The goal of FTC order P205402 is stated as assisting “a study of such policies, practices, and procedures”. With that in mind, the somewhat arbitrary and limite

The goal of FTC order P205402 is stated as assisting “a study of such policies, practices, and procedures”. With that in mind, the somewhat arbitrary and limited choice of entities[0][1], hard deadlines[1], and scope of requested data[2] to me personally somewhat make sense. [0] Given it’s a study, it seems overwhelmingly likely that the results will be extrapolated and generalized to the rest of the industry. [1] The more time passes, the less representative the results would be. If there were more than nine entities chosen, a drawn-out review process would be essentially an advance warning. [2] Yes, they are asking for a lot, but reporting being unable to provide certain type of data should be useful for the study still as absence of certain type of data is a meaningful result in itself. I don’t have a strong opinion on other aspects (and it’s definitely no small feat to gather all the data), but at first approach—assuming good faith on the side of FTC—this order looks akin to a quiz of a random selection of school students with the aim not to praise or reprimand individuals but to assess the education system in general. Given enough advance notice, students would be drilled to ace specifically this quiz, negating its point.