Who sees your prescription information? No, there are more people involved than just the pharmacists and technicians at your local drugstore and your doctor and his or her employees. Information about your medications can also end up with data miners, insurance companies other than your health insurer, and companies that your pharmacy does business with. [More]
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Time Warner Cable Warns 320,000 Customers Their Email & Passwords May Have Been Breached
By 1.7.16
Hundreds of thousands of Time Warner Cable customers received alerts this week telling them to change their email passwords after law enforcement officials notified TWC that hackers may have gotten their hands on this sensitive information.
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Comcast Resets Passwords For 200,000 Email Customers After Possible Account Leak
By 11.9.15
Comcast email customers became the latest victims of a potential hack attack this weekend, as the company confirmed it reset passwords for nearly 200,000 users after their email addresses and passwords were posted for sale on a hacker marketplace. [More]
Ashley Madison Offering $378,000 Reward For Info On Hackers
By 8.24.15
While big companies have been known to offer “bounties” to white-hat hackers to test for weaknesses in their networks and websites to ensure they aren’t one day breached in a cyber attack, it’s too late for AshleyMadison.com, the dating site for cheaters. After the embarrassment of having its users’ private information made very public, the site is now dangling several hundred thousand dollars as a reward for information leading to the arrest of the group behind the massive hack. [More]
![An example of the new statistics users can find for health facilities on Yelp. [via Yelp]](../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/6a00d83452b44469e201b7c7b9a08c970b-800wi.png?w=300&h=225&crop=1)
Yelp Adds Hospital Wait Times, Nursing Home Fine Info To Reviews
By 8.5.15
When a trip to the emergency room is in order, you’re usually in a hurry, because, after all, it’s an emergency. Sitting around waiting to be seen by a doctor can be an agonizing experience for those in need of quick help. While Yelp can’t hurry along those doctors, it can apparently tell you just how long you might expect to be camped out in the hospital E.R. [More]
NHTSA Considering Options To Speed Up Takata Airbag Replacement, Seeks Updated Recall Details
By 6.23.15
Now that automakers have identified all 33.8 million vehicles equipped with potential shrapnel-shooting Takata airbags, federal regulators are looking for ways to speed up the repair process. [More]
What Information Is Available When Someone Scans My Driver’s License?
By 4.27.15 — Updated: 5.23.17
There’s a lot of information about you on the back of your state-issued driver’s license or non-driver ID card, but does scanning your license or making a copy of it give potential identity thieves key information about you? It’s not easy to find out what data is encoded in the barcodes on the back of your ID cards, and your state’s motor vehicles department may not want you to know. [More]
Check Out The Department Of Transportation's New Site For Airline Passengers
By 1.29.10
If you’ve got a complaint about an airline, or you want to find out more about whether your complaint is valid, oh boy is there a treat in store for you! Earlier this month, the DOT launched a redesigned consumer aviation website at airconsumer.dot.gov. The goal of the site is “to make it as easy as possible for consumers to find the information they need to make their air travel experience as smooth and hassle-free as possible.” [More]
University Launches Free Financial Education Website
By 10.7.09
We love free, and we love attempts to make people savvier about personal finance, so we really like this new personal finance website from the University of Idaho. It’s got all the basics covered, and there are things like checklists and downloadable worksheets so you can practice what they’re preaching. Some of the information is geared specifically to Idaho residents, but for the most part this is useful content that anyone can take advantage of.
Seven Free Sites To Track Your Personal Information
By 9.14.09
The Consumer Reports Money Adviser has compiled a great list of sites that store your personal information and will provide free copies of their reports to you if you ask.
Comcast: In Case Of Emergency, Remain Calm, Watch QVC
By 8.2.09
When Comcast activates the emergency alert system, Jim’s cable box snaps into action and tunes itself to QVC. The locked cable box refuses to tune to any other channel, so Jim is left wondering what emergency information he’s missing while staring at the latest deals on cubic zirconia bracelets.
American Express Keeps Emailing Sensitive Customer Info To A Random Stranger
By 6.8.09
We’re starting to think Amex doesn’t take this whole “data security” thing very seriously. First they confused a customer, and us, a few months ago with their random confirmation phone call, where they demanded a customer turn over bank account information over the phone without giving him a way to verify they were really Amex. Now a reader says the company has “for years” been sending him someone else’s account info via email, including the customer’s name and the last 5 digits of his account number. J.R. writes, “Seriously, I’ve seen better security on a video game forum.”
Menu Labeling Controversy Reaches Congress
By 5.17.09
California and New York City already require chains to display calorie counts alongside menu items, but if two Members of Congress have their way, menu labeling legislation will soon apply to chains and fast food restaurants throughout the nation. The Menu Education and Labeling (MEAL) Act introduced by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) would go even farther than existing state and local regulations by requiring chains to disclose fat, carbohydrate and salt content on their printed menus. The food industry, of course, is supporting a more palatable bill with an equally snappy acronym…
Metrolink Addresses Confusing Wording Regarding Monthly Passes
By 3.19.09
It looks like someone at Metrolink in Southern California reads The Consumerist, because their communications manager responded today to yesterday’s post about some potentially confusing language on their website. He even posted a suggested revision to the language in an attempt to clear it up, and is asking for reader feedback.
SoCal's Metrolink Monthly Pass Doesn't Work The Way You Probably Think
By 3.19.09
Dillon is in college, and he tried to save money by buying a monthly pass on the Metrolink transit system in Southern California. The problem is that Metrolink does a terrible job of explaining how the monthly pass works, and their own staff gives out incorrect information to customers buying the pass for the first time. Now Dillon faces a $250 citation for fare evasion because it turns out he could only use his pass for the upcoming month.
Knowledge Is Power?
By 1.3.09
Self-proclaimed leading contemporary critic of the Internet Andrew Keen says that increased broadband access will lead to a second Holocaust. Seriously.
Maximize Your Netflix Membership With FeedFlix
By 10.10.08
We first discovered the very useful FeedFlix back in May, and since then the site’s been updated to present more data on how well you utilize your Netflix membership. By pasting in any of your private Netflix RSS feeds, you’ll see a breakdown of your activity stats, like how long on average you keep titles and your average cost-per-rental. A handy new feature is the “email alerts” function, where you’ll receive a weekly reminder if you’ve kept a title past a certain number of days. We’ve included a screenshot below.
