If you’re getting paid to chat up a product or brand on social media, you need to disclose your relationship with what you’re shilling. That’s why retailer Lord & Taylor ended up in hot water with the Federal Trade Commission after paying high-profile Instagram accounts to secretly market their clothing without revealing that these were just ads. [More]
Government Policy
No, The IRS Will Not Call You To Verify Your Tax Return Information
By 3.14.16
Because trying to steal money from others will never get old for criminals, scammers are constantly changing tacks to come up with new ways to rake in their ill-gotten gains. This tax season, there’s a new trick bedeviling taxpayers over the phone. [More]
VA Suspends DeVry University’s Participation In “Principles Of Excellence” Program
By 3.14.16
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday that it would suspend DeVry University’s status as a Principles of Excellence institution after reviewing a federal lawsuit that accuses the popular for-profit college chain of deceiving prospective students about their employment potential after graduation. [More]
Nissan Recalls 47,000 Leaf Electric Vehicles Over Braking Concerns
By 3.14.16
Less than month after Nissan found a security flaw in an app owners can use to control some aspects of its Leaf electric vehicles, the car company says it found another, more serious, issue: the brakes on the cars can malfunction, increasing the risk of crashes. [More]
Analyst: If Cable Companies Lose Set-Top Box Money, They’ll Just Charge More For TV
By 3.11.16
U.S. pay-TV companies rake in an estimated $20 billion a year in rental/lease fees for set-top boxes, but the FCC’s recent decision to draft rules to increase competition in the set-top box market could put that dependable revenue stream at risk. But one analyst says that if cable companies lose money from competing devices, they’ll just make up for it by charging more for TV. [More]
USDA Investigating Possible Plastic Sabotage At Poultry Processing Plant
By 3.11.16
While it’s not uncommon to hear about chicken products that end up containing wayward bits of plastic (like this nugget issue, this sausage situation, and yet another nugget problem), federal officials are on the case of an incident at a poultry processing line in Missouri that might be a case of deliberate sabotage, instead of a run-of-the-mill accident. [More]
3M DiGiorno, Lean Cuisine, Stouffer’s Meals Recalled After Customers Find Glass In Food
By 3.10.16
Take a moment before you pop that pizza in the oven or start the clock on your microwaveable frozen meal: Nestlé USA is recalling almost three million total boxes of frozen food, including some DiGiorno pizzas, Stouffer’s lasagnas and Lean Cuisine meals. [More]
FCC To Consider Rules That Would Make ISPs Get Permission To Share Your Personal Info
By 3.10.16
There’s a reason they call this century the information age: everything is data, data, data. And today, the FCC announced a proposal that would regulate how ISPs — over which all that data flows — have to get your permission to collect and share all that juicy, valuable information. [More]
IRS Waiting On 1 Million Taxpayers To Claim Almost $1B In Refunds From 2012
By 3.10.16
Because we know our readers aren’t the type to pass up free money, now would be a good time for you to check and make sure you claimed your 2012 tax refund: according to the Internal Revenue Service, about a million taxpayers have yet to collect almost a billion dollars in federal refunds from that tax year. And the clock is ticking. [More]
Feds Sue To Halt Illegal Solar Panel Telemarketing Operation
By 3.10.16
It’s not against the law to tell people they might be able to save money by slapping some solar panels on their roofs. What is illegal is using millions of unauthorized calls to people on the Do Not Call list to sell those solar panels.
[More]
Pistachios Sold At Trader Joe’s & Other Stores Recalled After 9-State Salmonella Outbreak
By 3.10.16
If you’re dipping into a bag of pistachios as you read this, take a pause and check to make sure your nuts aren’t among those recalled after 11 people in nine states became ill from salmonella-tainted nuts. [More]
Operation That Illegally Debited Consumers’ Bank Accounts Must Repay $43M
By 3.9.16
Months after federal regulators ordered a data broker to pay $7.1 million for selling consumers’ sensitive information to scammers, a court ordered one of those alleged scammers and its subsidiaries and operators to provide $43 million in relief to victims. [More]
Student Loan Companies Could Face Enforcement Actions Over Automatic Defaults
By 3.9.16
In recent years, countless private student loan borrowers have found themselves placed in automatic default – even if they were up-to-date on payments – when their co-signer died or filed for bankruptcy. Federal regulators now appear poised to rein in this often devastating practice, warning student loan lenders and servicers that they could soon face enforcement action if they continue the practice. [More]
Appeals Court Shuts Down For-Profit College Industry’s Effort To Avoid Accountability
By 3.8.16
The for-profit college industry lost an important legal battle today, when a federal appeals court upheld last year’s lower court ruling in favor of new regulations intended to hold these controversial schools accountable. [More]
FCC Announces Official Lifeline Modernization Proposal, Will Vote On It This Month
By 3.8.16
Internet access is a necessity, but it’s also kind of a luxury: the poorer you are, the less likely you are to be able to have it. Even while, to keep living in the always-on, always-connected world of the 21st century, you really need it. [More]
Court Delays Some FCC Efforts To Lower Costs For Prisoners’ Phone Calls
By 3.7.16
Last fall, a new FCC order sought to reduce the often sky-high prices that prisoners must pay for making phone calls. Those changes were to start kicking in over the coming weeks and months, but today a federal appeals court delayed some reforms while allowing others to move forward. [More]
Verizon, FCC Settle “Supercookie” Investigation With $1.35M Fine And Opt-Out Ability
By 3.7.16
In 2014 and 2015, Verizon caught a lot of attention for doing a couple of very sneaky things. One, they were inserting a little piece of code into all the web traffic on your phone to track your every digital move for advertising purposes. And two, they weren’t letting you opt-out of the tracking, even if you opted out of the ads. [More]
Perdue Recalling Applegate Farms Chicken Nuggets That May Include Extra Crunchy Plastic Pieces
By 3.7.16
Everyone loves a good crunch when biting into a chicken nugget, but if that texture is imparted by inedible plastic pieces, well, that’s a problem. To that end, Perdue Foods is recalling about 4,530 pounds of Applegate Farms chicken nuggets over concerns that the products may be contaminated with wayward plastic. [More]
