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 […]
by Jeff Sovern As Allison posted on Wednesday, the CFPB has proposed a rule obliging nonbanks that it supervises to register the contractual standard terms they use that waive or limit consumer rights. The Bureau would then make the terms public. I think this is a great idea for several reasons. We all know that […]
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 […]
The National Consumer Law Center has compiled a list of federal and state consumer laws scheduled to go into effect or to expire during the period between November 17, 2022 and December 31, 2023.
by Jeff Sovern. During the last Congress, when the House Financial Services Committee was led by Representative Maxine Waters, the Committee included a subcommittee named Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions. Alas, it is no more. It has evidently been replaced by the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy now that Representative McHenry is the […]
Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a rule to establish a public registry of supervised nonbanks’ terms and conditions in “take it or leave it” form contracts that claim to waive or limit consumer rights and protections, like bankruptcy rights, liability amounts, or complaint rights. In some cases, terms and conditions in non-negotiable form […]
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 […]
The Department of Education announced today a proposal to “to reduce the cost of federal student loan payments, especially for low and middle-income borrowers.” The Department says that the proposed regulations “would create the most affordable income-driven repayment (IDR) plan that has ever been made available to student loan borrowers, simplify the program, and eliminate […]
The Washington Post reports that companies touting new tech products — including health wearables, smart TVs, autonomous vehicles, and other gadgets that rely on data from our bodies or homes — seldom directly address how they treat customer’s data after it’s collected or their approach to safety and security. The article is here.
Read this December 15, 2022 article in Consumer Reports, titled “Lead and Cadmium Could Be in Your Dark Chocolate,” which found, based on product testing, “dangerous heavy metals in chocolate from Hershey’s, Theo, Trader Joe’s and other popular brands.” (The article also found that other products are safer.) Two class actions have been filed against Trader Joe’s […]