On September 5, the FTC entered a consent agreement with a prominent computer manufacturer over allegations that the company sold consumer laptops with preinstalled software that interfered with how a user's browser interacted with websites and delivered pop-up advertisements. As part of the settlement, the manufacturer must retain consumers' affirmative consent before pre-installing sensitive software and is required to implement a comprehensive software security program for most consumer software preloaded on its laptops for the next 20 years.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
