A U.S. district judge in Washington dismissed a lawsuit against...
A U.S. district judge in Washington dismissed a lawsuit against the FTC Friday over the agency’s alleged failure to enforce its consent agreement with Google. The complaint from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) asked the court to issue a…
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temporary restraining order “compelling the FTC to enforce” its Oct. 13 consent agreement over the rollout of Google Buzz (WID Feb 9 p7). EPIC claimed the company’s plan to integrate user information across most of its products (WID Jan 26 p3) was “in clear violation of the consent order.” The suit also requested a preliminary injunction against Google, for violating the settlement agreement. But Judge Amy Jackson’s opinion said federal courts do not have jurisdiction to monitor FTC enforcement of consent degrees and enforcement decisions are “committed to agency discretion” (http://xrl.us/bmuvup). Jackson said EPIC “has advanced serious concerns that may well be legitimate” but emphasized that the dismissal “should not be interpreted as expressing any opinion about the merits of EPIC’s challenge to Google’s new policies.” Earlier this week the FTC sought to dismiss EPIC’s “baseless” complaint because “preliminary injunctive relief is an ‘extraordinary and drastic remedy’ that should be exercised sparingly,” the agency said (WID Feb 22 p8).