Consumerist
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victories
Senate Protects Employee Rights With Forced Arbitration Ban
Yesterday, the Senate adopted an amendment that will prevent federal funding from going to any contractor that requires its employees to use mandatory binding arbitration, instead of court, for sexual assault and civil rights claims against the company. More » -
buying blind
Amazon Answers My Questions, Sort Of, About Kindle Licenses
Let's get straight to the bad news: although Amazon did answer my questions, their answers included "we're working on that," "I don't know," and "I don't know (but it's the publishers' fault)." To be fair to the "Kindle Specialist" I spoke with this morning, he has promised to talk to the Kindle marketing department—why marketing? these are DRM issues!—and get back to me with better answers. Until then, this is what the average consumer can expect from a Kindle ebook license. More » -
fines
Delta Fined $375,000 For Bumping Passengers
The Department of Transportation smacked Delta with a $375,000 fine for ignoring federal laws that require airlines to offer bumped passengers adequate compensation and an explanation of their rights. Inside, a listing of your options if an airline tries to bump you off their flight... More » -
comcast
Want NFL Network, Comcasters? That'll Still Be An Extra $60 (Or $200) A Year
Comcast-subscribing NFL fans did the Ickey Shuffle back in May when the NFL Network and Comcast revealed that they'd made nice and the channel would made available to Comcasters on the "Digital Classic" package for no additional charge Aug. 1. More » -
harassment
Traveler Detained For Carrying "Too Much" Cash Sues TSA
Back in March, Steve Bierfeldt was pulled aside while going through the security line at Lambert-St. Louis (Missouri) International Airport, taken to a room, and questioned for half an hour about the box of cash he was trying to check through. Bierfeldt, who works for a Ron Paul organization, recorded the conversation. Now with the help of the ACLU he's suing the TSA. More » -
tos
TOSBack Keeps Track Of Changes To Terms Of Service Policies Around The Web
It's difficult enough to parse a lengthy TOS for one web-based service, let alone for dozens, or to keep track of when and how they update them. It would be nice if some public-service website out there would keep track of this stuff for all of us, wouldn't it? Last week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) did just that with the launch of TOSBAck.org, "the terms-of-service tracker." It tracks TOS agreements for 44 different services, including Facebook, YouTube, Amazon, Twitter, and eBay. More » -
nfl
Comcast Will Probably Charge Customers Extra For Red Zone
Last week's word that Comcast and the NFL finally put their blood feud behind them to make the elusive NFL Network available on the basic digital tier was nice and all, but the out-of-nowhere bonus that the Comcast would also snag Red Zone Channel, which lets you keep tabs on all the games simultaneously, was a phenomenal revelation. More » -
nfl
NFL Network And Comcast Finally Kiss And Make Up
It's official, the NFL Network and Comcast have finally reached an agreement that will bring the football-only network to the majority of Comcast's subscribers. So, who caved? More » -
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user participation
You're Participating In The Facebook Terms Of Service Vote, Right?
You've got about a day and a half left to cast your vote for which Terms of Service you'd prefer Facebook go with—the one written in September 2008 without user input, or the new one they've drafted over the last month based on suggestions from the Facebook community. More » -
kindle
National Federation Of The Blind Mounts Protest Over Kindle 2 Restrictions
When the Authors Guild successfully agitated for the right to selectively remove the text-to-speech feature from books read on Amazon's Kindle 2, they alienated an entire group of potential consumers: people who have trouble reading normal printed works. Now a group called the Reading Rights Coalition is going to storm the Authors Guild's NYC office tomorrow at noon to protest. More » -
lawsuits
Law Firm 'Jones Day' Usurps Monster Cable For Stupidest Trademark Lawsuit Ever
Monster Cable loves to sue companies that use "Monster" in their names, even if they don't sell cables and even if they've been around as long as Monster Cable has. Jones Day is a law firm that doesn't want anyone else to use standard, everyday formatting for links in news stories about its staff, and it succeeded in forcing a small start-up to cave in to its demands. More » -
facebook
How Does Facebook's TOS Compare To Other Social Networking Sites?
If you've been following the Facebook story over the past couple of days, you know by now that Facebook has said that they are not claiming ownership of uploaded user content: "We certainly did not—and did not intend—to create any new right or interest for Facebook in users' data by issuing the new Terms." But blogger Amanda French decided to actually compare the fine print for several social networking sites—MySpace, Flickr, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Picasa—and she concludes that "Facebook's claims to your content are extraordinarily grabby and arrogant." Read her side-by-side comparison here.
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responses
Facebook Clarifies Terms Of Service: "We Do Not Own Your Stuff Forever"
Well, yesterday's Facebook post certainly blew up today, and it looks like Facebook is currently preparing an official response. In the meantime, a Facebook rep has written to the Industry Standard to emphasize that all rights are subject to your privacy settings, so even if they don't expire when you close your account, they'll still be subject to whatever restrictions you had when the account was active. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has also posted a more philosophical response on the Facebook blog saying that while the new Terms of Service are "overly formal," they're only meant to give Facebook the legal ability to enable content sharing among users. More » -
lawsuits
How To File A Lawsuit
Consumerist empowers consumers to take on bad companies, but sometimes even the negative PR that Consumerist can bring to bear is not enough to persuade companies to behave. When that happens, you might have to sue in order to get what you want. Here is a brief guide to your options when you decide you need to escalate your complaint to the courts. -
rights
Do I Get Time Off To Vote? Know Your Rights
Reader Daniel says his employer is violating state law by not offering paid time off for employees to vote. He forwarded a handy list that you can use to check to see if you're entitled to time off to vote. More » -
discover
Discover Won't Let Man Opt Out Of Arbitration, Even Though Their Terms Allow It
When John signed up for a Discover card a few months ago, he noticed an interesting item in the fine print—he could opt out of binding arbitration if he sent in a written request that contained a few lines of necessary info and his signature. John followed the instructions, but Discover rejected it. Since then they've rejected his request a second time, failed to call him back when promised, and transferred him to CSRs who don't know what the word means. The latest news: now that 30 days have passed, he's no longer eligible to opt out. John's thinking about canceling the card. More » -
jetblue
JetBlue Has Grandmother Arrested For Refusing To Delete An Unflattering Video Recording
Marilyn Parver is taking her story to the media after JetBlue had her arrested and walked off the plane in handcuffs for refusing to delete a video recording she made of an altercation between passengers. She told Christopher Elliott that JetBlue accused her of interfering with a flight crew (a federal crime) and threatened to blacklist her by adding her name to the dreaded "no-fly list." More »
rights
In Canada, the supreme court has ruled that obese people have the right to two seats for the price of one on flights within Canada. [
New York, 3:52 PM
Sun Nov 15
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