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FTC to scavengers: Radio Shack corpse doesn't include customer data

Yeah, it's dead, but there's no need to dox the survivors

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued an official warning to the companies taking over the assets of North American electronics retailer Radio Shack — namely, don't touch customer data.

"We understand that RadioShack’s customer information constitutes a potentially valuable asset," FTC Consumer Protection boss Jessica Rich says in the letter [PDF}.

"We are concerned, however, that a sale or transfer of the personal information of RadioShack’s customers would contravene RadioShack’s express promise not to sell or rent such information and could constitute a deceptive or unfair practice under Section 5 of the FTC Act."

Section 5 of the FTC Act bars unfair or deceptive practices, in this case, using the customer data for a purpose other than RadioShack intended when it gathered the info.

The US trade boss issued an informal warning to the ombudsman overseeing the RadioShack bankruptcy case that customer data should be handled with care.

In the letter, Rich references the year 2000 ToySmart case, in which the FTC filed suit against a creditor for selling off customer data from a bankrupt toy retailer. To avoid a similar fate, the FTC warns, buyers should adhere to a number of measures, first and foremost being that the customer data itself cannot be sold on its own.

The other terms specified by the FTC include that any buyer of the firm's customer data should be an electronics retailer similar to RadioShack, must uphold the firm's original terms and conditions, and obtain permission from the customers before making any changes to how their data is handled.

Customer data is among the few remaining assets to the once-mighty RadioShack company in the midst of its bankruptcy proceedings. The parent company of US mobile carrier Sprint bought out a portion of the business to use as retail fronts, but a remaining 1,800 stores have been designated to close with the assets being sold off to pay creditors. ®

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