Last week, the House of Representatives voted 407-to-0 to approve a consumer product safety bill that greatly increases the scope and power of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
government
FCC Says Comcast Can't Buy More Cable Companies, But Murdoch Can Own Everything
By 12.19.07
Today, in an attempt to anger fans of both regulation and deregulation, the FCC approved two new rules. The first one restricts cable companies to owning no more than 30% of a market; the second one “gives owners of newspapers more leeway to buy radio and television stations in the largest cities.” One nice thing about the first rule is that Comcast can’t buy any more cable companies. One bad thing about the second one is that it will likely mean that Rupert Murdoch will win “permanent waivers to control two television stations in New York, as well as The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal.”
By 12.14.07
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FTC head said she won’t recuse herself from the review of Google’s acquisition of the DoubleClick online advertising firm, despite petitions by some consumer groups alleging conflict of interest. [AP]
By 12.14.07
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Kids who spin yo-yo waterballs around their heads can get them wrapped around their necks, leading to tales of temporary blindness, blackouts, and neck scars. Today New Jersey voted 71-to-7 to ban sales of the toy. [Newsday]
Consumer Groups Ask FTC Head To Recuse Herself
By 12.13.07
Two consumer groups have asked Deborah Platt Majoras, the chair of the FTC, to recuse herself from the antitrust review of Google’s purchase of Doubleclick. Majoras is married to a partner at Jones Day law firm, which represents Doubleclick.
By 12.12.07
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There’s still no official FCC strategy for the nation’s switchover to digital television in February 2009, reports the General Accounting Office. We guess this will be one of those let-the-private-sector-sort-it-out “initiatives.” [Reuters]
Congress Wants To Up Copyright Infringement Penalties
By 12.7.07
The usual gang of RIAA-funded suspects have introduced a bill that would boost US intellectual property laws and the penalties that go along with them, and allow the U.S. government to seize computers, says Ars Technica.
FDA Is So Underfunded It Can't Protect Consumers
By 12.3.07
Today, an advisory panel to the FDA will present its findings developed over the past year. The result is “a scathing review of the state of the FDA” that says it’s “so underfunded and understaffed that it’s putting U.S. consumers at risk in terms of food and drug safety.”
Bush Subprime Mortgage Plan Will Be Finalized Soon
By 12.1.07
ABC News has an interview with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in which he says that the administration’s plan to help subprime borrowers is nearing completion.
FTC Says Identity Theft Has Dropped, Sort Of, Maybe Not?
By 12.1.07
The FTC’s figure for identity theft in 2005 was 8.3 million Americans over the age of 18, a drop of about 16% from the 9.9 million it measured in 2003. (2005 is the most recent year for which they have data.) However, not only are consumer groups saying that these numbers are faulty, even the FTC admits in a footnote that “its conclusion is not ‘statistically significant’ because the sample size was too small.”
Robert Reich Talks About His Book "Supercapitalism"
By 11.30.07
Apparently “Supercapitalism” is making the rounds over at AlterNet, because they keep writing about it. This time there’s a good interview with the author, former labor secretary Robert Reich, and he takes the opportunity to summarize his main arguments from the book.
The TSA Wants To Know Your Birthday, But Doesn't Plan On Sending A Gift
By 11.29.07
The TSA wants to know your birthday and if you are a boy or a girl, says USAToday. Apparently, they’ve been tagging too many of our fine citizens are terrorists and need more information in order to help with their “background checks.”
Computer Glitch Causes Toyota Prius To Fail Georgia Emissions Test
By 11.27.07
If you bought a Toyota Prius and have been trying to pass an emissions test in Georgia, you’re probably pretty stressed out right about now.
New Bill Would Cut Financial Aid To Schools Who Don't Police P2P, Sign Up With Napster
By 11.12.07
Ars Technica is reporting that there is a provision in a massive new education bill that would punish schools that don’t police p2p traffic on their networks by cutting federal financial aid. In addition, the bill requires that schools offer an industry approved alternative to file sharing, such as Napster or Rhapsody.
"Hide Your Old Pills In Poop"
By 11.7.07
The Reuters headline is so perfect, we can’t improve upon it. Hide your old pills in poop, folks, before you discard them, especially ones that are frequently abused like the painkillers oxycodone, morphine, and fentanyl, and the stimulant methylphenidate.
By 11.7.07
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Corrupt Government: Prison sentence for fraud and racketeering and a Nobel peace prize nomination. Who says you can’t deserve both? [NPR]
White House Is Proposing Its Own Version Of Product Safety Plan
By 11.6.07
Today the White House will announce its own plan for how to tighten the country’s slack product safety practices. The proposal is being offered as an alternative to the one Congress has come up with, which the White House—along with industry trade groups and Consumer Product Safety Commission head Nancy A. Nord—think is too mean to manufacturers.
The White House version suggests stationing inspectors in other countries to inspect goods before they are shipped to U.S. shores, because “with $2 trillion in imports annually, inspections at the ports had become ineffective.” We’re not sure how the math works on that one—unless sharks or pirates consume large amounts of imports during transit, the same number of goods leave foreign ports and arrive at ours, and having inspectors all in one place where they can work together, instead of spread out in each foreign country, seems a more efficient use of resources. But we’re probably just stupid from too much lead.
U.S. Government Guilty Of Passport Price Gouging?
By 11.6.07
NY Senator Chuck Schumer says that the state department is price gouging by charging $97 to process a passport. Apparently, it doesn’t cost nearly that much, according to a new congressional investigation.
