News

2018

August

17

• Are targeted ads stalking you? Here’s how to make them stop. Online ads have always been annoying, but now they’re worse than ever.

16

• How to block and report spam calls, texts. Unwanted calls and spam texts are annoying, but you can do something about them. Here’s how to block and report them so they won’t bother you again.

15

• LA to screen transit passengers with body scanners. Los Angeles’s transit agency said Tuesday that it would become the first in the nation to screen its passengers with body scanners as they enter the public transit system—a bold move

• Big tech is still violating your privacy. The E.U.’s General Data Protection Regulation law (GDPR) aims to redress the startling imbalance of power between big tech and the consumer, giving people more control over their data and making big

14

• Google services tracking location data despite privacy settings. Google wants to know where you go so badly that it records your movements even when you explicitly tell it not to.

• Banks and retailers are tracking how you type, swipe and tap. When you’re browsing a website and the mouse cursor disappears, it might be a computer glitch — or it might be a deliberate test to find out who you are.

11

• Why Apple Pay is the highest-rated mobile P2P payment service. Mobile peer-to-peer payment services used on smartphones, tablets—and even smartwatches—have revolutionized on-the-spot money transfers. But what if that money doesn't go where you intended? And how do you know your

10

• Want better customer service? Don’t call. Text.. The biggest shift in customer service since the 1-800 number is underway. Some 20 million businesses now use Facebook Messenger each month to talk with customers. Apple is leading companies as diverse as Lowe’s,

09

• CFPB no place for Donald Trump's neophyte nominee. You wouldn't send in a relief pitcher who never pitched an inning. Or take your car to an auto mechanic who never repaired one. You certainly wouldn't get surgery from someone who

• No, your iPhone isn't eavesdropping on you. In a letter to federal lawmakers, the tech giant insisted that iPhones do not listen to what users are saying and said third-party app developers don't have access to audio data. "We believe

08

• China’s influence on digital privacy could be global. China’s digital privacy practices have sounded alarms in the West for years. Recent headlines about China highlight the growing use of facial recognition surveillance, the rise of the controversial social credit system and

• Companies are racing to get your banking data. Facebook’s push to gain access to users' banking data and other sensitive financial information could help make online banking more efficient—or it could backfire among those skeptical that the world&rsquo

• Cuestionan técnicas para tener a niños pegados a pantallas. El uso de técnicas psicológicas para mantener a los niños pegados a sus pantallas alarma a expertos que dicen que pasar mucho tiempo frente a las computadoras es nocivo

07

• Online gamers pressured eight-year-old to share mom's information. An eight-year-old Minnesota boy is just one of millions of players obsessed with the video game Fortnite. But for his Lakeville family, the survival video game became a nightmare because young Charlie Pearson sent photos

06

• Facebook negocia con bancos para ampliar servicio al cliente de instituciones financieras. Facebook Inc dijo el lunes que está en negociaciones para profundizar su relación con bancos e instituciones financieras, afirmando que puede ayudar a esas empresas a mejorar su servicio al cliente.

02

• Locked out of bank account over citizenship questions. To Josh Collins and his wife, Jessica Salazar Collins, something seemed off about the Bank of America mailer. They had each banked with the company since the early 2000s, and the couple from outside

• The 'Mulvaney discount': Shrinking fines for law-breaking companies. There’s a hot new trend in Donald Trump’s Washington: the “Mulvaney discount.” After pausing enforcement work when Acting Director Mick Mulvaney took over, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has

01

• Consumer Action INSIDER - August 2018. This month's INSIDER updates readers on recent events (including Public Citizen's Affordable Medicines Now conference, the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue’s annual meeting on the impact of technology on consumers, and the Credit Builders Alliance Training Institute); breaks down the pros and cons of a new California data protection law; tells the tale of a consumer who was charged too much for her out-of-country car rental due to "currency conversion" issues; updates readers on the latest happenings at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (which is currently under assault by its own director); gives information on our "coalition efforts" and lists the latest lawsuit settlements from our Class Action Database.

• Facebook says it has uncovered another coordinated disinformation operation. Facebook has shut down a sophisticated disinformation operation on its platform that engaged in divisive messaging ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, the company said Tuesday, an escalation of what a top executive described

July

31

• For sale: survey data on millions of high school students. Through their schools, many students in the audience had taken a college-planning questionnaire, called MyCollegeOptions. Others had taken surveys that came with the SAT or the PSAT, tests administered by the College Board. In filling