[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 248 (Tuesday, December 27, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 95140-95141]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-31132]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[File No. 152 3099]


Turn Inc., 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 January 19, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/turnconsent online or on paper, by 
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``In the Matter of Turn 
Inc., File No. 152 3099--Consent Agreement'' on your comment and file 
your comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/turnconsent by following the instructions on the web-based form. If you 
prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``In the Matter of Turn 
Inc., File No. 152 3099--Consent Agreement'' 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: Jamie E. Hine, (202) 326-2188, 
Attorney, and Justin Brookman, (202) 326-2214, Attorney, Bureau of 
Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 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 December 20, 2016), 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 January 19, 
2017. Write ``In the Matter of Turn Inc., File No. 152 3099--Consent 
Agreement'' 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/turnconsent 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 ``In the Matter of Turn 
Inc., File No. 152 3099--Consent Agreement'' 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 January 19, 2017. You can find more 
information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in

[[Page 95141]]

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 has accepted, subject to final 
approval, an agreement containing a consent order from Turn Inc. 
(``Turn'').
    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 again will 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 Turn, a digital advertising company that 
enables commercial brands and ad agencies to engage in targeted 
advertising, which is the practice of tracking a consumer's activities 
or characteristics to deliver ads tailored to the consumer's interests. 
The FTC complaint alleges that Turn violated Section 5(a) of the FTC 
Act by falsely representing to consumers the extent to which consumers 
could restrict the company's tracking of their online activities and 
the extent to which Turn's opt-out applied to mobile app advertising.
    Specifically, the complaint alleges that until at least April 2015, 
Turn's privacy policy misrepresented that consumers could prevent 
Turn's tracking by blocking or otherwise limiting cookies. Contrary to 
representations that consumers could opt out of tracking by instructing 
their browser to ``stop accepting cookies,'' Turn tracked consumers by 
using and synchronizing the Verizon X-UIDH header, a unique identifier 
appended to the internet traffic of more than 100 million consumers on 
the Verizon Wireless data network. Even if a consumer deleted cookies 
or reset their device advertising identifier (e.g., Apple's IDFA or 
Google's advertising ID), Turn would be able to recognize the user by 
cross-referencing the unique X-UIDH header associated with an 
individual consumer's device. In fact, if a Verizon Wireless user 
deleted their cookies, Turn would attempt to set a new cookie 
containing the same unique identifier as the cookie the user had 
deleted, thereby maintaining the linkage between the consumer's browser 
or device and an identifier associated with behavioral, demographic, or 
tracking data.
    In addition, the complaint alleges that Turn's privacy policy 
misrepresented that its opt-out mechanism would be effective in 
blocking targeted advertising on both mobile Web sites and in mobile 
apps. Contrary to Turn's representations, Turn's opt-out applied only 
to mobile browsers, and was not effective in blocking ads in mobile 
applications.
    The proposed consent order contains provisions designed to prevent 
Turn from engaging in similar acts and practices in the future. Part I 
of the proposed order prohibits Turn from misrepresenting (1) the 
extent to which it collects, uses, discloses, retains, or shares 
Covered Information; and (2) the extent to which users may limit, 
control, or prevent Turn's collection, use, disclosure, retention, or 
sharing of covered information. Part II of the proposed order requires 
Turn, within thirty days following service of the order, to place a 
clear and conspicuous hyperlink on the Turn Web site homepage that 
states ``Consumer Opt Out of Targeted Advertising.'' The hyperlink must 
take consumers to a clear and conspicuous disclosure that explains what 
information Turn collects and uses for targeted advertising, and 
provides an effective opt-out mechanism that allows consumers to 
prevent Turn from collecting or using consumers' information. In 
addition, Turn's Web site must describe to consumers the technologies 
and methods it uses for targeted advertising. Part III of the proposed 
order requires Turn to honor mobile operating system control signal 
(e.g., Apple's IDFA or Google's advertising ID) to opt out of or 
otherwise control or limit targeted advertising, where it knows or 
reasonably should know that it is receiving such a signal.
    Parts IV through VIII of the proposed order are reporting and 
compliance provisions. Part IV requires acknowledgment of the order and 
dissemination of the order now and in the future to persons with 
managerial responsibilities relating to the subject matter of the 
order. Part V ensures notification to the FTC of changes in corporate 
status and mandates that Turn submit an initial compliance report to 
the FTC. Part VI requires Turn to retain documents relating to its 
compliance with the order for a five-year period. Part VII mandates 
that Turn make available to the FTC information or subsequent 
compliance reports, as requested. Part VIII 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 order or to modify in any way 
the proposed orders terms.

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-31132 Filed 12-23-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6750-01-P