Consumerist

government

Media Consolidation Is Bad For Everyone

By consumeristcarey 11.4.07

Bill Moyers produced an excellent segment on media consolidation and its disproportionate impact on minorities. African Americans and Hispanics account for over a quarter of the population, but own just 33 of the nation’s 1,350 television stations, and only 6% of radio stations. According to Melody Spann-Cooper, owner of Chicago’s only black-owned radio station:

Radio has moved from being in the business of empowering and educating people to Wall Street, to making money. And that’s not the big corporate conglomerates, you know, that’s not their fault. They were allowed to do this.

financial literacy

Government Wants To Sneak Financial Info Onto Soaps And Telenovelas

By cwalters 10.29.07

When we posted about “30 Rock” last Friday, a reader SHOUTED IN ALL CAPS that someone—either NBC, or Tina Fey, or maybe The Consumerist, we’re not sure—is a government shill for basically being paid by the gov to write about financial advice. Turns out Mr. Shouty is right, sort of: the U.S. Treasurer, Anna Escobedo Cabral, was on the radio news program “Marketplace” a couple of weeks ago to talk about how she’s been meeting with the creative teams of soap operas and telenovelas to find ways to incorporate financial storylines into their plots.

moratorium

By cwalters 10.26.07

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The Senate has approved an extension of the ban on state Internet access taxes for 7 more years. This follows a similar vote in the House a couple of weeks ago. The two chambers now have to work out any conflicts and send the bill to Bush, who has indicated he will approve it. [Reuters]

organized crime

U.S. Retailers And Police Ask Online Sellers To Help Fight Theft

By cwalters 10.26.07

The retail industry claims it loses $30 billion a year from organized retail crime—rings of professional shoplifters who sell their goods at flea markets, pawn shops, and online through auction sites like eBay—so they’re asking online sellers to help by posting serial numbers of products and by providing more information on high-volume sellers. Right now all they can do is ask, but there are politicians in Washington who are making noises about pursuing a legislative solution.

at&t

Biz Columnist Changes His Mind, Now Says "Carriers Need Regulation"

By cwalters 10.25.07

You know telecoms are behaving badly when a business columnist who just a year ago argued for a hands-off government approach has reversed his opinion. “I’ve changed my mind,” he writes. “The behavior of the top telecommunications companies, especially Verizon Communications and AT&T, has convinced me that more government involvement is needed to keep communications free of corporate interference.”

roads

The Case Of The Phantom I-Pass Transponder

By Meg Marco 10.24.07

Reader and commenter ChicagoOutfit is having trouble with Illinois’ much-loved tollway system. His I-Pass account has someone else’s transponder attached to it and he’s paying for some random jerk’s tolls. He calls the ISTHA and has it removed, but Illinois doesn’t refund his money and the transponder keeps coming back.

testimony

FTC Vows Not To Expire Numbers From The Do Not Call List

By consumeristcarey 10.23.07

The FTC will vow in Congressional testimony today not to purge numbers on the Do Not Call List while Congress considers making registrations permanent. Do Not Call registrations currently last for five years, and are set to start expiring in April 2008 despite the list’s broad popularity: 92% of Americans have heard of the list, 76% have added their number, and 92% claim to receive fewer calls marketing calls. Lydia Parnes, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, appearing before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection will hail the list for ‘restoring the sanctity of the American dinner hour.’

citizenship

Renew Your Passports Now, Because 2008 Could Be Worse

By cwalters 10.22.07

Despite all the much-publicized delays with passport applications this year, the government has announced that they’ll still be unprepared for the onslaught of applications come 2008, so if you know you’ll need a new/renewed passport you should apply now during the slow season. In January, the land and sea portion of the new passport law goes into effect, requiring everyone who travels to Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean to show proof of citizenship.

at&t

By cwalters 10.18.07

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Wired is assembling a list of where each senator stands on the issue of granting immunity to phone companies who participated in wiretapping—which could be decided as early as today. The list includes phone numbers so you can call if you don’t see a response for your senator. [

at&t

Senate On Verge Of Agreeing To Immunity For Wiretapping Phone Companies

By cwalters 10.18.07

Yesterday, the leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee “reached a tentative agreement… with the Bush administration that would give telephone carriers legal immunity for any role they played in the National Security Agency’s domestic eavesdropping program.” The senators who have been reviewing classified documents related to the phone companies’ participation in the program are now saying that they believe the companies “acted in good faith” and “that they should not be punished through civil litigation for their roles.”

ftc

The FTC Consumer Help-Line Is Anti-Consumer

By consumerist.com 10.17.07

Over 15 minutes on hold, several layers of phone tree prompts delivered in a ponderous and faux erudite tone, a rep with a hard to understand accent, and getting disconnected in the middle of the call… sounds like your megacorp 1-800 line, right? Nope, it’s the FTC Consumer Help Line.

government

By cwalters 10.16.07

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Verizon may have admitted it gives out customer info without warrants, but AT&T and Qwest both refused to give Congress any information on their participation in the government’s wire-tapping activities, saying they needed permission from Bush administration first. [Reuters]

threats

Banks Earned $19 Billion From Overdraft Fees This Year

By Meg Marco 10.11.07

Overdrafting makes the Consumerist very sad, and banks very happy.

bad behavior

Dangerous Sealant Recalled, Replaced By Just-As-Dangerous Sealant

By cwalters 10.8.07

It’s been more than two years since the CPSC first became aware of problems with the spray-on sealant Stand ‘n Seal—it contained a chemical that can cause extreme respiratory problems in some customers, but was only partially recalled by the manufacturer and then replaced with another product with the exact same chemical—but the CPSC has yet to issue any fines to the company, writes the New York Times. It’s yet another example of how an underfunded, underpowered CPSC fails to protect the public from reckless companies who swap ingredients, lie, and hide important data in order to protect their bottom line.

government

Congress Asks AT&T, Verizon, And Qwest About Warrantless Wiretapping

By cwalters 10.3.07

Qwest, Verizon, and AT&T have until October 12th to provide information on how the government went about asking for private customer records, and how the three companies provided the information. The Committee on Energy and Commerce opened an official investigation Tuesday. “If reports about the government surveillance program are accurate, Congress has a duty to inquire about whether such a program violates the Constitution, as well as consumer protection and privacy laws,” said committee chairman Rep. John Dingell.

fees

New Bill Would Require Banks To Warn You If Your ATM Or Debit Transaction Will Result In An Overdraft Fee

By cwalters 10.1.07

If you perform an ATM or debit card transaction that results in your account being overdrafted, many banks will now simply authorize the transaction and slap you with an overdraft fee. A new bill, HR946, would “require banks to give consumers a chance to back out of transactions that might cause them to overdraw their checking accounts,” according to the Kansas City Star.

government

Do We Need "Separation Of Store And State"?

By cwalters 9.28.07

Earlier this month we asked our readers, are you a consumer or a citizen? It was sparked by comments from Robert B. Reich, who’s written a book called “Supercapitalism” that argues that we as consumers are in effect our own worst enemies—our collective desire to save a buck or earn more on our investments are contributing to the increasing “decline of democracy.” AlterNet has posted an excerpt from his book that expands on this idea of how we undermine our own best interests with, well, our other best interests.

databases

The TSA Has Your Reading List

By consumeristcarey 9.23.07

According to the Washington Post, the TSA is compiling extensive traveler records that can track passenger reading preferences. The Automated Targeting System is ostensibly designed to help officials ferret out terrorists; citizens who recently asked the government for records of their travel found that the databases also contains: “a description of a book on marijuana that one of them carried and small flashlights bearing the symbol of a marijuana leaf.” Our government’s long maw even reaches abroad to gather information on flights that don’t brush against U.S. airspace.

Ann Harrison, the communications director for a technology firm in Silicon Valley who was among those who obtained their personal files and provided them to The Post, said she was taken aback to see that her dossier contained data on her race and on a European flight that did not begin or end in the United States or connect to a U.S.-bound flight.

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government