back to article LifeLock didn't live up to their hype, and now they're $100m lighter

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has agreed to a $100m settlement in its deceptive advertising case with LifeLock. The identity protection provider will pay the nine-figure penalty to end the FTC's complaint that it violated a 2010 order related to charges of misleading consumers. The settlement does not include an …

  1. elDog

    Worse than sleaze. Get the suckers to give you money, and their data!

    They were still advertising on NPR yesterday.

    Even wikipedia has a longer "Controversies" section than the section describing the "product".

    Ahhh. The sweet stench of capitalism run amok with the regulatory bodies crippled by the congress-critters who receive funding from these predators.

    1. MiguelC Silver badge

      Re: Worse than sleaze. Get the suckers to give you money, and their data!

      Well not at all, "The settlement does not include an admission of guilt", which means they just gave all that money because they're very nice people!

  2. Gene Cash Silver badge

    Zoinks!

    "stipulation that payouts can go only to aggrieved LifeLock customers, and not attorneys"

    That's just gobsmacking. How did this manage to fly?

    1. Mark 85

      Re: Zoinks!

      I suspect that there will be a lawsuit over that in 5.....4......3.....2....

    2. Charles 9

      Re: Zoinks!

      "That's just gobsmacking. How did this manage to fly?"

      The FTC had the position of strength since LifeLock agreed to settle out of court. If they didn't agree, it would've gone to court, which given the evidence the FTC was presenting would only mean bad news for LifeLock: including the distinct risk of an even higher fine set by judge and/or jury.

  3. oldtaku Silver badge
    FAIL

    All these credit monitoring companies are such scams. Worse than useless - they thrive because companies do the one year of useless free credit monitoring whenever there's a data breach, since they don't care.

    Just get a credit lock. Much cheaper, far more effective.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Credit freezes don't work against existing accounts, and if the bad guys go far enough to steal your identity, they can probably also lift the credentials necessary to unfreeze your credit.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Lifelock should also be banned from...

    being named or used by companies like Blue Cross or Target or any other as identity protection after those companies "spaffed" all your personal credit card details to every carder paradise on Darknet.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Employee Benefit

    At our annual meeting last month to discuss changes in Employee Benefits, there was a new option on the table.

    We could have charges deducted from our paychecks for a LifeLock subscription.

    We could also pay for a legal plan to cover when we needed a lawyer, so the two in combination could potentially be profitable.

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