On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission made history by enforcing, for the first time, its power to go after companies that don’t notify consumers about health data breaches. The agency said it will fine GoodRx $1.5 million for sharing its users’ private health information with data brokers and advertising platforms such as Facebook and Google.
To one of the commissioners, though, that’s chump change.
“I am confident that a sizable percentage of consumers would have foregone the benefits of using GoodRx’s coupons and other services had they known about the company’s sieve-like data practices, an indicator that the company’s ill-gotten gains almost certainly constitute a large multiple of the $1.5 million civil penalty,” FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson wrote in a statement that concurred with the FTC’s decision, but took aim at its handling of the health data breach.
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