In spite of the fact that everyone — from Google to 4Chan, from the ACLU to the Harry Potter Alliance — has asked FCC Chair Tom Wheeler to rethink his addle-brained proposal for useless net neutrality, it continues to inch closer to reality, and with the support of lawmakers who are signing their names to a letter drafted by the cable industry that pays them well. [More]
Government Policy
Creators Of Hundreds Of TV Shows Petition FCC To Not Cancel Net Neutrality
By 5.13.14
People in the TV business know what happens when someone in a rush to get something, anything done by a deadline puts out a half-baked product that is doomed to failure. Ask anyone involved with just about any show that has debuted on NBC in the last few years, only to be pulled a few weeks later. So when the minds behind hundreds of TV shows tells the FCC Chairman that his plan for net neutrality needs a rewrite, maybe he should listen. [More]
Comcast Brags About Net Neutrality Commitment, Fails To Mention Legal Obligation To Neutrality
By 5.13.14
Dear Comcast: Please stop bragging about how your company is dedicated to net neutrality. You’re not. As a condition of your merger with NBC, you are legally obligated to follow the recently gutted net neutrality guidelines through 2018. This is like a prisoner saying she’s a supporter of wearing orange uniforms, or someone sentenced to community service saying he really believes in keeping our highways clean. Yet this hasn’t stopped Comcast from taking out ads trying to turn this obligation into a positive. [More]
FCC Chair May Be Softening Stance On Ridiculous Internet Fast Lane Proposal
By 5.12.14
Since it was revealed that FCC Chair Tom Wheeler’s new net neutrality proposal includes allowances for “fast lanes,” in which deep-pocketed content companies can pay extra for faster and better access to customers, he’s taken heat from tech companies, consumer advocates, lawmakers, and even members of his own commission. Now comes news that Wheeler may be up to relaxing his stance on this issue. [More]
Robocaller Fined $2.94M For Ignoring Warning To Not Call Cellphones Without Permission
By 5.9.14
When the FCC lets you off the hook with a warning after allegedly making 4.7 million illegal automated, recorded calls to cellphones, your best bet is to heed that warning or get out of the business. One company didn’t do either of these things and is now being fined $2.94 million. [More]
The TSA’s ‘Randomizer’ Explains Why Some People Fly Through Airport Security While You Wait
By 5.9.14
Earlier this year, I wrote about a somewhat confusing (albeit pleasant) experience I’d had at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, where I and a number of other travelers were put through the TSA’s expedited PreCheck line — meaning no removal of shoes, belts or jackets — in spite of not being enrolled in the PreCheck program. At the time, the TSA didn’t offer too much insight into why this had happened, but a new report sheds some more light on the topic. [More]
Ford Recalls 692K Ford Escape & C-MAX Vehicles Because Airbags Are Supposed To Deploy
By 5.9.14
A software glitch in some of Ford’s Escape SUV and C-MAX vehicles may prevent airbags from deploying immediately, so the carmaker has recalled a total of 692,500 vehicles to fix this potentially deadly problem. [More]
Web Host Protests Botched Net Neutrality By Throttling FCC To Dial-Up Speeds
By 5.9.14
The FCC’s pending net neutrality proposal would allow Internet service providers to provide “fast lane” access to websites and online services willing to pay a premium. In response to this idea, which is counter the entire notion of an open Internet, the folks at one web hosting service have decided to open a “slow lane” just for people working at the FCC. [More]
Baby-Carrier Maker Is ‘Company Doe,’ Tried To Litigate In Secret To Save Reputation
By 5.8.14
For the past couple of years, we’ve been telling you about “Company Doe,” a manufacturer of some kind who had successfully convinced a federal court to allow it to sue the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in secret, keeping its name and all relevant details of the case shielded behind black boxes of redacted text. Last month, an appeals court recognized how ridiculous this idea was and ordered that Company Doe be unmasked. And yesterday it was finally revealed to be Ergobaby, the company behind Orbit baby carriers. [More]
A Second Large Coalition Calls On White House & FCC To Not Screw Up Net Neutrality
By 5.8.14
The day after around 150 Internet and tech companies asked FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to remove discriminatory loopholes from his net neutrality proposal, another large coalition — comprised of everything from consumer advocates to educators to Reddit to… the Harry Potter Alliance — has written to both Wheeler and President Obama, calling for the FCC to drop the controversial plan to allow Internet “fast lanes.” [More]
Snapchat Settles Federal Charges It Misled Users About Privacy
By 5.8.14
One of the reasons people use the Snapchat messaging app, especially for messages that one may not want to have a permanent record of, is that those texts and photos supposedly disappear shortly after being received by another user.
But the Federal Trade Commission accused the service of not only over-promising and under-delivering on this notion of vanishing messages, but that it also deceived users about the amount of personal data it collected. [More]
SEC: Early Bitcoin Adopters Targeted For Too-Good-To-Be-True Investment Scams
By 5.8.14
Bitcoin has recently been dominating the headlines with stories about the possible outing of the mysterious inventor, college groups handing out the virtual currency to students and some kind of new cologne. But for all the popularity the new form of payment has garnered, the Securities and Exchange Commission is warning investors of the dangers posed by the currency. [More]
Shoes Are Not Magic: Vibram Agrees To $3.75 Million Class Action Settlement
By 5.8.14
Even runners, people who spend lots of time pushing themselves physically through all sorts of weather, are susceptible to the idea that one special product can provide near-magical advantages. Vibram USA has settled a class-action lawsuit alleging that they marketed their weird-looking Five Fingers shoes as providing physical benefits for which they have no evidence. [More]
Two FCC Commissioners Voice Concerns About Net Neutrality Proposal
By 5.8.14
Next week, the full FCC is scheduled to vote on commission Chairman Tom Wheeler’s controversial proposal for new net neutrality rules. But judging by comments made this week by two of Wheeler’s fellow commissioners, it looks like this proposal won’t be moving forward without changes. [More]
Amazon, Google, Reddit, Netflix, 4Chan, Dozens Others, Plead With FCC To Protect Net Neutrality
By 5.7.14
In perhaps the most motley crew (as opposed to Mötley Crüe) of tech and Internet companies ever assembled for a single cause, around 150 businesses representing everything from content and infrastructure to gaming, crowdfunding and 3-D printing have written the FCC to ask that it not completely screw up net neutrality. [More]
Report: Older Americans Facing Significant Increases In Mortgage Debt Load
By 5.7.14
Once upon a time reaching retirement age meant consumers would have less on their plates and more time to enjoy their golden years. Part of that included no longer holding a mortgage. But a refinancing boom during the 2000s and a trend of buying homes later in life has left many older Americans with a substantial amount of mortgage debt. [More]
Sen. Al Franken Calls Net Neutrality “The Free Speech Issue Of Our Time”
By 5.7.14
While FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler works to make Verizon’s skewed vision of net neutrality real, Senator Al Franken of Minnesota has made an impassioned plea to the American people to stand up against the notion that deep-pocketed companies should have better and faster access to Internet users than everyone else. [More]
Proposed Rule Allows Banks To Post Privacy Disclosures Online Instead Of Using Snail Mail
By 5.6.14
Each year banking institutions must send consumers a privacy notice through the mail. To cut costs and better streamline the practice, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is proposing a new rule that would allow customers to see the privacy disclosures online. [More]
