Category Archives: Uncategorized
More Cracks in Google’s ‘Don’t Be Evil’ Mantra as Data Collection, Political Power Soar
by Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams
The combination of expanding technology and exploding political influence could be dangerous, Public Citizen warns. “Google has essentially responded to concerns about its practices by saying ‘just trust us’,” said Taylor Lincoln, research director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division and editor of the report. “But Google is gaining so much power that regulators may find it difficult to act if it turns out that the public’s trust has been misplaced.” Read More ›
Why You Shouldn’t Get a Reverse Mortgage Just Because Fred Thompson Tells You to
by Ashlee Kieler, Consumerist
Reverse mortgages have been found to leave families with debts they can never repay, four-in-five payday loans are made to consumers already caught in the debt trap, and on average 54% of students who attend a for-profit college leave without a degree — with one-in-five of those students defaulting on their loans. … Consumers Union, along with California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform provided comments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regarding consumers’ use of reverse mortgages. Read More ›
CFC Addresses Benefits and Risks of Driverless Cars
Noting that the technology could reduce accidents if it’s widely adopted, CFC Executive Director Richard Holober stressed the need to ensure that any savings get passed along to consumers under Proposition 103. He also cited concerns about who would have access to data from the vehicles, and of possible meddling by hackers. Read More ›
Americans Say They Want Privacy, but Act as if They Don’t
by Claire Cain Miller, The New York Times
Pew offered some evidence that people are inured to the trade-offs of using digital services: Ninety-one percent agree or strongly agree that consumers have lost control over how their personal information is collected or used by companies. They are unsure what to do about it, though. Nearly two-thirds say they would like to do more to protect the privacy of their personal information online. About the same number think the government should do more to protect them. Read More ›
California’s Strawberry Industry Is Hooked on Dangerous Pesticides
by Bernice Yeung, Kendall Taggart and Andrew Donohue, Center for Investigative Reporting
Growers rely on heavy amounts of some of the most dangerous pesticides – a class called fumigants – to deliver the fruit year-round at an affordable price for consumers. Because strawberries like to grow where people like to live, in the perpetual spring of coastal California, growers often use the pesticides near schools, homes and businesses. … Nearly a decade after the pesticide was supposed to be banned, the state’s strawberry growers have staved off the deadline by warning of financial ruin. Today, they use about 90 percent of all the methyl bromide in the developed world. Read More ›
GM Ordered Switches Nearly 2 Months Before Recall
by Tom Krisher, The Associated Press
The switches can slip out of the run position, causing engines in cars such as the Chevrolet Cobalt to stall. If that happens, the power steering, brakes and air bags are disabled, and people can lose control of their cars. GM eventually recalled 2.6 million small cars for the problem, which has caused at least 32 deaths. The emails in the chain, which run from December into February, call the matter “urgent” and eventually use the words “safety issue.” Read More ›
Apple Mobile Devices Vulnerable To App Attack, FireEye Says
by Jeremy C. Owens, San Jose Mercury News
Apple mobile devices can leak users’ information through an attack using apps distributed outside the company’s App Store, a prominent Silicon Valley security company disclosed Tuesday. … Hackers could offer a mobile app through the Web that would mimic a legitimately downloaded application on a user’s device, siphoning important information such as login info or emails. An example provided showed that a third-party app called “New Flappy Bird” could replace the Gmail app and access cached emails, using the same “bundle identifier” that Apple uses for the Gmail app. Read More ›
Lured by Verizon into Giving up Cellphone Privacy
by David Lazarus, Los Angeles Times
Similar tactics are employed by practically all other telecom, financial and Internet companies. But Verizon Wireless has been unusually clumsy in its efforts to coax customers into abandoning their privacy. … It’s using the prospect of money-saving deals as an enticement for people agreeing to let the company peer over their shoulder. [One analyst] said programs such as Verizon Smart Rewards represent “a location gold mine” that can be used by wireless carriers for “big data analytics and advertising.” The wireless industry could be looking at nearly $2 billion in extra revenue by 2019. Read More ›
It’s the Worst Year Ever for Auto Recalls. Why Are So Many Dangerous Cars Still on the Road?
by Drew Harwell, The Washington Post
Those defective cars can then spread widely to used car lots and the driveways of unsuspecting buyers. About 3.5 million recalled cars and trucks were listed for sale last year, according to Carfax. Keeping track of what cars are problematic can also prove a hassle: Stericycle, a recall consultant and service firm for automakers, said there have been 544 separate recalls announced this year, or nearly two recalls a day. Read More ›
CPUC Lawyers Say Bosses Kept Quiet on Judge-shopping Order
by Jaxon Van Derbeken, San Francisco Chronicle
“To our knowledge, the commission has not taken appropriate steps in the past months to preserve evidence, such as notifying all relevant commission officers and staff of their obligations,” the lawyers wrote to the five commissioners. They said some agency offices were planning “clean-out days” in preparation for a return to the commission’s renovated headquarters on Van Ness Avenue, “and that records may be destroyed in the process.” Read More ›
Private Student Loan Companies Provide Few Options for Borrower, Driving Them to Default
by Ashlee Kieler, Consumerist
Officials with the CFPB say these shortcomings reflect an industry that has done little to make good on commitments by lenders to expand alternative repayment options. “The response by the private student loan industry to distressed borrowers is failing to help them avoid default,” Rohit Chopra, CFPB student loan ombudsman says in the report. “Too many borrowers are barely treading water, losing hope that these companies will throw them a lifeline.” Read More ›
Lawyers Ask Supreme Court to Review Medical Data Breach Case
by Marisa Kendall, The Recorder
A thief broke into Sutter Medical Foundation’s Sacramento office in 2011, smashing a window and stealing a computer that housed records for 4 million patients. The data was password protected but not encrypted. The Third District dismissed the case on appeal, ruling the medical privacy statute was not triggered because plaintiffs lacked evidence the stolen information was actually viewed by an unauthorized person. Plaintiffs lawyers argue the affected patients suffered an invasion of privacy that constitutes real harm, even if it does not amount to quantifiable damages. Read More ›
CPUC Head Michael Peevey to Step Down
by Jaxon Van Derbeken, San Francisco Chronicle
On Monday, PG&E released a 2010 e-mail from a former utility vice president to his boss, recounting a dinner the executive had with Peevey. The former vice president, Brian Cherry, wrote that Peevey appeared to be leaning on PG&E to contribute at least $1 million to fight a ballot measure that would have put a hold on a California law limiting greenhouse gas emissions. … PG&E eventually spent $500,000 against the measure, which state voters defeated in November 2010. In the same e-mail, Cherry wrote that Peevey wanted PG&E to contribute $100,000 to help fund a 100th anniversary celebration for the commission. Read More ›