A settlement has already been reached by BLU Products, its co-owner, and FTC. The Federal Trade Commission has been looking into an issue that BLU was allowing another group to collect details about the consumers. The information varies from real-time location to text messages sans any permission from the users. Personal information and data are supposed to be private and secure but BLU was allegedly sharing them. This settlement with FTC will have BLU implement a data security program now. This way, unauthorized access can be prevented.
There are many issues surrounding BLU phones. If you may remember last year, Amazon dropped phones from BLU Products in relation to security software issues. The secret software was believed to be tracking Chinese-made smartphones. As a response, BLU kicked out the Chinese spyware from their phones and got Google instead. The OEM then was listed back on Amazon.
As for the FTC complaint, the agency alleged BLU misled the consumers and falsely represented that they implemented procedures that protected the personal information of consumers. We remember ADUPS security breach that got the mobile industry talking. Chinese-made phones are believed to be vulnerable to a secret software that tracks behaviors. That’s something really questionable, putting devices at a security risk. ADUPS was then discovered to be collecting and sharing data unbeknownst to the users.
BLU and its President and co-owner and Samuel Ohev-Zion are said to have misled plenty of consumers. The settlement then brings BLU to third-party assessments every two years as part of a security program for two decades.
SOURCE: FTC
