[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 28 (Thursday, February 11, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7342-7343]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-02769]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[File No. 152 3159]


General Workings Inc. (Also Doing Business as Vulcun); Analysis 
of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Proposed consent agreement.

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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged 
violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or 
practices. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both 
the allegations in the draft complaint and the terms of the consent 
order--embodied in the consent agreement--that would settle these 
allegations.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 8, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/vulcunconsent online or on paper, by 
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``General Workings Inc. 
also doing business as Vulcun--Consent Agreement; File No. 152-3159'' 
on your comment and file your comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/vulcunconsent by following the 
instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file your comment 
on paper, write ``General Workings Inc. also doing business as Vulcun--
Consent Agreement; File No. 152-3159'' on your comment and on the 
envelope, and mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade 
Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite 
CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the 
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 
Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex 
D), Washington, DC 20024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jacob Snow (415) 848-5175 or Alexander 
Reicher (415) 848-5198, FTC Western Region, San Francisco, 901 Market 
Street, Suite 570, San Francisco, CA 94103.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal 
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34, 
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement 
containing consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with 
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been 
placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The 
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the 
consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic 
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained 
from the FTC Home Page (for February 5, 2016), on the World Wide Web 
at: http://www.ftc.gov/os/actions.shtm.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before March 8, 2016. 
Write ``General Workings Inc. also doing business as Vulcun--Consent 
Agreement; File No. 152-3159'' on your comment. Your comment--including 
your name and your state--will be placed on the public record of this 
proceeding, including, to the extent practicable, on the public 
Commission Web site, at http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a 
matter of discretion, the Commission tries to remove individuals' home 
contact information from comments before placing them on the Commission 
Web site.
    Because your comment will be made public, you are solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number, 
date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification 
number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial 
account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive health information, like medical records or other 
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not 
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information 
which . . . is privileged or confidential,'' as discussed in Section 
6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 
4.10(a)(2). In particular, do not include competitively sensitive 
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas, 
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
    If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential 
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for 
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained 
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\1\ Your comment will be kept 
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole 
discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the 
public interest.
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    \1\ In particular, the written request for confidential 
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and 
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions 
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule 
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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    Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to 
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit 
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your 
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/vulcunconsent by following the instructions on the web-based form. 
If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also 
may file a comment through that Web site.
    If you file your comment on paper, write ``General Workings Inc. 
also doing business as Vulcun--Consent Agreement; File No. 152-3159'' 
on your comment and on the envelope, and mail your comment to the 
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 
600 Pennsylvania Avenue

[[Page 7343]]

NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your 
comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of 
the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, 
Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20024. If possible, submit your 
paper comment to the Commission by courier or overnight service.
    Visit the Commission Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read this 
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws 
that the Commission administers permit the collection of public 
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The 
Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that 
it receives on or before March 8, 2016. You can find more information, 
including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in the 
Commission's privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.

Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment

    The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') has 
accepted, subject to final approval, an agreement containing consent 
order from General Workings Inc., Ali Moiz, and Murtaza Hussain 
(collectively ``Respondents'').
    The proposed consent order has been placed on the public record for 
thirty (30) days for receipt of comments by interested persons. 
Comments received during this period will become part of the public 
record. After thirty (30) days, the Commission will again review the 
agreement and the comments received, and will decide whether it should 
withdraw from the agreement and take appropriate action or make final 
the agreement's proposed order.
    Respondent General Workings Inc., also doing business as Vulcun, is 
a Delaware corporation with its principal office or place of business 
in San Francisco, California. Respondents Ali Moiz and Murtaza Hussain 
are founders and officers of Vulcun. The Commission's complaint alleges 
that Respondents installed software, including Chrome browser 
extensions and mobile apps, onto users' desktops and mobile devices 
without adequately disclosing to users that the software would be 
installed. Google offers a web browser, Chrome, as a free download for 
desktop computer and mobile operating systems. The desktop-computer 
version of Chrome allows users to install ``browser extensions,'' which 
are software programs that can modify and extend Chrome's 
functionality. Respondents' conduct had two parts. First, Respondents 
acquired a popular browser-based game called Running Fred and replaced 
it entirely with their own software program, called Weekly Android 
Apps, on users' desktops. Users of Running Fred were not informed that 
the game had been replaced. Second, Weekly Android Apps contained code 
that would install, again without adequate disclosure to users, apps on 
user's mobile devices.
    The proposed consent order contains provisions designed to prevent 
Respondents from engaging in similar acts or practices in the future.
    Part I of the proposed order prohibits Respondents from 
misrepresenting certain aspects of any browser extension, Web site, web 
service, mobile app, or any other product or service they offer or 
operate. Specifically, Respondents are prohibited from misrepresenting: 
The existence of certain endorsements; the nature of their products and 
services; the installation, download, usage, review, or endorsement 
statistics associated with their products and services; the press 
coverage of their products and services; their information collection, 
usage, disclosure, and sharing practices; the extent of user control 
over information about individual consumers; the purpose of collecting, 
using, disclosing, or sharing information about individual consumers; 
and the extent to which Respondents protect the privacy, 
confidentiality, security, and integrity of information collected from 
or about consumers.
    Part II of the proposed order requires Respondents to clearly and 
conspicuously disclose the types of information their products and 
services will access, how that information will be used, and the nature 
of any changes to Respondents' products and services. The order also 
requires Respondents to display built-in permission notices or 
approvals, and to obtain consumer's express affirmative consent prior 
to installation or material changes of any product or service.
    Part III of the proposed order requires Respondents to delete 
certain information collected about individual consumers within ten 
days of entry of the order.
    Part IV of the proposed order contains recordkeeping requirements 
for advertisements and substantiation relevant to representations 
covered by Parts I through III of the order.
    Parts V, VI, VII, and VIII of the proposed order require 
Respondents to: Deliver a copy of the order to certain personnel who 
have responsibilities with respect to the subject matter of the order; 
notify the Commission of changes in corporate structure that might 
affect compliance obligations under the order; notify the Commission of 
changes in the employment of Respondents Moiz and Hussain; and file 
compliance reports with the Commission.
    Part IX of the proposed order provides that the order will 
terminate after twenty (20) years, with certain exceptions.
    The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the 
proposed order, and it is not intended to constitute an official 
interpretation of the complaint or proposed order, or to modify the 
proposed order's terms in any way.

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-02769 Filed 2-10-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6750-01-P