Unrollme Settles with FTC Over Email Handling

The Federal Trade Commission said it has struck a settlement with e-mail unsubscribing service Unrollme over the handling of its clients emails. 

The FTC said Unrollme shared email receipts from completed transactions with its parent company, Slice Technologies. But while telling users that it would not "touch" their personal emails in order to convince them to use the service, it instead shared with Slice, which used that data in market analytics services it sells. 

As part of the settlement, Unrollme has to inform consumers about its deceptive statements and delete any stored emails it has collected unless it gets affirmative consent to maintain those email receipts. 

The vote was 4-0-1, with commissioner Rohit Chopra abstaining. An FTC spokesperson was not available for comment on the abstention. 

Data handling issues are high on the FTC's agenda. It is under pressure from Congress to crack down on edge-provider use, or misuse, of data.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.