Some of you might remember that Blu, a company known for its mid-range smartphones, was accused of providing a Chinese device management firm by the name of Adups unfettered access to personally identifiable user data. Blu then said that it had taken adequate steps to ensure user privacy but the Federal Trade Commission had complaint alleging that Blu had made misleading privacy claims. Blu has now settled the matter with the FTC.
Blu had contracted Adups to provide software updates on its devices. It was discovered in November 2016 that Adups had been collecting users’ private information such as location data, text messages, and entire contact lists.
Blu promised that it would fix the problem after this was first reported and later issued a statement claiming that Adups had stopped this data collection. The FTC’s complaint mentioned that even after it issued this statement, Blu allowed Adups to continue the data collection on older phones without proper oversight.
Blu has now reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission and it’s now going to launch a new security program which will plug the security loopholes in its devices. It will also do more to protect user information. The settlement also mandates that Blu will be open to outside assessments of its security program every other year for the next two decades. The FTC has also prevented Blu from making any further misleading claims about user privacy.