Category Archives: Latest In Consumer News
Workplace Age Discrimination Still Flourishes in America
AARP December 30, 2019. About 35 percent of the U.S. population is now age 50 or older. Yet, in 2018, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — the nation’s workforce watchdog — issued a damning special report on age discrimination against older Americans. https://www.aarp.org/work/working-at-50-plus/info-2019/age-discrimination-in-america.html
Volkswagen intends to plead guilty to environment charges, but case put over
By MSN News/The Canadian Press Volkswagen’s attempts to plead guilty to all 60 Canadian charges it faces in an international emissions scandal were put on hold Friday as an environmental lawyer argued the court should hear victim impact statements. The federal government charged the behemoth this week with … Read More ›
2.7 billion email addresses & plain-text passwords exposed online
by Waqas, Hackread.com December 11th, 2019 Comparitech along with IT security researcher Bob Diachenko, have discovered a massive trove of login credentials that were exposed to public access without any authentication or security. In 2017, HackRead exclusively reported about DoubleFlag, a hacker who was selling one billion … Read More ›
California will mandate health coverage next year. Here’s what that means
By Catherine Ho San Francisco Chronicle Dec. 13, 2019 In a significant new change, California will require people to buy health insurance next year or pay a tax penalty. State-level mandates for health coverage already exist in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., which have sought to … Read More ›
Are extended warranties worth it? Not so much, experts say
By David Lazarus, LA Times December 13, 2019 “They are cash cows for retailers,” said Linda Sherry, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group Consumer Action. “Salespeople get commissions, which is why they push them so hard.” But that doesn’t mean you want to dismiss the idea of … Read More ›
Former CFC President James (Jim) Gordon Passes Away
Jim served as President of the Consumer Federation of California from 2000 to 2018, where he oversaw the restructuring and growth of the organization. Jim was a labor leader who started as a rank and file member of the Communications Workers of America while employed at Pacific … Read More ›
Elizabeth Warren wants jail time for CEOs in Equifax-style breaches
by Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica
Massachusetts US Senator Elizabeth Warren wants to make sure that CEOs who preside over massive data breaches don’t get off as easily as Equifax CEO Richard Smith, who retired with a multi-million dollar pay package weeks after the breach. On April 3, she announced the Corporate Executive Accountability Act. Read More ›
Los Angeles City Attorney Alleges The Weather Channel App Mines Users’ Private Data
by Los Angeles City Attorney, Press Office
The complaint alleges that TWC used the geolocation tracking technology present in the app to monitor where users live, work, and visit, twenty-four hours a day, as well as how much time users spend at each location. The complaint further alleges that TWC led its users to believe that their location data would only be used to provide them with “personalized local weather data, alerts and forecasts.” Read More ›
Wells Fargo Resolves Investigations with $575 Million Settlement
by KQED Forum, KQED
San Francisco-based Wells Fargo has agreed to pay $575 million to resolve multiple investigations into misconduct at the bank, including inquiries stemming from the 2016 revelation that bank employees were opening accounts for customers without their knowledge. Read More ›
Ex-student loan official who resigned from CFPB in protest launches new watchdog group
by Jillian Berman, Marketwatch
Seth Frotman, who resigned in protest earlier this year from his position as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s student loan ombudsman, announced Wednesday that he’s launching a new organization aimed at tackling the nation’s student loan problem. Read More ›
The perils of microtask work
by Megan Geuss, Ars Technica
Microtask platforms recruit humans to do the rating, tagging, review-writing, and poll-taking work that can’t quite be automated with an algorithm yet. A new study from the United Nations’ International Labor Organization (ILO) questions whether these platforms are as good for society as the Silicon Valley investors and digital evangelists claim. Read More ›
The final insult for desperate job seekers: Employers doing credit checks
by Jacob Passy, MarketWatch
A new working paper demonstrates how pre-employment credit screenings perpetuate the ‘poverty trap.’ Read More ›
Facebook is letting job advertisers target only men
by Ariana Tobin & Jeremy B. Merrill, Ars Technica (via Propublica)
Hundreds of thousands of Americans drive for Uber. And the company is looking for many more. It runs ads on Facebook that say, for example, “Driving toward something? Make extra money when it works for you and get there faster.” There’s just one catch: Many of those ads are not visible to women. Read More ›