[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 163 (Monday, August 24, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51270-51272]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-20802]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[File No. 152 3185]


Forensics Consulting Solutions, 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 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 September 16, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://
ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/forensicsconsultingconsent online or on 
paper, by following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of 
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``Forensics 
Consulting Solutions, LLC--Consent Agreement; File No. 152 3185'' on 
your comment and file your comment online at https://
ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/forensicsconsultingconsent by following 
the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file your 
comment on paper, write ``Forensics Consulting Solutions, LLC--Consent 
Agreement; File No. 152 3185'' 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: Ruth Yodaiken, ((202) 326-2127), 
Bureau of Consumer Protection, 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

[[Page 51271]]

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 August 17, 2015), on the 
World Wide Web at: http://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 September 16, 
2015. Write ``Forensics Consulting Solutions, LLC--Consent Agreement; 
File No. 152 3185'' 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/forensicsconsultingconsent 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 ``Forensics Consulting 
Solutions, LLC--Consent Agreement; File No. 152 3185'' 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 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 September 16, 2015. 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, a consent agreement applicable to 
Forensics Consulting Solutions, LLC (``Forensics Consulting 
Solutions'').
    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 (30) 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 the company 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 EU 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 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 Safe Harbor Framework.
    Forensics Consulting Solutions describes itself as an electronic 
discovery consulting firm. According to the Commission's complaint, the 
company has set forth on its Web site, www.aboutfcs.com/security-privacy, 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 Forensics Consulting 
Solutions falsely represented that it was a ``current'' participant in 
the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework when, in fact, from August 2012 until 
May 2015, Forensics Consulting Solutions was not a ``current'' 
participant in the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework. The Commission's 
complaint alleges that in August 2009, Forensics Consulting Solutions 
submitted its self-certification to the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework 
and its status was listed as ``current'' on Commerce's Web site. 
Forensics Consulting Solutions did not renew its self-certification in 
August 2012 and

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Commerce subsequently updated Forensics Consulting Solutions' status to 
``not current'' on its public Web site. In May 2015, Forensics 
Consulting Solutions recertified with Commerce and is now a current 
participant in the U.S-EU Safe Harbor Framework.
    Part I of the proposed order prohibits Forensics Consulting 
Solutions from making misrepresentations about its membership in any 
privacy or security program sponsored by the government or any self-
regulatory or standard-setting organization, including, but not limited 
to, the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework.
    Parts II through VI of the proposed order are reporting and 
compliance provisions. Part II requires Forensics Consulting Solutions 
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 Forensics Consulting 
Solutions 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. 2015-20802 Filed 8-21-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P