The president and a vice-president for CTIA, a lobbying organization for the wireless industry, spoke recently with CNET about why they think the FCC should leave their members alone. The vice-president, Chris Guttman-McCabe, is a lawyer and as such his answers are useless. President Steve Largent, however, actually has a couple of candid moments during the interview. [More]
government
FCC May Require Text Warnings Before You Get "Bill Shock"
By 5.12.10
The FCC is considering requiring cell carriers in the U.S. to do something their European counterparts already have to do: send customers text warnings when they’re about to incur massive charges because they’ve used up all their included minutes or are about to hit a roaming zone. [More]
USDA Tightens Chicken Rules
By 5.11.10
Yesterday the USDA announced new poultry safety rules intended to slightly reduce the number of poisonings annually from salmonella and campylobacter. An agency official says that the new rules should prevent about 65,000 cases of food sickness a year, which is only a fraction of the over a million cases annually. However, most of the other food products that contribute to that number fall under FDA regulation, so the USDA can’t say anything. “This is something we can do, so we’re doing it,” the spokesman told the Los Angeles Times. [More]
Al Franken Teaches You About Critical Facebook Privacy Settings
By 5.7.10
Al Franken, hater of Facebook’s cavalier approach to privacy, has posted instructions for how to keep Facebook from disclosing your personal information to their “partners.” Guess what? It’s kinda hard! No, really, there’s more to it than you might expect. [More]
FDA Wants To Know Which Labels You Read When You Shop
By 5.7.10
The Food and Drug Administration is looking into adjusting labeling regulations and wants to know what you’re looking for to ensure a food item’s healthiness when you’re digging through supermarket shelves. [More]
Obama Administration Turning Out To Be Quite Expensive For Airlines
By 5.6.10
ABCNews has an article that contrasts the Obama administration’s handing of the airlines with the previous one — and one thing is for certain — it’s getting much more expensive to mess with consumers. [More]
Senate Agrees To Ban Taxpayer-Funded Bailouts
By 5.6.10
An amendment to the financial overhaul bill banning the use of taxpayer funds for bank bailouts has been agreed upon in the Senate, says the LA Times. [More]
Death And Taxes 2011: Gobsmacking Visual Of Where All Your Tax Dollars Go
By 5.4.10
Death and Taxes 2011 is here! Jess Bachman is famed for his annual poster where he spends two months researching and creating a visual representation of where your taxes go. The result is a stunning six-foot poster that boggles the mind. Now in it’s 4th year, the poster has over 500 departments, agencies, programs, and whatever else the government can spend money on. “It is still the single most open and accessable record of government spending ever created,” says its creator. After the jump, here is this year’s version in full! [More]
SEC Porn Aficionados Have Not Been Fired
By 4.29.10
The Washington Post is reporting that the porn-lovin’ employees of the SEC have not been fired. Here’s the breakdown: [More]
Did Paulson Violate The Fair Credit Reporting Act?
By 4.27.10
When the SEC announced its fraud complaint against Goldman Sachs, people noted that the penalties involved would involve money, not jail time. But an attorney writing for seekingalpha.com argued over the weekend that John Paulson, the hedge fund manager who worked with GS to create “synthetic derivatives,” accessed FICO scores to create his financial product and therefore violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)–which could mean a penalty as high as $1 billion, and even jail time if the FTC or Justice Department decides to go after him. [More]
SEC Soaking Up To Their Eyeballs In Porn, Can't See Fraud
By 4.23.10
ABCNews is reporting that “a new government report reveals that some high-level regulators have spent more time looking at porn than policing Wall Street.” It seems that the report, obtained by ABC News, says senior employees of the SEC spent hours on the commission’s computers looking at sites like naughty.com, skankwire, youporn, and others, thus clearly removing their only defense, the fact that “X” is right next to “C” on the keyboard. [More]
Obama To Bankers: Remember When Creating The FDIC Was Going To Ruin The Economy?
By 4.22.10
During the President’s address to Wall Street bankers today in New York City, he reminded them that their predecessors had completely flipped out about a bill that passed through Congress way back in 1933. It was, in their view, sure to “not only rob them of their pride of profession but would reduce all U.S. banking to its lowest level.” What was this reform bill? [More]
Toyota To Pay $16.4 Million Fine Over Delayed Defect Report
By 4.19.10
The U.S. Department of Transportation is expected to announce today that Toyota will agree to pay $16.4 million over its failure to notify the government about the defects that led to recalls of millions of vechicles earlier this year. The company apparently knew about the problems for several months before reporting them to regulators; it should have done so within five days. [More]
Obama Says Hospitals Must Allow Visitation Rights
By 4.16.10
President Obama issued a memo last night instructing HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to write rules that will allow patients to designate visitors at facilities that accept Medicare and Medicaid. This move would benefit same-sex couples, unmarried heterosexual couples, widowed adults, members of religious orders and others who want to have someone other than an immediate family member as a visitor or decision maker for medical care, notes the WSJ Health Blog. [More]
CPSC To Create New Searchable Database For Consumer Complaints
By 4.16.10
The Consumer Products Safety Commission has voted to create a new database of consumer complaints that will allow consumers to “see complaints of injuries or potential harm that are filed to the commission by consumers, safety groups, health care professionals and others,”
says the Chicago Tribune. Previously this information only became public after it led to a recall. [More]
NY State Worker Takes Friday Off For 17 Years Before Getting Caught
By 4.15.10
The New York Post says that a state worker in charge of running a corrections department food facility took Fridays off… for 17 years. Now they’re going after him for $230,000 worth of Friday pay, as well as other “ill-gotten” gains. [More]
"Help, Equifax Won't Give Me My Credit Report!"
By 4.14.10
A reader just had his credit limit lowered on a credit card due to some bad credit history that he says isn’t his. He’d like to see what’s going on with his credit report, but Equifax says he’ll have to pay for the privilege, because they have no record of any inquiries in the past 60 days. The reader asks, “Has this happened to anyone else, where a credit card company waited over 60 days to notify them of credit limit reductions? Also, does this violate the FCRA?” [More]
If We Do Nothing, Taxpayers Will Be Bailing Out The USPS
By 4.13.10
The USPS is an independent agency of the US government that is self-sufficient and has not received tax dollars since the early ’80s, but according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), taxpayers will be stuck with a bailout if something isn’t done about the recent shortfalls. [More]
