108.  FTC v. Reverseauction.com, Inc., Civil Action No. 000032 (D.D.C. filed Jan. 2000)

Defendant: Reverseauction.com, Inc.

Type:  Privacy Violations & Deceptive Spam

According to the FTC, ReverseAuction allegedly agreed to comply with eBay’s User Agreement and Privacy Policy, only to harvest eBay users' personally identifying information and spam eBay members with a message stating that their user ID’s "will EXPIRE soon." According to the FTC’s complaint, ReverseAuction violated the law when it violated the eBay User Agreement and Privacy Policy, sent deceptive spam, and misrepresented that eBay authorized the mailing.

The FTC obtained a stipulated consent agreement and final order from ReverseAuction, which bars ReverseAuction from misrepresenting that it will comply with another site’s privacy policy, that consumer’s user IDs will expire, or that another site has authorized use of consumers’ personal information. The order also requires ReverseAuction to provide notice to consumers who, as a result of receiving ReverseAuction's spam, registered or will register with ReverseAuction. In addition, the order requires ReverseAuction to delete, and refrain from using or disclosing, the personal identifying information of eBay members who received ReverseAuction's spam but who have not registered with ReverseAuction. Finally, the settlement requires ReverseAuction to disclose its own privacy policy and maintain records to allow the FTC to monitor compliance.