Reports by Consumers

David Horowitz, a consumer reporter guy I'd never heard of before said show, would do... uhm, consumer reporting. For instance, if someone had an issue with identity theft from a certain chain (called Leona's), sending it in to Horowitz was the way to get it solved.

Houston, TX-based Dan Phillips builds homes out of recycled and salvaged materials. The homeowner participates in the construction, under the guidance of a professional builder. The homes are small and no-frills but (from what I can see in the photo) sturdy and cozy. The base size is 240 square feet, with an additional 100 square feet for each additional person.

To make up for missing World Consumer Rights Day (March 15), I promised to give you a five-part overview of consumer protection in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). In Part I, I looked at how consumer agencies and consumer NGOs in the region celebrated the Day.

The U.S. media are rapidly being monopolized by a dwindling number of parent corporations, all of whom have conservative economic agendas. The media are also critically dependent upon corporations for advertising. As a result, the news almost completely ignores corporate crime, as well as pro-labor and pro-consumer issues. Surveys of journalists show that the majority were personally liberal in the 1980s, but today they are centrists, with more conservatives than liberals on economic issues.

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint or to get free information on consumer issues, visit www.ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint or to get free information on consumer issues, visit www.ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

Blue Hippo targets credit-impaired borrowers, hoping they also are math and shopping-impaired. Google it and you will find complaint after complaint about being ripped off by Bluehippo. Even the State of Illinois has filed a lawsuit against Bluehippo. Yet their advertising blitz continues unabated. It is little more than a form of extortion. Would television and radio carry an ad that said, "Not good with finances? Call us and we will rip you off some more"? Of course they wouldn’t, but they do every time they broadcast an ad for Bluehippo.

Which means that when I surf the web, my behavior is recorded with the same frightening level of detail. Even the books I read can be connected to me, if I bought them on Amazon or at a physical store with my credit card. At work, most of what I do on my computer is logged and my e-mails must be stored for 7 years.

A television news report announced that because of contracts with companies like Matel, 90% of all toys sold in the U.S. are manufactured in China. Few Chinese children will ever play with such toys. Autom Catholic Religious Goods catalogues advertise inexpensive articles, almost all from China. However, all of it is reserved to foreign export and domestic circulation would be regarded a crime. Heck, even my DVD Player has “Made in China” on the back.

I don’t usually do entries on consumer issues or product plugs. But when I come across something that I feel can be of great benefit to my readers, I feel it’s my obligation to let you know.

A GOP-sponsored bill to supercede consumer-safety warning labels on food in most states will prohibit scientifically accurate warnings about mercury levels in tuna high enough to cause measurable neurological damage in fetuses. The FDA is backing the lower standards and is suing states that attempt to impose more accurate warning labels.

As I stated in my letter to Rep. Gilchrest, we do need to explore other avenues of filling our energy needs. I’ve cited a couple that, while they’re not strictly renewable, they are certainly plentiful or very efficient given the amount of material used. There’s merit to continuing research into hydropower, wind, and solar energy, but I believe that research into those avenues are best conducted by private entities. The X Prize is one example - the incentive of $10 million to develop a renewable space vehicle was a very good one, and one that is evolving into other areas.

From a strictly technical point of view, the upsell often works here for the same reason that “Do you want cheese with that?” works at the fast food counter. The customer has the cash or credit card in his or her hand and is in a buying mood. At this point, they are more likely to “add something on” to the purchase they have already decided to make.

When I was student-teaching I recall how stressed out my master-teacher got when a couple of new students were placed in her class midway through the school year. It was a lot more disheartening after she evaluated their grade levels in the various subjects (below level). It reminds me of when I used to work as a dishwasher. I always busted my ass trying to finish washing all the dishes in the sink. At about the time that I had about 2 or 3 dishes left, someone would come by and fill up the sink with dirty dishes. It was a never ending task. In many ways education is the same way. In the end I quit the dishwashing job because it was driving me crazy. But I digress. I think that our own “governor” is doing a real good job scaring everyone out of education. Come on now, trying to get the voters to pass a proposition that will put new teachers on a 5-year probationary period is absurd. The school districts would be able to fire you for any reason for five years! Just great.

Even the British Insurance Brokers' Association (BIBA) recently said that "mobile phone insurance policies can prove expensive and may be difficult to claim on" because of the get outs built into those policies - the very times when you need to claim will probably be the situations where they've said they won't pay up! (e.g. leaving your phone unattended in a public place).

We are fortunate at the SIU School of Law to have a Self-Help Legal Center that makes simple legal forms and instructions available without charge through its website and by telephone order. This clinic also sponsors self help classes on divorce, taught by volunteer attorneys, to help people complete the forms and to answer questions about filing, court procedure, and hearings.

If you use Blogger, you may have noticed they've just launched a survey asking about Blogger users and, more importantly to me, what you want from Blogger.

An outspoken anti-pornography advocate has been hired by the Federal Communications Commission to advise the agency on consumer issues involving the cable and broadcast industry, which has been under scrutiny for airing racy material.

So, okay, now you've more or less found out how burdened your body might be - it's time to discover what your local environment is like. Thanks to Environmental Defense, we can do that here, at Scorecard: Get an in-depth pollution report for your county, covering air, water, chemicals, and more. Yes. Just put in your zipcode, and there you have the scary picture of what your neighborhood is really like. The couple whose dog never stops barking, the kid who skateboards in your driveway, the people who get your parking space when you have to work late - nahh, they're nothing compared to what you'll find out here at Scorecard.

I proudly announce that over the next few months, a few additions will be made to wash this world’s mouth out properly on every cavity! Consumer issues, social dilehmas and political spins will be exposed for what they actually are!

Well, I’ve been told that I should start a blog on consumer issues since I often talk about wanting to educate as many consumers as I can. I spent a large part of my Sunday figuring out how to add a blog to my website. It was easier than I thought. However, I am still learning the details so bear with me. As I learn to navigate my way around, I hope I will be able to provide useful information to consumers about their rights. As a consumer rights attorney, I often hear from my clients, “If I had know my rights before…” I spend a lot of time trying to educate the public on their rights as consumers. I write articles. I have been on tv. I speak at seminars. I am on the radio once a month. I still feel as though I am fighting an uphill battle to educate the masses.

These days, it seems like everyone has a cell phone. It’s no wonder that promoters have begun to pitch shields as protection against the radiation the phones emit. But the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, says current claims for the shields are "all talk."

A three-tonne humanoid figure made out of electronic waste is being unveiled on London’s South Bank.

Already, Europe is setting environmental standards for international commerce, forcing changes in how industries around the world make plastic, electronics, toys, cosmetics and furniture. Now, the EU is on the verge of going further — overhauling how all toxic compounds are regulated. A proposal about to be debated by Europe's Parliament would require testing thousands of chemicals, cost industries several billion dollars, and could lead to many more compounds and products being pulled off the market.

Identity theft is the new crime of the information age.

A criminal collects enough personal data on someone to impersonate a victim to banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions. Then he racks up debt in the person's name, collects the cash and disappears. The victim is left holding the bag. While some of the losses are absorbed by financial institutions--credit card companies in particular--the credit-rating damage is borne by the victim. It can take years for the victim to clear his name.

Unfortunately, the solutions being proposed in Congress won't help.

Takeaway selling, for the uninitiated, is a way to limit the supply of a product or service in some way to increase scarcity of an offer. Because it's a proven fact that scarcity sells. It's the age ol' law of supply and demand. The less the supply, the greater the demand, as people don't know how much they want something until it's about to be taken away from them.

Many consumers have privacy concerns about radio frequency identification tags (RFID) that will eventually replace barcodes on products. For example, readers outside of a store could identify what you are carrying by picking up the tags’ signals. Now a UK company is promising to help consumers find and kill those pesky tags with their RFIDwasher.

Another device is the TagZapper — a small handheld device that “zaps” or deactivates RFID transmitting devices. Tagzapper has been developed by US-based West End Laboratories to be a light weight, handheld, device for deactivating RFID transmitting devices, preventing thus RFID readers from performing scanning and tracking of people or goods.

These products will be available by the end of 2005.

As the technology behind RFID advances, the potential for privacy infringement does as well. A more recent development is a study which reveals that RFID already has the capability to determine the distance of a tag from the reader location. With such technology already available, it is not difficult to imagine a situation in which retailers could determine the location of individuals within their store, and thus target specific advertisements to that customer based upon past purchases. In effect, that store would be creating a personal log of your past purchases, your shopping patterns, and ultimately your behavioral patters. While such information gathering would be considered intrusive enough by many consumer's standards, the danger that such information could be sold to other retailers, (similar to the way such profiles are currently sold regarding internet commerce), could create potentially devastating information vulnerabilities. While some RFID critics have pointed out that the technology could lead to some sort of corporate 'Big Brother' there is a more widespread concern that allowing RFID to develop without legal restrictions will eliminate the possibility for consumers to refuse to give such information to retailers.

The need to defend consumer's fair use rights, preserve innovation and redefine the nature of the debate over protecting intellectual property dominated the keynote presentations and panel discussions during the Consumer Electronics Association's (CEA) new IP and Creativity Conference: Redefining the Issue, held Wednesday in Washington, D.C. The conference attracted more than 200 representatives from the consumer electronics, technology, content creation, broadcasting, video game and cable industries along with top government officials.

The theme of the day was set in the opening keynote delivered by CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro. "The technology industry, the media and the policymakers, have given the content community a free hand in defining the issues of how technology affects creativity," Shapiro stated. "The content industry has been flexible, clever and ruthless in defining the terms of the debate. I submit it is time we recast the discussion and change the language of the debate."

The Northeast ENERGY STAR Lighting and Appliance Initiative is a coalition of electric utilities and energy efficiency organizations that is coordinated through Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP), based in Lexington, Mass. Participants are committed to increasing education about and the usage of energy efficient lighting and appliance technologies including clothes washers, refrigerators, dishwashers, room air conditioners, dehumidifiers, ceiling fans, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and interior and exterior light fixtures.

"The recognition of the sponsors of the Northeast ENERGY STAR Lighting and Appliance Initiative shows the value of partnerships in helping to increase the availability of and consumer demand for high efficiency products," noted Susan Coakley, executive director of Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships. "We're very proud to work with the utilities and energy efficiency program administrators in the Northeast, and with the ENERGY STAR program, to help create a cleaner, more affordable and more reliable energy system."

The problem with the conversation up until recently, Shirky argues, is that the conversation has been flowing only one way, with media outlets speaking to huge audiences with the sole intent of capturing their attention for advertisers. Those buyers have been unable to speak back with any appreciable volume other than through organized boycotts or class action legal recourses when things go terribly wrong. In fact, the only time buyers could or would speak back with any real voice was when they had been sorely wronged. This is what made it possible to reduce the buyers to a single role in the mass market model: consumer. Put into slightly different terms, people could say any damn thing they wanted to, as long as they kept on buying. Clay rightly argues that the Internet changes this by giving individuals the potential for a substantial voice that can reach just as many, if not more people than the traditional mass media broadcast model. The upshot is that consumers are out, because "in a world where an email address constitutes a media channel, we are all producers now."

Last year, nearly 10 million Americans were victimized by identity thieves using information maintained by companies such as ChoicePoint. According to the Federal Trade Commission, identity theft is the nation's top fraud complaint.

ChoicePoint executives, who dumped millions of shares of company stock in the weeks before the scandal hit, refer to the far-reaching security debacle as "crimes committed against ChoicePoint." If true, then ChoicePoint should try to contain and reduce the harm the crimes have inflicted on others. ...

Basically, it means after 8 days, you've bought the item. If you return it between 8 and 30 days, you will be credited back for the purchase, less "restocking fees". How a restocking fee is different than a late fee is beyond me, except it probably is alot less than the previously completely unreasonable late fees charged by Blockbuster. And these terms can change at any time. Excellent.

This is all mildly annoying, but what has really got me ...

First we learn that Vioxx increases the risk of heart attacks. Now, we learn that Merck may have had research, as early as 2000, that uncovered these problems, but didn’t make it known to the public. It is time to end this secrecy.

Tell Congress to support the FACT Act, requiring drug companies to make public all the results of their clinical trials so we’ll know about potentially harmful side effects. And it must create an independent office of ...

Just Released, 2005 Consumer Action Handbook "Not only is it the same, helpful guide with listings of contacts for consumers and advice on consumer problems and complaints, but we have added some new features: easy to use navigation to consumer topics (including some new ones), a new state resources page, and a consumer news and feature links section." Order a print copy (free) here.

Here's a controversy you don't normally expect from Consumer Reports (usually folks argue about product liability issues).

Consumer Reports, according to an article from Culture and Cosmos, describes the child in the womb as “uterine content.”

You can imagine what the author had to say. Or, you could click the link.

The Nursing Assistants blog talks about an upcoming Consumer Report on Drugs.

Consumer Reports will unveil it’s latest web site to compare drugs. Sounds like a good thing, except I wonder how they will compare the drugs.

WASHINGTON - Consumer Reports will begin comparing the effectiveness and cost of a few types of widely used prescription drugs, giving consumers the same type of analysis now provided on such items as refrigerators and cars.

Unlike the nonprofit publisher’s other products, the Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs Web site, to be unveiled on Dec. 9, will be free.

Certain states already receive such drug-by-drug comparisons so their Medicaid managers can make decisions on which prescription drugs ...

 

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