How did LifeLock violating FTC regulations 2010?
When LifeLock and the FTC settled in 2010, the protection service against identity theft was forbidden to make more misleading claims regarding its products, required to take more stringent measures to keep personal information it collects from its customers and ordered to pay $ 12 million in consumer refunds. However, the FTC now claims that LifeLock has violated these orders between October 2012 and March 2014 in multiple ways:
- Unable to establish and maintain a strong security system that would protect the member information, including social security numbers, credit card data and bank account.
- falsely advertised that it offered a high security protection level with financial institutions to member data.
- Can not answer established record keeping requirements.
In addition, the FTC says that between January 2012 and December 2014, LifeLock made false allegations that he protected customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year by providing alerts "when" it received indication of a problem.
What happens next?
The full details of the action filed by the FTC in the US District Court for the District of Arizona are sealed, and the court will determine which parties will be unsealed. The FTC asks the court to order LifeLock to "provide full reparation" or make all consumers affected by its violations of resolution 2010. If you were a member of LifeLock between 2012 and 2014, it is possible that you might be able to receive compensation depending on what the final decision is. If you are currently a member of the protection schemes against LifeLock identity theft, you do not have to consider canceling your membership - but it is worth taking a look at other protection services identity theft to determine whether one of them might be better for you and / or your family.
It is also important to keep in mind what an identity theft protection service can and can not do. A service can offer help in the form of alert you to suspicious activity involving your information files and personal credit, and it is also helpful regarding the restoration process after the identity theft took place. However, it can not prevent identity theft from happening - unfortunately, nobody can. Anyone can be a victim of identity theft, and there's no surefire way to stop it from happening. Subscription to an identity service protection against theft can help provide some additional oversight that you might not be able to do yourself, but in the end, you still need to be vigilant about protecting of your personal information.
The FTC case also brings up another important point: it is important to know how any service, including identity theft protection services, uses and stores information you provide during and after your patronage . Reading the privacy policies and monitoring issues is a good habit to practice in the digital age. Want to know more? You can learn about the theft and services such as LifeLock identity by following our blog.