Category Archives: Latest In Consumer News
SB 686: Drive to stop sale of recalled cars runs out of gas
A scandalous and possibly unprecedented year for automobile recalls wasn’t enough to persuade the Assembly Business Professions and Consumer Protection Committee to maintain SB 686’s safety drive; the measure went down to defeat June 17. “This Legislature just wasn’t up to standing up to the car dealers,” said Rosemary Shahan, president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, the organization that sponsored the bill. She vowed to continue to press the issue.
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Carriers’ tight grip on cellphone unlocking seems to have resulted in a cyberattack
by Bryan Fung, The Washington Post (blog)
AT&T says the hackers’ intent wasn’t to steal credit card numbers or commit other financial fraud. Instead, all they wanted was to pretend to be an AT&T customer so they could do something far more benign: unlock old, used handsets. The process frees up a device so that it can be taken from one carrier’s network to another. AT&T and other carriers currently let you unlock your phone, but with heavy restrictions Read More ›
Comcast Wi-Fi hotspots to count on routers in homes
by Benny Evangelista and Dwight Silverman, San Francisco Chronicle
Comcast plans to turn thousands of wireless Internet routers in private homes in the Bay Area into publicly available Wi-Fi hotspots. The service is part of the cable giant’s ambitious plan to offer customers and noncustomers access to about 8 million hotspots in 19 of the largest U.S. cities. Customers might feel uncomfortable about the company converting their wireless gateway routers into a public network – whether it’s because of privacy, security, bandwidth or energy concerns. Read More ›
Supreme Court rules against false advertising on food, drink labels
by David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times
The implications could go considerably beyond the small but trendy world of pomegranate juice, opening a wide range of product labels to challenge. Until Thursday, many judges and food-industry lawyers maintained that sellers of beverages and food products could not be sued for false advertising so long as the product’s label accurately disclosed the ingredients in small print, as required by the Food and Drug Administration. Read More ›
Facebook is now selling your Web-browsing data to advertisers
by Chris Moran, Consumerist
Facebook has long been following you around the Web, quietly snickering at you for the music you buy and silently cocking an eyebrow for thinking you can still fit into the same size jeans you wore in college. But until now, it had tracked users under the pretense of security. This morning’s announcement shows the site’s true intentions. Read More ›
Should consumers trust data brokers to protect their information?
by David Lazarus, Los Angeles Times
The Federal Trade Commission laid out its case last week in a 110-page report on why data brokers should be dragged forcibly into the sunlight. “You may not know them, but data brokers know you,” said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. “They know where you live, what you buy, your income, your ethnicity, how old your kids are, your health conditions and your interests and hobbies.” Read More ›
Half of American adults hacked this year
by Jose Pagliery, CNN Money
The damage is real. Each record typically includes personal information, such as your name, debit or credit card, email, phone number, birthday, password, security questions and physical address. It’s enough to get hunted down by an abusive ex-spouse. It makes you an easier target for scams. And even if only basic information about you is stolen, that can easily be paired with stolen credit card data, empowering impostors. Read More ›
L.A. County finds 3,500 more patients affected by data breach
by Abby Sewell, Los Angeles Times
Eight computers were taken from the Torrance office of Sutherland Healthcare Solutions, a company that handles medical billing and collections for the county, in February. The total number of patients affected is now about 342,000. County officials said the county is still reviewing Sutherland’s security procedures. So far, at least three lawsuits have been filed against the county over the data breach. Read More ›
What you really agree to when you click ‘accept’
by By Jose Pagliery, CNN Money
You can spot the words “privacy policy” at the bottom of nearly every website. Don’t be fooled. Those policies are more about data collection than privacy. Companies use these policies to alert you to how they track your location, read your emails, spy on your Web browsing – and sell some of that to advertisers. With the help of several legal experts, CNN has reviewed policies at many top websites and apps. The conclusion: Most privacy policies are basically useless. Read More ›
California bill would require recalled cars be repaired before sale
by David Undercoffler & Jerry Hirsch, Los Angeles Times
Used cars that get recalled by manufacturers need to be fixed before they’re sold. That’s what a bill pending in the California Legislature would require of all new and used car dealers in the state. And with 2014 on pace to break the auto industry records for most recalls in a year, the bill is taking on more urgency, supporters said Tuesday at a news conference. A vast majority of those recalls involve older vehicles. Read More ›
Calif. Senate OKs Bill Targeting Online Data Brokers
by Erin Coe, Law 360
A measure that would rein in how consumers’ personal data posted on commercial websites is bought, sold and traded to unregulated third parties cleared the California Senate on May 8. The bill now moves on to the California Assembly for review. Read More ›
Google must honor requests to delete some links, E.U. court says
by James Kanter & Mark Scott, New York Times
The highest court in the European Union decided on Tuesday that Google must grant users of its search engine a right to delete links about themselves in some cases, including links to legal records. Read More ›
California lawmakers taking steps to protect consumer data
by Fenit Nirappil, Associated Press
Bills introduced this session seek to guard the information generated when Californians swipe credit cards at stores, drive vehicles and attend schools. The most notable initiatives have been gutted and defeated in the face of fierce opposition from powerful business groups. Read More ›