Last year, a Boston college student caught a break when a judge reduced an earlier file-sharing judgment against him from $675,000 to $67,500, calling the earlier figure unconstitutional. Now a federal appeals court has wiped that relief away by deciding the Constitution is cool after all with the $675,000 fee and has reinstated the earlier judgment. [More]
Government Policy
FDA Scolds Big Corn For "Corn Sugar" Ads & Websites
By 9.16.11
For more than a year, the folks at the Corn Refiners Association have been making a very public push to rebrand the controversial but widely used high fructose corn syrup as “corn sugar,” telling consumers that “sugar is sugar.” But newly uncovered correspondence between the Food and Drug Administration and Big Corn show that regulators aren’t exactly thrilled about the new name. [More]
FTC Proposes Changes To Law Protecting Kids' Privacy Online
By 9.16.11
The Federal Trade Commission announced yesterday that it is seeking public comment on proposed changes to the Children’s Online Privacy Act, which would strengthen the law’s ability to protect children under the age of 13. [More]
Guy Who Helped Create TSA Wants To Kill It
By 9.16.11
Of all the critics the Transportation Security Administration has attracted, one of the last naysayers you’d expect to see would be a politician who had a hand in creating the bureau. But according to a conservative site, the Republican chairman of the House Transportation Committee who sponsored the bill that led to the establishment of the TSA in 2002 wants to dismantle and privatize the organization. [More]
Colleges Banning Sale Of Bottled Water On Campus
By 9.15.11
The college students of America have a drinking problem, but it’s not what you think. [More]
Probe: BP Cost-Cutting Led To Spill
By 9.15.11
BP’s infamous oil spill last year in the Gulf of Mexico might have been prevented had the company not offered incentives to workers to cut costs rather than improve safety. A 16-months-in-the-making government report concluded that there were five instances in which BP either cut costs, decreased drilling time or increased risks. [More]
TSA Agents Accused Of Being Bribed With Gift Cards To Help Drug Dealers
By 9.14.11
The feds recently arrested 18 individuals accused of being involved in a mult-state drug trafficking ring. But along with the baker’s dozen of alleged drug dealers caught up in the scheme were five folks — three TSA officers and two cops — who are usually supposed to stop this sort of behavior. [More]
FTC Gets Some PayDay Lenders To Halt Garnishing Wages Without Court Order
By 9.14.11
A group of nine South Dakota-based payday lenders — doing business under at least 17 different names, but all sharing a common senior executive — has agreed to stop garnishing wages from customers with delinquent accounts, at least until there is some sort of conclusion to the Federal Trade Commission lawsuit against them. [More]
Analysis: Laws Restricting Teen Drivers Doing Little Good
By 9.14.11
According to a nationwide analysis of car crash data, heavier restrictions on the driving privileges of 16 and 17-year-old drivers haven’t necessarily made the roads safer. Although deadly accidents involving the youngest drivers have fallen, the number of crash fatalities in 18 and 19-year-old drivers has doubled. The implication is that younger drivers, who are forbidden from driving at night or with passengers some states, are simply older when they’re still dangerously inexperienced. [More]
Banks Must Produce Living Wills To Tell Regulators How To Liquidate Them
By 9.14.11
No one likes to imagine their own undoing, but that’s what the government has asked the largest American banks to do, mapping out liquidation plans in “living wills” that will help financial regulators pick apart their carcasses if they go under. The banks have until next year to submit their plans, which are mandated by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. [More]
6 E.Coli Strains Added To Beef Ban List
By 9.13.11
The government is adding six more, relatively rarer, strains of E.coli to the list of banned beef. Meat mongers are balking. [More]
TSA Rolling Out New Procedures For Fliers Under 12
By 9.13.11
In the next few months, the TSA will implement new security procedures for fliers under 12, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate. They can still get patted down, although it will be by a different method, and they no longer have to remove their shoes. Even if they have velcro straps and are super easy to take on and off anyway. [More]
PA Judge Deems Health Insurance Mandate Unconstitutional
By 9.13.11
Even though three U.S. Courts of Appeal have ruled on challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — though they haven’t all agreed — and it will all inevitably be decided by the Supreme Court, lower courts are apparently still issuing rulings on the matter. [More]
What It's Like For A Blind Man To Use An ATM For The First Time
By 9.13.11
Have you ever been waiting for the ATM to dispense your monies and seen that little headjack for blind people and wondered, hey, how does a blind person use an ATM? This video shows what happens when Tommy Edison, a blind man, uses the ATM for the first time. It takes him 11 minutes. [More]
Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against TSA From Man Who Wrote 4th Amendment On Chest
By 9.13.11
Many of you will remember the story from earlier this year about the man with the Fourth Amendment written on his chest who filed a lawsuit against the TSA, alleging that he had been wrongfully detained after he stripped down to his running shorts at an airport security checkpoint. Now comes news that a federal judge has dismissed complaints against almost all defendants in the lawsuit. [More]
More Towns To Withdraw Millions From Chase Over Mortgage Mod Practices
By 9.13.11
We know the story. Chase and other banks got billions in bailouts that they were encouraged, but not required, to use to help people modify their mortgages. Instead they sat on it and smiled like cheshire cats. Now a movement has sprung up to punish Chase for its intransigence by withdrawing money from their accounts. On the individual account level, that’s not much. But in New York state, entire towns are getting in on the act. [More]
Authors Guild Sues Universities For Amassing Digital Book Library
By 9.13.11
Authors who believe they are being ripped off by institutions of higher learning are taking four universities to court for scanning about 7 million copyright-protected books into a digital library, allowing students and faculty to download out-of-print work. [More]
Seattle Becomes Third City To Require Paid Sick Leave
By 9.13.11
Many businesses offer paid sick days to stay competitive, but few laws actually require them to do so. Seattle joined the slim ranks by passing a law requiring businesses more than two years old with at least five employees to provide at least five days of sick leave per year. The city joins San Francisco and Washington, D.C. as the only municipalities in the country to require the benefit. The state of Connecticut also mandates paid sick leave. [More]
