You hate robocalls. We hate robocalls. Probably even our pets hate robocalls. They are a scourge on modern communications. Even new FCC Chair Ajit Pai hates these auto-dialed, pre-recorded nuisances, but his history on the subject has us wondering if he’ll continue the FCC’s work in curbing robocalls or give in to businesses who want to use them to sell us things. [More]
Government Policy
State: Time Warner Cable Defrauded Customers By Advertising Internet Speeds It Couldn’t Provide
By 2.1.17
Back in 2015, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman launched a statewide effort to measure residents’ broadband speeds to see if they were getting the “blazing fast” internet access that the service providers advertised. Today, Schneiderman announced his office is suing New York City’s biggest broadband provider for not only failing to live up to its promises, but for allegedly knowing that many customers couldn’t possibly see the speeds that TWC promised. [More]
Company Demands Thousands Of Dollars Over Negative Yelp Reviews, Despite Federal Law
By 2.1.17
In December, after an inexplicably long trip through the legislative process, President Obama signed the Consumer Review Fairness Act, making it illegal for companies to demand that consumers sign away their right to speak honestly. However, not everyone seems to have gotten this message. [More]
Alleged Sellers Of Magic Disease-Curing Laser Arrested, Indicted For Fraud
By 1.31.17
There are medical conditions that can be treated with lasers. Laser eye surgery is safe and commonplace, for example. Skin disorders and arthritis pain can be treated with lasers, too. However, what you can’t do is cure every disease known to medicine by paying thousands of dollars for a handheld laser from some dude in South Dakota. [More]
Auto Industry: Possible Border Tax Would Raise Prices, Even On American-Made Cars
By 1.31.17
Facing a possible new tax on imported goods, some of the biggest names in auto manufacturing and retail are calling on lawmakers to rethink the tax, claiming it will hurt their businesses and lead to higher prices. [More]
Report: Treasury Secretary Nominee Mnuchin Misled Senate About Robo-Signed Foreclosures
By 1.30.17
Steve Mnuchin, President Trump’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, recently told members of the Senate Finance Committee that his former bank OneWest did not use the illegal practice of “robo-signing” when foreclosing on homeowners after the collapse of the housing bubble. However, a new report claims that OneWest repeatedly used robo-signed documents on foreclosures. [More]
Trump Executive Order Requires Cutting 2 Old Rules For Every 1 New Rule, But Is It That Easy?
By 1.30.17
This morning, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that is being described as “two out, one in,” meaning that for each new federal regulation, two existing rules are to be cut. While it might seem like a simple concept, the reality is quite different. [More]
Starbucks CEO Says Company Will Hire 10,000 Refugees At Stores Around World
By 1.30.17
Amid efforts by the Trump administration to curb immigration, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced over the weekend that his company “will neither stand by, nor stand silent, as the uncertainty around the new Administration’s actions grows with each passing day.” [More]
FDA Once Again Finds Elevated Levels Of Belladonna In Some Hyland’s Homeopathic Teething Tablets
By 1.27.17
Your infant is in pain from sore gums, and you want to do something to ease that pain, so maybe you consider a homeopathic treatment, with its heavily diluted active ingredients. What you may not know is that this seemingly innocuous teething tablet might contain unsafe levels of potentially dangerous belladonna. [More]
Cable & Phone Industries Tell Congress To Reverse New Internet Privacy Rule
By 1.27.17
Last fall, the FCC approved a new rule detailing internet service providers can and can’t gather and use your information. The affected industries cried “unfair!” and now, with a new business-friendly FCC Chairman and White House, they are calling on Congress to make this pesky privacy rule go away. [More]
Congressional Committee Officially Asks FCC To Kill Set-Top Box Reform
By 1.27.17
If you had any hope of being able to get your cable box from someone other than your cable company (or paying Tivo’s ridiculously high prices and subscription fees), you should probably just throw that hope into the garbage bin. One Congressional committee — the head of which has been heavily funded by the pay-TV and broadcast industries — has officially called on new FCC Chair Ajit Pai to scuttle the agency’s stalled efforts to make set-top boxes better and more affordable. [More]
Consumer Advocates, 17 States Willing To Defend CFPB In Court If Trump Administration Won’t
By 1.26.17
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is barely five years old and its future is already in doubt after a divided federal appeals court ruled that the CFPB’s leadership structure is unconstitutional. The Bureau’s legal battle is far from over, but the new Trump administration would likely not fight a court ruling the White House seems to agree with. That’s why a number of consumer advocates and more than a dozen state attorneys general have stepped up, seeking to defend the CFPB if the new executive branch won’t. [More]
Verizon And Charter Romance Heats Up; Could Merger Marriage Be On Horizon?
By 1.26.17
Earlier this month, it was reported that Verizon has a thing for big cable companies that begin with the letter “C,” and that it really wants to make out under the bleachers with either Comcast or Charter. Now comes news that Big V has actually begun the courting process with the latter. [More]
For-Profit Prisons Could See Boost With Trump’s Executive Order To Open New Detention Centers
By 1.25.17
While much of today’s news about President Trump’s latest executive order is the directive to build his often-promised wall along the border between Mexico and the U.S., the order also directs the federal government to get to work immediately on building — or contracting out — detention centers along that border, providing a potential boon to the for-profit prison industry. [More]
Senators Call On AT&T And Time Warner To Explain How Merger Will Benefit Americans
By 1.25.17
During the campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump talked openly about putting a halt to the pending merger of AT&T and Time Warner, he has since appointed an FCC Chairman who has historically been pro-merger. That’s why a handful of Senators have called on the two companies to explain how this consolidation will be in the public interest. [More]
5 Things We’ve Learned About How Companies Track You Online And Off
By 1.25.17
Is there an ad that seems to be following you everywhere? Perhaps you browsed for new sneakers in a slow moment at work a week ago, and now you see ads for them on every site you view on your phone? Or maybe you clicked an ad on Facebook, and now that company’s product seems to be stalking you around the internet, asking you to buy it in every sidebar ad you see. [More]
Court Declines To Rehear Appeal, Agrees Microsoft Can’t Be Forced To Turn Over Email Stored Overseas
By 1.24.17
Back in July, a federal appeals court took Microsoft’s side in a case over a contentious question: if you’re a U.S. company, storing a customer’s data on a server in another country, are you obligated to turn over all that data as part of a search warrant? Microsoft said no, and many years later, it appears that at the end of the appeals process, the court once and for all agrees. [More]
Tax Season Is Now Open: Here’s Why You Should File ASAP
By 1.24.17
As of today, tax season is officially open! While you might want to file as early as you can if you’re expecting a refund, there’s also a very good reason why you should file as soon as you have your documents in order: to block overseas identity thieves from doing it first. [More]
