Consumerist

Posts Tagged “

Legislation

”
spam

Court Changes Mind, Strikes Down Anti-Spam Law

The Virginia Supreme Court agreed to reconsider its original judgment on the state's anti-spam law, which made it illegal to send email using an anonymous email address or IP address. Their new decision: prohibiting anonymously sent emails is a violation of the First Amendement.
The court noted that "were the 'Federalist Papers' just being published today via e-mail, that transmission by Publius would violate the [current Virginia] statute."
More »

2:50 PM on Fri Sep 12 2008
By Chris Walters
2,643 views, 36 comments

Latest by johnva: @Chris Walters: That wasn't the argument I made, technically. My argument is that the law is NOT overbroad, because it's more »

Polls

Should Consumers Be Able To Opt-Out Of Phone Book Deliveries?

Phone book publishers spit out over 600 million phone books for just over 300 million Americans. Now the $17 billion a year industry is defending itself from state legislatures that want to restrict phone book circulations so consumers don't wreck their snowblowers when they hit snow-covered phone books. True story. More »

5:00 PM on Sun Aug 10 2008
By Carey
13,339 views, 139 comments

Latest by billf: @B: The companies that make phonebooks make their money from advertising. By not having any metric to show how more »

opinion

Let's Face It: Mandatory Binding Arbitration Sucks

A few days ago a "big business" lawyer wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal suggesting that those mean old people in the government were trying to take away your right to arbitration. How dare they! More »

10:57 AM on Thu Jul 17 2008
By Meg Marco
6,272 views, 47 comments

The Senate passed the FISA bill today, which effectively puts an end to any chance of legal repercussions for telcos who helped the government spy on citizens. Senator Obama voted for it, Senator McCain didn't vote, and Senator Clinton, for what it's worth, voted against it. Find out how your senator voted here. [TechCrunch]

68 comments

payday loans

Ohio Senate Passes Strict Lending Legislation, Prepares To Punch Payday Lenders In The Face

The ass-kicking, face-punching anti-payday lending legislation that we've been keeping an eye on in Ohio has passed the Senate. The Columbus Dispatch says:
House Bill 545 would slash the current interest rates charged by payday lenders to 28 percent, down from 391 percent, prohibit loans terms of less than 31 days, and limit borrowers to four loans per year. It would ban Internet payday lending, and it also attempts to encourage lenders to get into the small-loan business.
More »

4:49 PM on Wed May 14 2008
By Meg Marco
4,010 views, 76 comments

Latest by PaydayConsumer: The payday lenders are lying to Ohio voters in attempt to overturn one of the nation's best consumer protection laws more »

grand theft auto iv

Activist Who Once Called Video Games "Killographic" Praises The ESRB Grand Theft Auto Rating, Boos Proposed $5,000 Fine

Phil Villarreal of the Arizona Daily Star has located a more reasonable voice to weigh in on the GTAIV controversy in (surprisingly enough) National Institute on Media and the Family founder, David Walsh. Walsh has been praising the ESRB for its "improved enforcement of not selling M-rated games to kids,” and says he trusts the ESRB's "M" rating for Grand Theft Auto IV. More »

1:52 PM on Fri May 9 2008
By Meg Marco
3,673 views, 29 comments

Latest by drjayphd: @Xkeeper: Oh, come on, Super Sperm Bros. was a CLASSIC and you know it. :P more »

grand theft auto iv

Anti-Grand Theft Auto Political Advocate Tragically Unfamiliar With Grand Theft Auto IV

Phil Villarreal of the Arizona Daily Star has interviewed a spokesman from the Parents Television Council, a group that is lobbying for a $5,000 fine against retailers who sell "M" rated games to youngsters, about the scourge that is Grand Theft Auto IV. It seems that the group's spokesperson isn't really all that familiar with the game... More »

4:59 PM on Thu May 8 2008
By Meg Marco
15,800 views, 70 comments

Latest by Papa Midnight: @Alex Brewer: One, not that I've seen on other's Gamer Profiles. And two, isn't there something out there known as more »

news from the swamp

Republicans Have Killed The Passenger's Bill Of Rights. Long Live The Passenger's Bill Of Rights!

Get ready to spend nine hours on the tarmac without food or water. Senate Republicans yesterday shoved the Passenger's Bill of Rights into the chamber's overhead bin, killing off hope that the bill will pass before the elections. Even worse, the shot-down bill had transformed into a gleaming marvel of consumer protection. More »

1:15 PM on Wed May 7 2008
By Carey
8,343 views, 171 comments

Latest by BigElectricCat: Clearly, he has recovered his purse and taken a friggin' hike, as I suggested. I know I'm taking that chance that more »

competition

L.A. County Tells Taco Trucks To Keep Moving

Peter writes to let us know that taco trucks in Los Angeles county now have to move to a new position every hour: "The county of Los Angeles has enacted some new legislation to prevent taco truck owners from staying in one spot, with penalties of a fine of up to $1000 or jail for failures to comply." Why such a weird law? Because area restaurants say they're stealing away customers. If you like your carne asada from the side of a truck, be prepared to start chasing them down as they circle through L.A. county in a weird Mexican-food carousel. More »

11:14 AM on Mon May 5 2008
By Chris Walters
5,098 views, 71 comments

Latest by synergy: I suspect that just like down here in South Texas, the people it impacts the most or who would care more »

billing

EU Pushes For Per-Second Wireless Billing

Viviane Reding, the European Union's Telecommunications Commissioner, is our new wireless hero. She's demanding that wireless carriers in Europe begin billing on a per-second basis rather than per-minute, because "at the retail level, the difference between billed and actual minutes appears to be typically around 20 percent." More »

11:27 AM on Mon Mar 17 2008
By Chris Walters
1,928 views, 21 comments

Latest by ThatRandomGuy: Per Second Billing has been standard in Jamaica with major cell phone companies for over 5 years now. It's awesome. more »