Big Government Aims To Take Control Of Wyndham Hotels IT Systems

Posted: 8/24/2014

Trigger

Recently read “Hacking Victims Become Federal Targets A court case challenges the FTC's data security power grab.”.

This is an astonishing opinion piece from the wall street journal. You would not believe it.

Hacking victims, in this case the Wyndham Hotels, are treated as criminals by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.  The FTC claimed the “gave it the right to supervise the company's IT department.” based on vague federal law.

Blatantly Unconstitutional

Emphasis added.

“Thus began the latest episode of the Obama Administrations's habit of using vague laws to justify regulatory schemes that Congress never intended. More than 40 companies have already acquiesced to the FTC's data security overreach—often small companies without the means to fight—but Wyndham to its credit is pushing back.”

“In most of those cases, companies "caught" getting hacked must submit to penance in the form of consent decrees that allow the FTC 20 years of oversight of their IT departments.”

Unfair Competition - Who Is The Judge?

The FTC bases its intervention on “the catch-all language of Section 5 of the FTC Act: "Unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce, are hereby declared unlawful."” How does this apply to this case?

Shut Down The FTC

The FTC is one of those too many monstrous federal agencies. It was established during the New Deal. Does one have to say more!