Four companies have agreed to settle allegations by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) after they were found to have falsely claimed certification under the European Union (EU)-U.S. Privacy Shield framework. IDmission, LLC, was found to have not completed the steps to be certified under the program, while mResource, LLC (doing business as Loop Works, LLC), SmartStart Employment Screening, Inc., and VenPath, Inc., allowed their certifications to lapse. VenPath and SmartStart also allegedly failed to abide by the Privacy Shield requirement that companies that stop participation in the Privacy Shield affirm to the Department of Commerce that they will continue to apply the Privacy Shield protections to personal information collected while participating in the program. All four companies are prohibited from misrepresenting the extent to which they participate in any government-sponsored privacy or data security program, among other individual settlements.
