While it often seems like information brokers can and do sell whatever data they can collect to anyone willing to pay, there are regulations in place regarding the sale of certain types of personal information. Following a test to see how well brokers were adhering to these rules, the Federal Trade Commission has issued warning letters to 10 data brokers who appeared willing to sell consumer information without abiding by standards set forth in the Fair Credit Reporting Act. [More]
Government Policy
May Recall Roundup: Don’t Eat The Bunny Forks
By 5.3.13 — Updated: 6.3.13
In this month’s recall roundup, we bring you self-amputating dolly hands, attack lamps, flaming dehyrators, and bats that can score a home run all on their own. [More]
DiGiorno And California Pizza Kitchen Pizzas Recalled Because Plastic Fragments Are Not Desired Toppings
By 5.3.13
People will eat just about anything on a piece of flattened bread and call it a pizza, but most of us draw the line at small plastic fragments. That’s why the Nestlé Pizza Company has issued a recall for some frozen pizzas made under the DiGiorno and California Pizza Kitchen labels. [More]
FDA Finally Solving The Burning Question Of Whether Antibacterial Soap Is Safe
By 5.3.13
You put it on your hands, wipe your utensils with it before they touch your food, slather it all over your body and generally dunk yourself in it throughout your life — but is antibacterial soap safe? Or rather, is its resident germ-killer, triclosan, ineffective or even not good for you? The Food and Drug Administration is working on an answer. [More]
Report Claims Payday Loans Result In Net Loss Of Money, Jobs
By 5.2.13
Among the reasons given in support of payday loans — short-term, high-interest loans intended to get the borrower through to the next paycheck — is that they ultimately provide a net good to the economy, allowing the borrower to keep spending and earning interest for the lender. But a recent report casts some doubt on that belief. [More]
FDA Approves Morning-After Pill For Anyone 15 And Older Without A Prescription
By 5.1.13
The Food and Drug Administration announced yesterday that the morning-after pill has been approved for girls and women 15 and older without a prescription, as well as putting it out on drugstore shelves instead of keeping it stashed behind the pharmacy counter. [More]
Path Texts And Calls Everyone In User’s Address Book About Nonexistent Photos At 6 A.M.
By 4.30.13 — Updated: 5.1.13
UPDATE: After seeing this story on Consumerist, a rep for Path wrote me — on my personal e-mail address suggesting I check out Stephen’s updated post and give Path a try for myself… In spite of the fact that Stephen still maintains that he never opted into sharing his address book nor did he have any pictures to share. Thanks, but I’d rather not bother my friends and family with texts at all hours of the morning. [More]
Report: FDA To Lift Ban On Cured Meats From Italy
April 29, 2013
Have you been aching for that one taste-bud tantalizing pancetta you had while visiting Italy ten years ago, but which you couldn’t get because of FDA restrictions on the import of Italian cured meats? If so, here’s some good news. Reports indicate that the ban –which had previously been eased but still severely limited imports — will be lifted starting May 28. [via L.A. Times] [More]
The Average Payday Loan Borrower Spends More Than Half The Year In Debt To Lender
By 4.26.13
The idea of the payday loan — a short-term, high-interest loan intended to help the borrower stay afloat until his next paycheck — is not inherently a bad notion. However, a new study confirms what we’ve been saying for years: That many payday borrowers are taking out loans they can’t pay back in the short-term, and that lenders rely on this revolving door format to keep the fees rolling in. [More]
In Case You Were Wondering, The TSA Frowns On Carrying Skull Fragments In Your Luggage
By 4.25.13
There are plenty of things you can’t take on planes — weapons, ginormous bottles of shampoo, whathaveyou — and oh yeah, also, human remains. That might seem like a no-brainer, but what if you don’t know you’re toting bones about? Two women apparently didn’t realize they had skull fragments in it, but the Transportation Security Administration soon clued them in. [More]
H&R Block Sending $25 To Customers Impacted By Filing Delay
By 4.25.13
Last month the Internal Revenue Service said H&R Block had bungled over 600,000 tax returns, potentially causing refund delays for those customers. The tax preparation firm says to make up for that glitch, it’ll be sending out $25 gift cards to any customers who filed their taxes at company-owned H&R Block locations and were impacted by the processing delay. [More]
Loan Co-Signers Should Not Be On The Hook With The IRS If The Debt Is Forgiven
By 4.25.13
We’ve written numerous stories over the years about parents who co-signed student loans for their children and then were stuck with the payments when their child passed away or could not find employment. Sometimes lenders will choose to forgive that debt, but even then some are making a mistake that could continue to hurt the co-signer at tax time. [More]
Target Recalls 150,000 Giada De Laurentiis Lasagna Pans Because Lasagna Should Not Result In Lacerations
By 4.25.13
From knives to food processors, there are plenty of things in the kitchen that could cut you, but lasagna pans have historically been low on the laceration scale. But Target has now recalled nearly 150,000 of ceramic pans branded with the name of visage of celeb chef Giada De Laurentiis out of concern that they could break and cut the user. [More]
IRS Issued $11 Billion In Improper Refund Payments, Is Totally In Trouble With Mom
By 4.24.13
Someone’s got some explaining to do: the Internal Revenue Service sent out about $11.6 billion in payments it shouldn’t have, through the Earned Income Tax Credit program last year, according to a report by the inspector general. This isn’t going over well with its parents at the White House because that is way more than its allowance. [More]
TSA Decides To Keep Ban Of Small Knives On Planes In Place For Now
By 4.23.13
After a few weeks of backlash against the idea from the airline industry, flight attendants and air marshals, the Transportation Security Administration has decided to delay lifting the ban against small knives aboard airline flights. A few weeks ago the TSA said passengers would be allowed to carry knives that met certain descriptions, as well as some sporting equipment. [More]
FDA Knew Lab Committed Research Fraud, Approved Drug They Tested Anyway
By 4.22.13
After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration learned about potentially fraudulent work done on behalf of pharmaceutical companies by a contract research firm in Texas, they didn’t pull the drugs off the market. You might think, though, that they might hold off on approving new drugs based on testing that came from that lab. You would be wrong. [More]
Fitbug Keeps Getting Fitbit’s Phone Calls, Notices Similar Name, Sues
By 4.22.13
Tiny movement-trackers are the new hotness in gadgets, and there’s a lot of competition. Still, we’d love to know why it is that U.K.-based Fitbug just now noticed that the American brand Fitbit has a very similar product to theirs, with a very similar name, when the latter product has been around since 2007. [More]
Bogus Weight-Loss Products, Fraudulent Prizes Top List Of Biggest Scams
By 4.19.13
More than 1-in-10 American adults fall victim to some sort of fraud, according to a new report from the Federal Trade Commission. And scams related to fraudulent weight-loss products are by far the most prevalent. [More]
