by Jeff Sovern My latest, here. The conclusion: When it comes to these varied privacy problems, Congress has somehow managed to be both comatose and angry. Given its inability to respond nimbly in the rapidly shifting privacy arena, Congress should avoid hamstringing those who can. Any federal privacy law should preserve the power of states to […]
According to a recent story from Tony Romm and Elizabeth Dwoskin at the Washington Post, “U.S. regulators have met to discuss imposing a record-setting fine against Facebook” for violating a 2011 consent decree that settled charges that Facebook deceived consumers with regard to its privacy policies and practices. In March 2018, the Federal Trade Commission […]
Jacob Hale Russell of Rutgers and Stanford’s Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance has written Unconscionability’s Greatly Exaggerated Death. Here is the abstract: Reports of unconscionability’s demise are greatly exaggerated. According to conventional wisdom, the common-law contracts doctrine is rarely used, except in limiting clauses that purport to waive consumers’ remedial rights. In […]
The State of New York and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (which is not shut down) yesterday settled claims against Sterling Jewelers, based on findings that that the company violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 by opening store credit-card accounts without customer consent; enrolling customers in payment-protection insurance without their consent; and misrepresenting […]
by Jeff Sovern The media has devoted considerable attention to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's joining the House Financial Services Committee. I'm glad she is on the committee–the more members who are not beholden to banks, the better–and I suspect few realize how intelligent Ocasio-Cortez is (taking second place in the Intel competition is an impressive accomplishment). […]
The Yes Men perpetrated (or perhaps only collaborated on) a parody of the Washington Post today, distributing tens of thousands of hard copy editions date-lined May 1, 2019 (making the parody too obvious), but also transmitting email from “send85-proxymailing@washingtonpost.com” domain, which in turn links to a fairly extensive parody web site located at my-washingtonpost.com. A […]
The National Consumer Law Center has a list of federal and state consumer law changes scheduled to take effect in 2019, as well as several changes that were effective in November and December of 2018 that have special relevance in 2019. The list is here.
by Jeff Sovern So reports the NY Times. Excerpt: Vanderbilt University Medical Center, responding to a new Trump administration order to begin posting all hospital prices, listed a charge of $42,569 for a cardiology procedure described as “HC PTC CLOS PAT DUCT ART.” Baptist Health in Miami helpfully told consumers that an “Embolza Protect 5.5” […]
In a post yesterday, Public Citizen reported that the government shutdown is placing crucial consumer, health, and safety protections at serious risk. The agency most impacted in the Consumer Product Safety Commission, where only 20 members of the 550-person staff are at work during the shutdown (working, but not being paid). For information about the […]
by Jeff Sovern Here, in Bloomberg. I'm afraid I didn't find it persuasive. He didn't respond to our argument that state courts often fail to discipline attorneys who violate ethical rules in debt collection matters, as well as other points we made.