Senate suspends anti-LifeLine AB 1407
by Randy Shaw, California Progress Report
There has been growing opposition to AB 1407 as word spread that it would shift control of LifeLine from the California PUC to AT&T, raising phone rates for 1.2 million Californians. While suspension of the bill is a victory, pressure must continue. Read More ›
Ineffective, toxic flame-retardant chemicals on the way out
California regulators and lawmakers moving forward on adopting flammability standards that would help eliminate ineffective and toxic flame retardant chemicals linked to neurological problems, infertility, cancer, and other adverse health impacts. Read More ›
9 household items that could be spying on you
by Adam Levin, Credit.com
For Americans concerned about their privacy, the NSA data grabs are daunting, but what about the data grabs happening inside your own home, perpetrated not by the government, but by your coffee machine? Your mobile devices, your TV, and now various other types of home appliances can be wired into a network that can track you. Read More ›
CVS thinks $50 is enough reward for giving up healthcare privacy
by David Lazarus, Los Angeles Times
The drugstore chain is expanding its ExtraCare rewards program for prescription drugs. The benefit to CVS is persuading pharmacy customers, through questionable means, to give up federal privacy safeguards for their medical information and permitting the company to share people’s drug purchases with others. Read More ›
Google: Why your email isn’t private
by Jon Xavier, Silicon Valley Business Journal
You might, like a lot of people, expect that your Gmail emails are private conversations between you and the recipient. You would be wrong. That’s not me saying this, by the way. It’s Google. Read More ›
LA Times Editorial: The right to phone service
by Editorial Board, Los Angeles Times
The right way to proceed is to let the commission do its work. Unlike the Legislature, the commission has developed an extensive record of views not just from industry executives but from Lifeline users and other consumers. That process shouldn’t be short-circuited when it’s so close to completion. Read More ›
How does Apple avoid paying taxes?
Apple Inc. has been accused of not paying U.S. taxes on over $44 billion in income over the past three years. During that period, the $415 billion company used a sophisticated tax avoidance scheme that revolved around three offshore subsidiaries to hide income from the U.S. government – and ended up paying less than 2% to Uncle Sam. Read More ›
Apple and the NSA: Violating American citizens’ privacy
From what has come to light about the NSA’s PRISM program and Apple’s involvement in violating privacy and other constitutional rights of American citizens, it is quite clear that the company is not like its commercial image about rebellion against conformity and “Big Brother.” Read More ›
California housing affordability declines as home prices rise
by Alejandro Lazo, Los Angeles Times
Rising home prices in the Bay Area and other coastal markets made buying a home unaffordable for a big chunk of the state’s population last quarter, data show.
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Your medical records are for sale
by Jordan Robertson, Bloomberg Business Week
As hospitals shift to digital medical records, administrators promise patients better care and shorter waits. They often neglect to mention that they share files with state health agencies, which in turn sell the information to private data-mining companies. Read More ›
Apple’s disregard for consumer privacy – a consistent policy
Opposing privacy protections is not new for Apple, as they have continued to breach data protection and consumer rights over the years. As a result, their cult-like following has begun to erode. Read More ›
Poverty-level wages for Apple store workers
Apple was recently named one of the largest wage-stiffing corporations in the world when it comes to rewarding profitability, paying the majority of their employees poverty-level wages. Read More ›
Google tells court you cannot expect privacy when sending messages to Gmail
by John Simpson, Consumer Watchdog
In a stunning admission contained in a brief filed recently in federal court, lawyers for Google said people should not expect privacy when they send messages to a Gmail account. People who care about their email correspondents’ privacy should not use the Internet giant’s service. Read More ›