comment on paper, write ``ADT LLC--Consent 
Agreement; File No. 1223121'' on your comment and on the envelope, and 
mail or deliver it to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, 
Office of the Secretary, Room H-113 (Annex D), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue 
NW., Washington, DC 20580. If possible, submit your paper comment to 
the Commission by courier or overnight service.
    Visit the Commission Web site at http://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 April 7, 2014. You can find more information, 
including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in the 
Commission's privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.

Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment

    The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') has 
accepted, subject to final approval, an agreement containing a consent 
order from ADT LLC, also doing business as ADT Security Services 
(``ADT'').
    The proposed consent order (``proposed 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 (30) days, the Commission will 
again review the agreement and the comments received, and will decide 
whether it should withdraw from the agreement or make final the 
agreement's proposed order.
    This matter involves ADT's use of paid spokespersons to promote the 
ADT Pulse home security system in appearances on national and local 
television and radio news programs and talk shows. The Commission's 
complaint alleges that the paid spokespersons were identified on air as 
experts in child safety, home security, or technology. The experts 
demonstrated and provided favorable reviews of the ADT Pulse as part of 
news segments on topics related to their expertise. In most of these 
appearances, there was no mention of any connection between the experts 
and ADT. The complaint also alleges that ADT used these paid 
spokespersons to promote the ADT Pulse in what appeared to be 
independent and objective reviews on the spokesperson's own Web site, 
in blog posts, and in other online materials. The complaint alleges 
that ADT violated Section 5 by misrepresenting that the demonstrations 
and discussions of the features and benefits of the ADT Pulse were 
independent reviews by impartial experts. The complaint further alleges 
that ADT violated Section 5 by failing

[[Page 13653]]

to disclose that the experts were ADT's paid spokespersons.
    The proposed order includes injunctive relief to address these 
alleged violations and requires ADT to follow certain monitoring and 
compliance procedures related to its use of paid spokespersons.
    Part I of the proposed order prohibits ADT, in connection with the 
advertising of any security or monitoring product or service, from 
misrepresenting that a discussion or demonstration of such product or 
service is an independent review provided by an impartial expert.
    Part II of the proposed order requires ADT, in connection with the 
advertising of any security or monitoring product by means of an 
endorsement, to disclose clearly and prominently a material connection, 
if one exists, between the endorser and ADT.
    Part III of the proposed order requires ADT to take all reasonable 
steps to remove, within seven days of service of the order, any 
demonstration, review, or endorsement, by an endorser with a material 
connection to ADT, that does not comply with Parts I and II of the 
order.
    Part IV of the proposed order sets out certain monitoring and 
compliance obligations that ADT must meet with respect to any endorser 
with a material connection to ADT, including: obtaining signed 
acknowledgements from such endorsers that they will disclose their 
connection to ADT; monitoring the endorsers' media appearances and 
online reviews; terminating endorsers who fail to disclose their 
connection to ADT; and maintaining records of its monitoring efforts.
    Parts V through VIII of the proposed order require ADT to: Keep 
copies of relevant consumer complaints and inquiries and documents 
demonstrating order compliance; provide copies of the order to 
officers, employees, and others with responsibilities with respect to 
the subject matter of the order; notify the Commission of changes in 
corporate structure that might affect compliance obligations under the 
order; and file compliance reports with the Commission.
    Part IX provides that the order will terminate after twenty (20) 
years, with certain exceptions.
    The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the 
proposed order, and it is not intended to constitute an official 
interpretation of the complaint or proposed order, or to modify the 
proposed order's terms in any way.

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014-05262 Filed 3-10-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P