Perhaps it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that, since the Federal Trade Commission cautioned of its approaching “commercial surveillance crackdown” earlier this year, it has followed through. However, the ways in which it has gone about enforcement actions and lawsuits to not only punish data privacy violations, but also make examples out of certain types of businesses, has raised eyebrows within legal circles.

While some attorneys have pushed back against the FTC’s aggressive stance, stressing that they are stepping out of their jurisdiction, others say that the only choice attorneys have is watching what they do very carefully, and ensuring that the businesses they represent are not the next target.