Google Glass is the perfect tool for stealing your phone’s passcode
by Polly Mosendz, The Atlantic Wire
Most people using smart devices have a simple password set up — four digits that protect your phone or tablet from prying eyes and theft. Usually, these passwords are quite easy to protect when in public; just type it in quickly and no one will notice, especially outdoors sun glare makes it hard to read your screen. However, if you find yourself typing in your password in the presence of a Google Glass wearer, beware. Read More ›
Burned: How the chemical industry is endangering lives with toxic flame retardants
by Gary Cohn, Capital and Main
SB 1019 has national implications for consumers, manufacturers and retailers, and is fiercely opposed by the American Home Furnishings Alliance, the North American Home Furnishings Association and the Polyurethane Foam Association. Beyond these and other industry groups, it is being fought by the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the California Chamber of Commerce. Read More ›
California should warn consumers about ‘toxic’ flame retardants
by The Editorial Board, The Sacramento Bee
Numerous studies buttress the warning in Leno’s legislation. A study last year by the MIND Institute at UC Davis found one component of flame retardants accumulates in human blood, fat and breast milk. The institute summarized the study by saying the “chemical, quite literally, reduces brain power.” Earlier this month, Kaiser Permanente provided a boost to Leno’s effort by becoming the first health care provider in the nation to announce it would stop purchasing furniture treated with flame retardants. Read More ›
Bill would restore online privacy
by Richard Holober, Los Angeles Daily News guest commentary
CFC Executive Director Richard Holober: “Next week California lawmakers decide whether to protect your privacy when you purchase downloads. Senate Bill 383 would restore privacy rules that a sharply divided state Supreme Court eliminated in a 2013 case involving Apple’s iTunes. Consumer groups support the bill. Tech companies are working furiously to defeat it.” Read More ›
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 ›
Assembly approves bill to prohibit spying on rental computer customers
[CFC press release] The state Assembly has unanimously approved a measure to protect consumer privacy by restricting the use of spyware on rented computers. Assembly Bill 2667 “outlaws the conduct of companies such as Aaron’s, a large national rent-to-own retail chain, which used secret spyware on rental computers to collect passwords, credit card records and medical records, and to activate webcams which photographed customers engaged in intimate activities in their homes,” according to Richard Holober, executive director of the Consumer Federation of California, which sponsored the measure carried by Assemblymember Richard Bloom, D-Santa Monica. 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 ›