In 2010, Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which, among other things, required the Food and Drug Administration to issue a rule requiring graphic warning labels covering the top half of the front and back of cigarette packs and 20% of cigarette advertising. Ruling in a case challenging the regulation, brought […]
The Center for Responsible Lending reports: “New data from the bipartisan polling team Lake Research Partners and Chesapeake Beach Consultingi shows that voters across the political spectrum overwhelmingly support the ongoing mission of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to regulate the financial industry and protect consumers. The new findings are consistent with over 10 […]
The Federal Communications Commission recently issued a unanimous decision on ringless voicemails — that is, messages left in voicemail boxes without ringing the consumers' cell phones. The FCC determined that ringless voicemails are “calls” and, therefore, require consumers’ prior express consent under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The FCC's press release and ruling are available […]
Nearly half of the children caught in cords for shades, blinds, or other window coverings die — close to 100 kids died of strangulation from window covering cords in 2021 — according to data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Two years ago, Canada announced a regulation strictly limiting the length of window covering cords […]
Having lost a motion for a preliminary injunction in the lower courts, various tobacco companies are asking the Supreme Court to enjoin a California law banning the sale of flavored tobacco products from going into effect as scheduled on December 22. The companies argue that the federal Tobacco Control Act preempts the state law and […]
Alison Frankl at Reuters writes that a pending appeal asks the Ninth Circuit to approve arbitration provisions that block "mass arbitrations." As the article explains: "Verizon’s consumer contract, in essence, eliminates consumers’ ability to arbitrate en masse, thus neutralizing their leverage from the steep initial arbitration fees companies are required to pay under AAA rules. […]
Here, in an article by AnnaMaria Andriotis, an excellent reporter on consumer protection issues (behind paywall). The practice, known as credit washing, often leads to temporary removal of the damaging item from the consumer's credit report, and a correspondingly evanescent improvement in the consumer's credit score. Excerpt: Credit washing has slowed down the process of […]
Jonathan A. Obar of the Department of Communication Studies at York University and the Quello Center at Michigan State and Anne Oeldorf-Hirsch of the Department of Communication at Connecticut have written Older Adults and ‘The Biggest Lie on the Internet’: From Ignoring Social Media Policies to the Privacy Paradox, 16 International Journal of Communication 4779 […]
The Consumer Product Safety Commission today issued "Top tips for Holiday cooking, decorating and toy shopping." Scroll down on this page. CPSC also issued a report called Toy-Related Deaths and Injuries for 2021. According to the report, there were more than 152,000 toy-related, emergency department-treated injuries to children younger than 15 years of age, including […]
The Federal Trade Commission today released the National Do Not Call Registry Data Book for Fiscal Year 2022. The Data Book provides the most recent fiscal year information available on robocall complaints, the types of calls consumers reported to the FTC, and a complete state-by-state analysis. According to the Data Book, complaints about imposter calls […]