FTC Gives Final Approval to Settlement With Lenovo Over Compromised Software

The FTC gave final approval to a settlement with Lenovo over complaints that preinstalled software compromised security protections in order to deliver ads to consumers, the agency announced Tuesday. Commissioners voted 2-0 to approve the 20-year consent decree reached in September (see 1709050020), settling charges brought by the FTC and 32 states that Lenovo's preinstalled software program, Visual Discovery, created serious security vulnerabilities on laptops sold in the U.S. Lenovo agreed to no longer misrepresent any features of preloaded software “that will inject advertising into consumers’ Internet browsing sessions or transmit sensitive consumer information to third parties,” the FTC said. If the company does install such software, the FTC order requires Lenovo to obtain consumers’ affirmative consent before the software runs on laptops. The company is required for 20 years to implement a comprehensive software security program that will be subject to third-party audits “for most consumer software preloaded on its laptops,” the FTC said. Lenovo said the FTC informed the company of the final settlement, "which now brings this matter to a close,” a spokeswoman said.