Ah, lingo. Friend of businesses trying to come up with relevant names for products, say “The Bomb” sandwich, and nemesis of those not in the know everywhere else. Seems the Transportation Security Administration wasn’t amused by a man discussing his aforementioned sandwich, as you will note that “The Bomb” includes the word “bomb” in it. And the guy was at an airport. [More]
Government Policy
CISPA Passes In The House But Senate Will Likely Knock It Down Due To Privacy Concerns
By 4.18.13
It’s baaaaaack: Last year we started paying attention to the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, otherwise known as CISPA, for its perceived similarities to the reviled SOPA and PIPA bills. Despite getting killed off last year, CISPA has now been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives by a huge margin. [More]
Your ZIP Code And Your Name, That’s All Retailers Need To Track Your Behavior
By 4.18.13
How many times have you been asked “May I have your ZIP code?” when paying with a credit card? Many people just assume it’s for security purposes, but in reality it’s more likely that you may have just given marketers access to a wealth of knowledge about you and your shopping habits. [More]
When Flying, Maybe Leave Your Grenade-Shaped Lighter At Home
By 4.18.13
You might find your novelty weapon-shaped cigarette lighter hilarious and totally innocent, but do you know who doesn’t agree with you? The Transportation Safety Administration. This didn’t occur to a passenger changing planes in Miami on his way to Haiti from Boston, and an entire concourse at Miami International Airport got shut down briefly this morning when the TSA noticed a grenade-shaped object in his carry-on. [More]
Today Was The Deadline For Wireless Companies To Enact Bill Shock Alerts. Did Everyone Make It?
By 4.17.13 — Updated: 4.18.13
In October 2011, the FCC and the nation’s major wireless providers agreed to put systems in place that would alert subscribers when they neared and passed their plans’ thresholds for things like calling minutes, texts, data, and international roaming. Per the agreement, all the providers were supposed to have all their alerts in place by today. So did everyone finish on time? [More]
IRS: Just Because We Said We Can Read Your E-mails Without A Warrant Doesn’t Mean We Did It
By 4.17.13
Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union published a 2009 IRS handbook in which the agency states that Americans “do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in [e-mail] communications.” Yesterday, the IRS’s acting commissioner appeared before lawmakers to clarify the agency’s actual stance on the issue. [More]
FTC Accuses Company Of Cramming Millions Of Dollars Of Bogus Charges On Wireless Bills
By 4.17.13
In the first case of its kind for the wireless industry, the Federal Trade Commission has accused a company and its owners of raking in millions of dollars by charging wireless customers for text services they never signed up for. [More]
FDA Just Says No To Generic, Crushable Versions Of OxyContin
By 4.17.13
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn’t want to make it too easy for people who might abuse the powerful painkiller OxyContin, and has such has declared that generic drug manufacturers cannot produce their own, crushable versions of the drug. [More]
Report: CEOs Earn 345 Times What The Average Worker Takes Home
By 4.16.13
While big businesses might be balking at performing all the supposedly complicated math it would require to figure out the ratio between what the CEO makes versus the average employee, the folks at the AFL-CIO just decided to go ahead and figure it out for them. [More]
eBay Seller Freaks Out And Sues Customer Over Bad Feedback That’s Actually True
By 4.16.13
An eBay vendor shipped their customer’s package with insufficient postage by mistake. That’s not ideal, but it happens. The customer, upset that she owed extra postage, left negative feedback on eBay. That may have been an overreaction, as she could have asked for a refund instead. Again, not ideal, but that happens. What doesn’t usually happen is the seller filing a lawsuit seeking damages from the customer and eBay. [More]
Consumers Union Calls On FCC, Lawmakers To Relax Rules On Cellphone Unlocking
By 4.16.13
As many of you know, the Librarian of Congress, who has the authority to interpret (and reinterpret) the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, recently heeded the siren song of the wireless industry and decided that after the DMCA no longer allowed consumers to unlock their cellphones — i.e., unleash them from their current provider to be used on a competing but compatible network — without getting permission from that current provider. It’s move the public doesn’t like. Neither does the White House, the FCC, or members of Congress, but what’s being done to remedy the issue? [More]
Legislation Would Prevent IRS From Providing Pre-Filled Tax Returns
By 4.15.13
In 2002, when the IRS and the tax-prep software industry created Free File, which gives consumers with simple tax returns the ability to file electronically without being charged, the IRS agreed to not provide its own “free, online tax return preparation and filing services to taxpayers.” That arrangement is expiring, so some lawmakers (with a bit of money from tax-prep companies in their pockets) are seeking to make it permanent. [More]
Scooter Store Files For Bankruptcy After Overbilling Medicare At Least $47 Million
By 4.15.13
If you watch daytime TV or have been stuck watching daytime TV while visiting your parents, surely you’re familiar with The Scooter Store. The power wheelchair vendor has had some trouble lately, including accusations of Medicare and Medicaid fraud, a raid by the FBI, and even a lawsuit from the company’s hometown, of New Braunfels, Texas. The company laid off most of its employees, and plans to deal directly with health care providers, rather than blanketing the airwaves and selling directly to consumers. [More]
Louisiana Company Recalls 468,000 Pounds Of Meat Over Listeria Concerns
By 4.15.13
There’s a whole lot of meat on the table after a Louisiana meat-packing company extended a recall of 468,000 pounds worth of roast beef, ham, turkey breast, tasso pork, ham shanks, hog headcheese , corned beef and pastrami. Quite an awful lot of sandwiches. [More]
Let’s Review: If You Didn’t Order It, You Don’t Have To Pay For It Or Send It Back
By 4.12.13
Andrew subscribes to Popular Photography magazine, and was annoyed to receive an instructional DVD in the mail. Not because he’s a pro photographer and already knows his way around a DSLR, but because he didn’t order it. “I was just going to throw it out,” he writes. “thankfully I didn’t.” Why is that? Andrew frets that they would have charged him for it if he just tossed it out. But they can’t. [More]
Brooklyn Grandma Finds $100K In Safety Deposit Box, But Can’t Keep It
By 4.11.13
Let’s say you have some valuable things you don’t want to keep in your home, so you take out a safety-deposit box at your neighborhood bank. The bank manager leaves you alone in a transaction room to deposit your items, and you discover that your brand-new box isn’t empty. There’s money in it. $100,000 in cash. [More]
The CFPB Answers Your Student Loan Questions, Part 3: Defaulting And Loan Forgiveness
By 4.11.13
In the second set of questions and answers about student loans, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Student Loan Ombudsman Rohit Chopra made a few mentions of the various service-specific loan forgiveness programs out there. Here, he gets into more detail and responds to questions about the one topic no one ever hopes to face: default. [More]
The CFPB Answers Your Student Loan Questions, Part 2: Repaying, Consolidating, Refinancing
By 4.11.13
Earlier today, Rohit Chopra, Student Loan Ombudsman for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, responded to questions from readers about applying for schools and comparing financial aid packages. In this second part, he deals with the many issues involved with repaying your student loans. [More]
