by Paul Alan Levy Consumer groups, bloggers and others would do well to look through the Berkman Center's new "Cyberlaw Guide to Protest Art," a handy guide to assessing copyright and other IP risks associated with using content that might provoke threats of infringement litigation.
Law360 has the story here. The FTC has only one other commissioner at the moment, though the president has nominated two other commissioners, Joseph Simons and Rohit Chopra.
Mulvaney sent a memo to employees at the Consumer Financial protection Bureau today. You can read it here.
by Jeff Sovern Back in December, the Times had an article headlined That Game on Your Phone May Be Tracking What You’re Watching on TV, that reported that hundreds–even thousands–of apps, some geared towards children, use the phone microphone to identify what shows people are watching, which can in turn be used to target ads to […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ended its investigation into the marketing and lending practices of World Acceptance Corporation, a self-described "small-loan consumer finance" company. World Acceptance generates the bulk of its revenue through refinancings. As ProPublica has explained, here, the company makes installment loans with "sky-high rates" and generates revenue by charging interest up […]
Today, in a letter to Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Hackett, the Center for Auto Safety renewed its request for Ford to conduct a full recall of 1.3 million Model Year 2011-2017 Explorers because of suspected Carbon Monoxide leaks. This follows the Center’s call for action in October 2017, after Ford failed to take seriously […]
by Jeff Sovern According to Evan Weinberger, writing in Law360: Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, who is leading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on a temporary basis despite a court challenge from the bureau's deputy director, insisted Friday that he is not trying to destroy the federal watchdog from within. Mulvaney, who has been […]
Deanne Loonin of Harvard University – Hale and Dorr Legal Services Center and Julie Margetta Morgan of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have written Federal Student Aid: Can We Solve a Problem We Do Not Understand?, forthcoming in the Utah Law Review. Here is the abstract: Americans currently owe over $1.3 trillion in student loans, […]
by Jeff Sovern Earlier this week we linked to an op-ed by Mary Spector (SMU), Genevieve Hebert Fajardo (St. Mary’s) and Neil L. Sobol (Texas A&M) criticizing a debt collection bill pending in the House, HR 4550, which would exclude from the FDCPA's coverage attorneys to the extent they are engaging in litigation. Though the bill […]
by Jeff Sovern So reports Ian MacKendry in the American Banker. The article says that Dever's candidacy is being pushed by Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, a member of the House Financial Services Committee and the National Republican Campaign Committee. As is usual in such matters, no sources are identified, though a couple of administration insiders […]