Happy birthday, net neutrality! A year ago today, after a long and contentious process, the FCC formally adopted the Open Internet Rule, reclassifying broadband internet as a Title II communications service and creating bright-line rules to protect consumers’ and businesses’ access to the internet. [More]
Government Policy
Net Neutrality Is A Year Old Today. What’s Changed, What Hasn’t, And Where Does It Stand?
By 2.26.16
AT&T Sues Louisville To Make City Less Attractive To Google Fiber
By 2.26.16
Google hasn’t even decided whether or not it will bring its high-speed Fiber broadband and TV service to Louisville. The Kentucky city is currently listed as merely a “potential” Fiber market. But that hasn’t stopped AT&T from suing Louisville administrators in an effort to make sure that Google will have a tougher time if it chooses to launch there. [More]
If You’re Still Eating Raw Sprouts, You May Want To Rethink That
By 2.25.16
Sprouts are a tasty addition to a salad, a sandwich, or a stir fry, but they’re also grown in water and usually eaten raw. That makes them excellent vehicles to bring a variety of foodborne pathogens straight from the farm or processing plant to your mouth. Over a year ago, we wondered whether everyone should just stop buying and eating sprouts, and since then, the sprout-growing industry hasn’t done anything to make us change our minds. [More]
Banks Turned Account Overdraft Fees Into $11.16B In Revenue Last Year
By 2.25.16
Banks with more than $1 billion in assets now need to report on how much revenue they bring in from overdraft fees and other charges. The first report on those numbers shows that banks made $11.6 billion last year from customers who overdrew their accounts.
[More]
Underwriters Laboratories Reveals How It Tests Hoverboard Safety
By 2.24.16
Earlier this month, Underwriters Laboratories announced that for the first time it would start testing and certifying “hoverboards.” However, the independent safety consulting and certification company didn’t actually specify how it would test the self-balancing scooters. [More]
Citibank Caught Screwing Up Credit Card Debt Collections, Must Refund $5M
By 2.23.16
If you had a hunch that Citibank’s credit card division wasn’t terribly good at its job, you were right. Citi sold credit card debt to buyers with inflated interest rates, failed to tell those debt buyers when it accepted payments on these cards after the debt had been sold. [More]
Hoverboards Vanish From Amazon… Again
By 2.23.16
The list of retailers removing hoverboards from their virtual store shelves after receiving a warning from federal safety regulators grew again today, with Amazon stopping the sale of the self-balancing scooters for the second time. [More]
Mars Recalling Candy In 55 Countries Because Eating Plastic Isn’t So Sweet
By 2.23.16
U.S. candy maker Mars has issued a recall in 55 countries over concerns that some candy bars and other sweet treats might contain an ingredient that isn’t nutty, nougaty, chocolatey, or otherwise delicious: plastic bits. [More]
Target Stops Sale Of Hoverboards Amid Safety Concerns
By 2.23.16
More than two months after Target temporarily halted the sale of “hoverboards” over safety concerns, the retailer is at it again, removing the self-balancing scooters from its website. [More]
Takata Airbag Recall Could Expand To Cover 90M Units
By 2.22.16
The nation’s largest vehicle recall could soon be even bigger: federal safety regulators are currently discussing the possibility of expanding Takata’s shrapnel-shooting airbag recall to cover another 70 million to 90 million inflators. [More]
Report: Regulators Ask VW To Produce More Electric Vehicles To Make Up For That Emissions-Cheating Stuff
By 2.22.16
While hundreds of thousands of consumers in the U.S. continue to wait for Volkswagen to create a plan to fix vehicles that cheat emission standards, federal regulators are apparently looking to the future, asking the carmaker to produce more electric vehicles in the country as a sort of penance for its use of “defeat devices” in diesel cars. [More]
Toys ‘R’ Us Stops Selling Hoverboards Amid Safety Questions
By 2.22.16
Just days after federal safety regulators urged retailers and manufacturers to remove so-called hoverboards from their shelves if they don’t meet certain safety standards set by the Underwriters Laboratory, one of the country’s largest toy stores, Toys ‘R’ Us, did just that. [More]
Hoverboards That Don’t Comply With UL Safety Standards Now Considered Defective, Hazardous
By 2.19.16
Amid multiple reports of “hoverboard” batteries exploding or catching on fire, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has determined that the self-balancing scooters are not safe unless they meet certain standards. [More]
Traveler Complaints About Airlines Increased Nearly 30% Last Year
By 2.19.16
While airlines might not be leaping at the chance to tell customers how to file complaints about their service, that hasn’t stopped more travelers from sharing their tales of woe with the Department of Transportation. In fact, the number of complaints filed by beleaguered passengers increased by nearly 30% last year. [More]
IRS: Email, Text Scams Targeting Taxpayers Up 400% This Year
By 2.19.16
It’s tax season, which means it’s the prime time for scammers to crawl out from underneath their scammy rocks and try to nab taxpayers’ personal info. So far, this year’s electronic tax scams are even more prevalent than before, the Internal Revenue Service says, surging 400%. [More]
Data Broker Must Pay $4.1M For Selling Sensitive Information To Scammers
By 2.18.16
Data brokers are companies that collect and aggregate information on consumers to create detailed profiles that are then sold to other companies to determine if an individual is qualified for loans, mortgages, jobs, and other things. But sometimes, these companies get their hands on unauthorized, highly sensitive personal information and sell it. Today, four connected data brokers agreed to settle federal charges of selling this sort of information to unscrupulous customers. [More]
FCC Votes To Increase Competition For Set-Top Box Market
By 2.18.16
The FCC voted today to consider chairman Tom Wheeler’s new proposal for shaking up the set-top box market by, well, creating an actual competitive market that consumers have the option to use. [More]
Toyota Recalls 2.8 Million RAV4 SUVs Because Seatbelts Shouldn’t Separate
By 2.18.16
The purpose of a seatbelt is to secure a person riding in a car to prevent injury in the event of an accident. But the safety devices may not work as intended in nearly three million Toyota SUVs now being recalled. [More]
