Just a month after lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill that would open up Cuba to tourist travel following the 2016 decision to end the all-out travel ban, the Trump administration has outlined a proposal that would restrict the small amount of tourist travel currently allowed, potentially throwing a wrench in airlines’ business in the country. [More]
restrictions
‘Financial CHOICE Act 2.0’ Rolling Back Consumer Protections Moves Forward
By 5.4.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
The House Financial Service Committee approved the Financial CHOICE Act 2.0 today, signaling the first concrete move to roll back consumer protections and gut the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. [More]
Tesla Changes Autopilot Again, Restricts Driving To Posted Speed Limit On Some Roads
By 12.22.16
Tesla’s Autopilot has faced a slew of issues and controversies this year following the first fatal crash to occur while the semi-autonomous function was activated: from Germany asking the company to change the feature’s name to updates that included radar and driver enhancement safety checks. Now, the electric carmaker is making another change, rolling out an update that limits the vehicle to driving at the speed limit when on certain roads. [More]
Renting A Rulebreaking Airbnb Could Leave You Without A Place To Sleep
By 11.28.16
While Airbnb and New York City continue to battle it out over new restrictions that would penalize hosts with hefty fines for subletting whole apartments for less than 30 days, a California couple says the law — which isn’t currently being enforced — led to a costly and frustrating scenario while visiting the Big Apple. [More]
Amid Fake Account Fiasco, Wells Fargo Must Now Get Permission to Hire Or Fire Executives
By 11.21.16
Two months after federal regulators imposed a $185 million fine and other sanctions against Wells Fargo for its fake account fiasco, one of those agencies — the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — has rolled back some of the terms of its deal, signaling it will require more oversight of the company. [More]
Tesla’s Future Fully Self-Driving Cars Won’t Be Allowed On Uber, Lyft Platforms
By 10.20.16
As you may have heard, Tesla recently announced it would begin making fully autonomous vehicles. But if your enterprising mind immediately began thinking of ways you could make money by using your future self-driving car, say, by providing rides through Uber or Lyft, without actually driving, we’ve got some bad news: the electric carmaker will only allow its vehicles to be used on its own ride-share network. [More]
New Rules Aim To Regulate Online College Programs
By 7.25.16
Colleges offering distance education, such as online courses, must receive authorization from each state where it has students in order to receive federal financial aid, according to recently released rules that aim to better regulate the online education industry and ensure students understand what protections they have when attending a college in another state. [More]
Dept. Of Education Reveals Names Of 550 Colleges — Mostly For-Profits — Under Federal Scrutiny
By 4.7.15
For months now, Congress has debated the merits of creating an oversight committee tasked with improving coordination in federal and state oversight of the for-profit college industry. If that group ever comes to fruition, it appears they would likely have their work cut out for them, as the Department of Education recently released its previously secret list of colleges under scrutiny for financial reasons, half of which are for-profit schools. [More]
U.S. Travelers To Cuba Can Now Rent Through Airbnb
By 4.2.15
While many American companies continue to make preparations for the loosened travel restrictions between the U.S. and Cuba, online-home rental marketplace Airbnb says it already has properties available on the island for booking. [More]
Does "One Coupon Per Customer" Apply To Couples Making Individual Purchases?
By 7.19.10
Liz is wondering what’s going on at her local Hobby Lobby. She’s a professional doll maker and she buys a lot of supplies from the craft store chain every month. So far, she and her husband have been able to use the company’s in-store coupons for separate purchases even if they stand together in line at the register, but it looks like her Hobby Lobby may be cracking down on that. Should it? [More]
W Hotel In Hollywood Won't Let Guests Use Its Pool
By 4.6.10
If you plan to visit Los Angeles and want to stay at the W Hollywood, don’t expect to get to see the rooftop pool. The hotel contracted the running and maintenance of its pool out to a Las Vegas promotion company, and now it’s been turned into an exclusive club and is off-limits to paying customers of the hotel. [More]
TSA Gets Some Damned Sense, Eases Flight Restrictions
By 12.28.09
Good news, people who are in the unfortunate position of having to do business with an airline in the near future: the TSA’s embarrassingly reactionary new “security rules” have been eased as of this afternoon. Now it is up to the captain whether they’re enforced on each flight, reports CBS News. [More]
Apple And Audible Refuse To Sell Author's Audiobooks Without DRM Or Abusive Licensing Agreement
By 12.11.09
Cory Doctorow is self-publishing a book and documenting the process for Publishers Weekly. His latest column is about selling audiobook versions of his past works, and how both Apple and Audible have refused to budge on their anti-consumer policies when it comes to digital rights management (DRM) and end user license agreements (EULAs). Even though both companies get paid the same either way, and even though both Doctorow and his publisher, Random House, want to sell the content without these restrictions, Apple and Audible have said no. [More]
Federal Reserve Proposes Rules On Gift Cards
By 11.16.09
Here’s your chance to sound off on another consumer protection issue. In accordance with the CARD Act, today the Federal Reserve proposed new rules that would protect consumers from fees and expiration dates on gift cards, and they’ll soon be accepting comments on the rules.
B&N Ebook Reader Lets You Loan A Book Just Once
By 10.23.09
One of the big selling points about the Nook, the new ebook reader introduced this week by Barnes & Noble, is that unlike Amazon they’ll let you virtually “loan” your ebook to a friend for up to 14 days (if the publisher allows it). What they don’t tell you–some smart readers over at MobileRead sussed it out–is that you can only do this one time per book. You’d better lend wisely–and your friend had better finish that book within 14 days.
Carry Liquids On A Plane In 2-Liter Bottles
By 9.3.09
“Baby Soda Bottles” are 2-liter bottles before they’ve been heated and formed into their soda bottle shape. In this pre-bottle stage, they make waterproof, hard-to-crush containers for small objects, and they hold approximately 2 ounces of liquid which makes them useful for air travel. Oh also, you can use regular 2-liter bottle caps on them.
Amazon Answers My Questions, Sort Of, About Kindle Licenses
By 8.27.09
Let’s get straight to the bad news: although Amazon did answer my questions, their answers included “we’re working on that,” “I don’t know,” and “I don’t know (but it’s the publishers’ fault).” To be fair to the “Kindle Specialist” I spoke with this morning, he has promised to talk to the Kindle marketing department—why marketing? these are DRM issues!—and get back to me with better answers. Until then, this is what the average consumer can expect from a Kindle ebook license.
Amazon Tries To Clarify Download Limits For Kindle Books, Doesn't Quite Succeed
By 6.23.09
Dan, the Kindle owner who last week found that some of the books he’d purchased were no longer available to download due to unspecified limitations set by the publisher, spoke to more Amazon reps on Sunday. They clarified the DRM policy. Well, sort of.
