United States - Retail Tracking Firm Settles FTC Charges It Misled Consumers About Opt Out Choices

Nomi Technologies, a company whose technology allows retailers to track consumers movements through their stores, has agreed to settle FTC charges that it misled consumers. Nomi had promised that it would provide an in-store mechanism for consumers to opt out of tracking, and that consumers would be informed when locations were using Nomi’'s tracking services.The complaint alleges that Nomi collected information on about nine million mobile devices within the first nine months of 2013. The complaint is the FTC'’s first case against a retail tracking company.Under the terms of the settlement, Nomi will be prohibited from misrepresenting consumers’' options for controlling whether information is collected, used, disclosed, or shared about them or their computers or other devices, as well as the extent to which consumers will be notified about information practices.The agreement will be subject to public comment through May 25, after which the Commission will decide whether to make the proposed consent order final. Interested parties can submit comments electronically.The Commission vote to issue the complaint and accept the proposed consent order was 3-2, with Commissioners Maureen K. Ohlhausen and Joshua D. Wright dissenting. The Commission held a privacy seminar on the issue of mobile device tracking in the retail environment as part of its spring privacy series last year.