FTC Finalizes Orders Against CMG
The Federal Trade Commission reveals it has issued finalized orders requiring Cox Media Group and New Hampshire-based MindSift LLC and Wisconsin-based 1010 Digital Works LLC to pay a total of $930,000 to settle allegations they deceived customers 
by falsely claiming to offer an AI-powered service that could target localized ads based on conversations captured from consumers’ smart devices and that consumers had opted into such targeting. The FTC had alleged that the companies “deceived customers by claiming they used a special algorithm to listen in on and detect pertinent conversations from smart devices in order to target ads to consumers within a specific geographic region. Contrary to these companies’ claims, however, the marketing service wasn’t based on voice data, and consumers hadn’t opted into this service. If the service had functioned as advertised, this collection and use of consumers’ voice data without adequate consent would itself violate the FTC Act.”
It’s tough enough for radio talent to navigate stable careers in these days of consolidated station ownership, personnel cutbacks and drastic salary reductions – but the NAB’s newly stated stance on non-competes adds insult to injury and is out of step with the interests of beleaguered professionals still hanging on for dear life in the programming sector of this industry. I understand that the National Association of Broadcasters is at heart a lobbying group representing the interests of the medium’s ownership but, c’mon – non-competes really are of another era and egregiously unfair.