President Obama is expected to call for reforms to the NSA’s phone surveillance programs in a speech later today, according to reports. [More]
Government Policy
CFPB Fines Lender For Hiding Mortgage Kickbacks As Rent Payments
By 1.17.14
The CFPB has ordered a Missouri mortgage lender to pay over $81,000 related to an illegal kickback scheme. [More]
Cody Foster & Co. Sends Cease And Desist Letter To Catalog Whistleblower
By 1.16.14
Nebraska-based trinket maker Cody Foster wholesales adorable items to boutiques, gift shops, and even bigger retailers like Anthropologie. Their catalog is only visible to their customers. One of those customers noticed a curious resemblance between items in the Cody Foster catalog and items made and sold by prominent (but not too prominent) artists and Etsy sellers. [More]
Just A Friendly Reminder That Some Wart Removers Can Catch Fire
By 1.16.14
You know those over-the-counter cryogenic wart removers for removing the unwanted clusters of tissue? The FDA says that since 2009, it knows of 14 incidents in which these products have caught fire, doing harm to people and or their property. [More]
FTC Collects $3.5 Million From TeleCheck For Failing To Investigate Disputes Or Correct Errors
By 1.16.14
One of the nation’s largest check authorization service companies is going to be cutting a rather large check to settle charges made by the Federal Trade Commission. [More]
FCC Checking With Hotels To See If Reaching Help With 9-1-1 Is As Easy As It Should Be
By 1.16.14
If you were to pick up the phone in a hotel room and dial 9-1-1, what would you get? You probably wouldn’t be in the state of mind to dial 9 first, but that shouldn’t stop you from getting in contact with emergency services as fast as possible, which is why one member of the Federal Communications Commission is looking into how it works at different hotel chains across the country. [More]
FDA Warns Doctors, Pharmacists Against Prescribing High Doses Of Acetaminophen
By 1.15.14
Even though many people pop Tylenols or slug NyQuil without thinking about the consequences, too much acetaminophen can wreak havoc on one’s liver. Today, the Food and Drug Administration has asked health care professionals to please stop prescribing and dispensing dosages of medicine that contain more than 325 mg of acetaminophen, saying the risk to a patient’s liver is higher than any additional benefit of the drug. [More]
Capital One Is The Most Complained-About Credit Card Company
By 1.15.14
Since the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opened its credit card complaint portal in Sept. 2010, more than 25,000 complaints have been filed with the CFPB. And while the 10 largest credit card issuers account for 93% of all those complaints, one company is responsible for more than 1-in-5 of all complaints filed with the Bureau: Capital One. [More]
Apple To Refund At Least $32.5 Million For In-App Purchases By Kids
By 1.15.14
Though Apple has already settled a class-action lawsuit over all those in-app purchases unwittingly made by free-fingered kids on their parents’ and other adults’ iPhones and iPads, that deal didn’t mean the folks at the Federal Trade Commission were going to stop looking into the situation. Today, the FTC announced that it has reached a deal with the electronics giant to issue at least another $32.5 million in refunds to consumers. [More]
Sears, Kmart Recall Kenmore Fan Heaters Because They Are Not Supposed To Catch Fire
By 1.15.14
While flames have long kept humans warm during cold weather, fire is not the intended output of a Kenmore heat fan. That’s why Sears and Kmart have recalled 43,000 of the fans and will be issuing refunds to customers who bought them. [More]
Is Netflix A Loser Or Winner With End Of Net Neutrality?
By 1.15.14
Yesterday’s ruling by a federal appeals court gives Internet service providers the ability to charge premium rates or additional fees to whichever content providers the ISPs want. Considering that Netflix is the single largest user of bandwidth in the U.S., many observers predict this ruling is bad news for the streaming video service, but some contend that Netflix may come out a winner in the long run. [More]
The Net Neutrality Rule Is Dead. So How Can The FCC Fix Net Neutrality?
By 1.14.14
This morning, a federal appellate court vacated FCC rules guaranteeing net neutrality, effectively giving Internet service providers the right to throttle data speeds and demand premium rates from content providers. So your ISP has a service that competes with Netflix? It can (and probably will) get preferred treatment. Companies like Netflix that eat up bandwidth? They had better be prepared to pay the piper. It would essentially mean the end of the Internet was we know it, but is it a done deal? [More]
Consumer Reports: Recalled Calphalon Blender Is Safe With Blade Repair
By 1.14.14
Our ice-crushing colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports have good news about the recalled Calphalon XL 9-speed blender. Once it’s repaired, the blade no longer blends itself and the appliance is now considered safe for consumers to use. [More]
Appeals Court Strikes Down Net Neutrality Rules
By 1.14.14
A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., today released a ruling that strikes down key provisions of the FCC’s net neutrality rule. [More]
Medical Alert Device Robocalls Scammed $13 Million From Elderly
By 1.13.14
Unwanted robocalls are bad enough. But there’s a special place (not a good place, either) for companies that use robocalls to scam the elderly out of their savings. One Orlando-based operation, accused of scamming $13 million from senior citizens, now has a confirmed reservation in that special place. [More]
TSA Just Decides Everyone In My Line Is Qualified For Expedited Screening
By 1.13.14
Usually when we write about gripes with the Transportation Security Administration, it’s that the TSA is being too nosy and touchy-feely at airport security checkpoints, but what about when it just decides that two entire lines of travelers don’t need the full screening and deserve the same expedited screening as the pre-vetted travelers in the TSA PreCheck program? [More]
Chicken Plant Draws Ire Of Advocacy Groups, Shutters For Second Time In One Week
By 1.13.14
Chicken processing company Foster Farms is not having a good year. Just two days after the U.S. Department of Agriculture lifted last week’s suspension for a cockroach infestation, Foster voluntarily shut down operations at its Livingston, CA, plant Sunday, while continuing to come under fire from consumer advocates. [More]
Say It Isn’t So: Nine Dealerships Cop To Deceptive Advertising
By 1.9.14
You can’t always believe what you see. Especially when it comes to car advertisements. Those ads promising low financing and easy monthly payments are probably too good to be true. [More]
