Tag Archives: Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

‘Seismic Win for Workers’: FTC Bans Noncompete Clauses

Advocates praised the FTC “for taking a strong stance against this egregious use of corporate power, thereby empowering workers to switch jobs and launch new ventures, and unlocking billions of dollars in worker earnings.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 4-23-2024 by Common Dreams

FTC Chair Lina Khan. Photo: New America/flickr/CC

U.S. workers’ rights advocates and groups celebrated on Tuesday after the Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 along party lines to approve a ban on most noncompete clauses, which Democratic FTC Chair Lina Khan said “keep wages low, suppress new ideas, and rob the American economy of dynamism.”

“The FTC’s final rule to ban noncompetes will ensure Americans have the freedom to pursue a new job, start a new business, or bring a new idea to market,” Khan added, pointing to the commission’s estimates that the policy could mean another $524 for the average worker, over 8,500 new startups, and 17,000 to 29,000 more patents each year.

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Tracking of Planned Parenthood Visits ‘Should Terrify Every Single American’

Sen. Ron Wyden warns that “if a data broker could track Americans’ cellphones to help extremists” send ads to clinic visitors, “a right-wing prosecutor could use that same information to put women in jail.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 2-14-2024 by Common Dreams

Planned Parenthood- Manitowoc, WI. Photo: Michael Steeber/flickr/CC

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and privacy rights advocates this week are sounding the alarm about an anti-abortion group using cellphone location data to send misinformation to people who visited hundreds of Planned Parenthood clinics across the country.

“If a data broker could track Americans’ cellphones to help extremists target misinformation to people at hundreds of Planned Parenthood locations across the United States, a right-wing prosecutor could use that same information to put women in jail,” Wyden (D-Ore.) said in a statement Tuesday.

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Amazon Fined in France for Illegally Spying on Workers

The retail giant was also ordered to pay more than $30 million last year after allegedly surveilling customers with its tech products.

By Julia Conley. Published 1-23-2024 by Common Dreams

Photo: LSA/CC

Months after Amazon was fined more than $30 million for allegedly spying on customers in their homes, a French data watchdog on Monday announced it had ordered the retail giant to pay another $35 million for what it called “excessive” tracking of warehouse employees’ activity.

France’s National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) informed Amazon France Logistique, which runs the U.S. company’s warehouses in the country, of the fine late last month after investigating scanning devices used by employees.

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