Though the FCC narrowly voted to approve the new Open Internet Order (AKA net neutrality) several months ago, the rules don’t actually kick in until June 12. Yet with those new guidelines looming, some Internet service providers are already beginning to play nice with the companies that do most of the heavy lifting for the web. [More]
Government Policy
Net Neutrality Is Already Improving Internet Connections And It Hasn’t Even Gone Into Effect
By 5.1.15
IKEA Expands Crib Mattress Recall To Include Five Additional Styles
By 5.1.15
All recalls are important to take note of, but ones related to baby products are often of the greatest concern. And IKEA’s expansion of a six-month old recall to include an additional 150,000 crib mattresses because of the risk of entrapment would fall into that category. [More]
Report: Stick Of TSA Dynamite Used In Training Exercise Accidentally Left In LAX Museum Plane For 4 Days
By 5.1.15
When you make a mess, you’ve got to clean up your toys. It’s a lesson many of us learned as kids, and one that a Los Angeles Airport law enforcement officials says police slipped up on after a stick of live dynamite used in a training exercise was left behind near the airport museum for four days. [More]
Black & Decker To Pay $1.57M Penalty For Failing To Report Defects Of Lawnmower That Started On Its Own
By 5.1.15
Under federal law, manufacturers, distributors and retailers are required to immediately report information regarding possible safety defects to the Consumer Product Safety Commission within 24 hours of obtaining reasonable supporting evidence. That 24-hour window allegedly turned into 11 years for Black & Decker and now the company must pay a nearly $1.6 million fine for failing report safety issues related to an electric lawnmower that started spontaneously, injuring at least two consumers. [More]
Ford Expands Door Latch Recall To Include 156,000 Additional Fiesta, Fusion & Lincoln Vehicles
By 5.1.15
Less than a week after Ford finally issued a recall for nearly 400,000 vehicles that may contain malfunctioning door latches, the car manufacturer is adding another 156,000 of the same vehicles to the recall roster. [More]
Arbitration Fairness Act Would Reinstate Consumers’ Right To Sue In Court
By 4.30.15
Companies have been taking away your right to sue them when they screw up for years, using small, hidden clauses to require mandatory binding arbitration instead. After years of consumer groups voicing their concern over this anti-consumer practice, there’s finally a new bill in congress that proposes to bring back your right to sue.
Hey, AT&T Customers: If You Plan To Grab A Slice Of The Cramming Settlement, Do It Right Now
By 4.30.15
A friendly reminder to AT&T wireless customers: as a result of their $105m settlement with the FTC, the company has to pay refunds for cramming. The application deadline for refunds is May 1 — that’s tomorrow. You can visit the settlement website to see if you’re eligible or to submit a claim. [More]
FTC Halts Mortgage Relief Operation Targeting Consumers In Foreclosure
By 4.30.15
Financially distressed consumers on the brink of foreclosure have enough to worry about without having to be on the lookout for shady mortgage relief companies making hollow promises to save their homes. Today, the Federal Trade Commission put an end to an operation that took advantage of homeowners’ vulnerabilities. [More]
Internet Money Guys Start Asking The FCC Not To Implement Net Neutrality
By 4.30.15
Net neutrality has already made a lot of enemies, and the new rule hasn’t even been implemented yet. Along with big ISP lawsuits and hostility in the House, the FCC’s Open Internet Rule is now facing pushback from some of the big money entrepreneurs who make the internet their business. [More]
House Panel Strikes Provision That Would Delay Added Military Lending Act Protections
By 4.30.15
Yesterday we reported that Congress would make a decision whether or not it would intervene to slow the Department of Defense’s work to create new rules aimed at closing loopholes in the Military Lending Act that often leave military personnel vulnerable to predatory financial operations. Thankfully, legislators saw the need for more protections regarding military lending and determined the rules could go into effect as planned. [More]
Executives & Loan Officers Must Pay $600K For Being Part Of Illegal Mortgage Kickback Scheme
By 4.29.15
Nearly five months after Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay more than $35 million – including $11.1 million in redress to affected consumers – for their part in an illegal mortgage kickback scheme, the purported masterminds behind the “pay-to-play” arrangement are finally facing action from federal regulators for their shady dealings. [More]
Congress Has One Month Left To Change Or Renew Controversial Bulk Phone Data Surveillance Program
By 4.29.15
It’s been two years since we found out that the NSA has been quietly scooping up basically everyone’s phone records, willy-nilly, without warrants. The revelations of widespread surveillance freaked plenty of people out, but under existing law, the agency has acted legally. To get change, then, you’d need to change the law… and Congress has 33 days remaining in which to do exactly that. [More]
Ford Issues Four Recalls Covering Nearly 600,000 Vehicles
By 4.29.15
Just days after Ford bit the bullet and recalled nearly 400,000 vehicles under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for a door latch issue, the automaker is at it again, issuing four recalls covering nearly 600,000 vehicles with an array of potential problems. [More]
Congress May Delay Predatory Lending Protection For Military Personnel
By 4.29.15
The Military Lending Act prevents military personnel from being caught in revolving debt traps of triple-digit interest loans from predatory financing operations like payday and auto-title lenders, but there are loopholes that allow some lenders to get around the MLA’s 36% APR interest rate cap, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars to servicemembers each year and raising issues of national security. The Dept. of Defense is currently working toward new rules that would add protections for military personnel, but Congress may intervene to slow the DoD from making progress. [More]
Regulators Gearing Up To Take Action On Slow-Moving Takata, Jeep Recall Fixes
By 4.29.15
After months of expressing concern over the slow-moving pace automobile and parts manufacturers have taken to remedy defects associated with nearly 1.5 million Jeeps that can explode following low-speed rear-end collisions and more than 25 million vehicles equipped with defective, shrapnel-shooting airbags, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is poised to take aggressive action to better ensure the safety of owners of those vehicles. [More]
Recalled Jeni’s Ice Cream Will Become Fertilizer, Provide Electricity
By 4.28.15
Food that’s recalled because it can be potentially dangerous to the public doesn’t have to go to waste. Jeni’s has to dispose of 535,000 pounds of ice cream, but they aren’t just tossing it all in a landfill. The Columbus Dispatch reports that the potentially listeria-contaminated desserts will instead go into an anaerobic digester, which provides electricity while it digests and produces fertilizer. [Columbus Dispatch] [More]
FDA Continues Crackdown On Dietary Supplement Ingredients, Notifies Makers Of 16 Products To Stop Sales
By 4.28.15
A week after the Food & Drug Administration heeded calls for action by scientists and health advocates by demanding that dietary supplement makers stop selling products with a speed-like ingredient, the agency sent another warning to 14 manufacturers asking them to cease the sale of several products with another possibly harmful stimulant. [More]
Upcoming Online Airfare Comparison Changes Raise Privacy, Discrimination Concerns
By 4.28.15
A group of senators raised concerns Tuesday that a new airfare comparison shopping system currently being developed could lead to unfair discrimination practices based on information the airlines receive from customers. [More]
