Over at his Technology and Marketing Blog, Eric Goldman points to a recent district court decision issuing a preliminary injunction against a solar installation company which, according to the decision, engaged in a series of shady practices vis-a-vis consumers who agreed to use its solar panel installation services. In an action brought jointly by the […]
Category Archives: Unfair & Deceptive Acts & Practices (UDAP), including Discrimination
In Consumer Law as Work Law (forthcoming Calif. L. Rev. 2024), law professor Jonathan Harris describes the possibilities and challenges of turning to consumer law as part of an integrated work law to help remediate the bargaining power asymmetries between firms and workers. Here is the abstract: In recent decades, firms have radically transformed labor […]
Shady auto dealer practices take center stage in the Federal Trade Commission’s latest report on its 2022 enforcement activities related to fair lending. Each year, the FTC submits a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recounting actions it took tied to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, a law to combat discrimination in lending. Last […]
After receiving consumer complaints about its use of pre-checked recurring-donation checkboxes, the Minnesota Attorney General sent subpoenas and a civil investigative demand to WinRed, a so-called “conduit” political action committee (PAC). WinRed sought a preliminary injunction against the investigation in federal district court, arguing that Minnesota’s consumer protection laws were preempted by the Federal Election […]
The Federal Trade Commission has been busy the past few days: FTC Finalizes Order Requiring Credit Karma to Pay $3 Million and Halt Deceptive ‘Pre-Approved’ Claims (Jan. 23, 2023) FTC Order Requires HomeAdvisor to Pay Up To $7.2 Million and Stop Deceptively Marketing its Leads for Home Improvement Projects (Jan. 23, 2023) FTC Order Requires […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission are teaming up to fight “dark patterns” and “negative option” subscription charges. The regulators are concerned about deceptive practices that mislead people into subscriptions or other recurring payments for products and services they do not want. In a “circular” released this week, the CFPB described […]
The New York Times carries this story about the use of facial recognition technology to bar any lawyers working at firms who handle litigation against MSG Entertainment from attending sporting events, or even holiday shows, at Madison Square Garden. New York’s old law protecting theatre critics from being excluded after they panned a show has […]
After taking his sweet time to do so, my old and good friend Rich Cleland retired from the FTC at the end of 2022. I first met Rich about 40 years ago, when he ran the great Iowa AG Tom Miller’s Consumer Protection Division and I was working for the late great Texas AG Jim […]
Meta is changing its ad distribution system, as required by a settlement with the US Department of Justice, to prevent discriminatory advertising in violation of the Fair Housing Act. The settlement, entered into last June, resolved a lawsuit filed in New York by DOJ last June, which alleged that Meta’s system allowed advertisers to exclude […]
We received the following announcement: Automating Bias Symposium Cardozo Law School January 25, 9:30- 4:45 Algorithmic models built using machine learning and large volumes of personal data are increasingly used to target consumers with credit offers, assess consumers’ creditworthiness, price credit, provide debt management advice to consumers, resolve credit disputes, and more generally automate the […]