Reed Freeman focuses his practice on all aspects of consumer protection law, including online and offline privacy issues, data security and breach notification, online and offline advertising review and competitor challenges, and direct marketing.
Mr. Freeman advises clients on compliance with Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act and similar state laws; FTC and state trade regulation issues, including the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), CAN-SPAM Act, Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), and “do not call” rules; and security regulations and data breach notification laws. He also counsels clients on the uses of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and similar technologies, behavioral advertising, and direct marketing list management.
Mr. Freeman serves as lead counsel in FTC and state consumer protection investigations and negotiations. He also represents clients in false advertising disputes in federal court under the Lanham Act and similar state laws, and before the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. and the National Advertising Review Board (NARB).
Mr. Freeman assists clients with the creation and evaluation of compliance programs for local, state, federal, and international laws regulating the collection, use, and disclosure of consumers' and employees' personally identifiable information. He also drafts privacy policies, website terms of use, and agreements concerning data uses and list management.
Mr. Freeman's representative clients include retailers, dietary supplement marketers, online travel sellers, web analytics and behavioral companies, data aggregators, mobile advertising companies, manufacturers of building supplies and clothing, online entertainment providers, software-as-a-service providers, hotel companies, and social media sites and their advertisers.
Mr. Freeman is ranked by Chambers USA as one of the country’s leading practitioners in the privacy & data security area (2008-2010). He continues to be recognized by Legal 500 US as a leading lawyer in data protection and privacy, and a recommended attorney in the area of marketing and advertising. In 2008, he was named one of the top five individual “global experts on data privacy and protection” in a survey published by Computerworld magazine. Since 2009, he has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America in the area of Advertising Law. He is co-author of CCH’s Advertising Law Guide and CCH’s Privacy Law for Marketers. He also served as chief privacy officer and vice president for legislative and regulatory affairs at Claria Corporation, as staff attorney in the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, and a former adjunct professor of Advertising Law at George Mason University School of Law.
Defense of FTC Investigations
- Privacy. Successfully defended FTC privacy investigation of online retailer. (2010)
- Negative Option. Negotiated a favorable settlement in an FTC negative option marketing case. (2009)
- NAD Referral. Defended a client in an NAD referral to the FTC. Investigation closed. (2007)
- "Made In USA" Defended a client in a “Made in USA” investigation. Investigation closed. (2007)
- Incentive Marketing. Negotiated a favorable settlement of the FTC’s first online incentive marketing case. (2007)
- Telemarketing Sales Rule. Negotiated a favorable settlement in an FTC “assisting and facilitating” case against a list marketer under the Telemarketing Sales Rule. (2004)
- Behavioral Advertising. Defended a client in an FTC investigation of behavioral advertising practices. Investigation closed. (2004)
- Information Security. Negotiated a favorable settlement in one of the FTC’s first information security cases.
- COPPA. Negotiated a favorable settlement in one of the FTC’s first COPPA cases. (2001)
FTC Privacy Town Halls and Roundtable Series
- Assisted major technology company in FTC comments in connection with the Commission's privacy roundtable series in 2009-2010.
- Represented multiple clients in meetings with the FTC prior to the 2007 Behavioral Marketing Town Hall meetings.
General Privacy Counseling
- Assisted an online marketplace in creating a privacy resource center for use by employees throughout the organization.
- Assist major retailer with affiliate marketing compliance across multiple affiliates.
Specialized Transactional Work: Behavioral Advertising
- Assisted behavioral advertisers in contract negotiations with publishers and advertisers and in connection with applications for NAI membership. (2009-2010)
- Assisted online publishers in negotiations with agencies and ad targeting companies.
International Compliance Counseling
- Assisted in review of international direct marketing standards for several prominent companies.
- Assisted a major hotel chain with international privacy law advice relating to video monitoring.
- Assisted manufacturer in providing international counseling on online behavioral advertising and other uses of online tracking