Company Violates Privacy Shield, FTC Imposes No Penalty

August 22, 2019

The FTC entered into an enforcement agreement against background screening company SecurTest for falsely claiming to offer privacy protections to EU citizens. According to the FTC, SecurTest's website falsely claimed to participate in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, a framework that permits the transfer of Europeans' personal data to the U.S. The settlement requires Securtest to halt misrepresentations and submit to compliance monitoring, but provides no remedy to those EU citizens who used the service. In recent comments on the Privacy Shield, EPIC noted the absence in the US of a comprehensive federal privacy law and a data protection authority, with the authority to enforce privacy rights. The European Commission will formally decide whether to renew the pact this fall.

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