News

2022

January

18

• Spotting spoofed websites. Here are a few things to consider when making a purchase online:  Malicious websites can be created to look like the real site from a reputable company fairly easily Never purchase anything with a

11

• Survey shows Californians are still unaware of privacy rights (Greater educational outreach, better rights notices would help residents get more out of the California Consumer Privacy Act). A survey of Californians commissioned by Consumer Action and Consumer Federation of America (CFA) shows that while more than two-thirds of respondents had seen a notice about their CCPA rights on the websites of businesses they visited in the previous 12 months, many had not exercised the law’s three key rights, and the top reason given for not doing so was that they did not realize they could.

03

• Consumer Action INSIDER - January 2022. Start 2022 right with Consumer Action's INSIDER newsletter. Learn about what we are up to with the goal of improving consumer protections and consumer rights.

2021

December

22

• Americans distrust Facebook, TikTok & Instagram with their data. It’s the rare thing that Americans of all ages and across the political spectrum largely seem to agree on: They don’t trust social media services with their information and they view

21

• The ‘most serious’ security breach ever is unfolding right now. On Dec. 9, word of a newly discovered computer bug in a hugely popular piece of computer code--log4j--started rippling around the cybersecurity community. By the next day, nearly every major software company was in crisis

16

• The ultimate guide to secure passwords. Password fatigue is real, but don’t let it stop you from making some small changes to protect your accounts, your wallet and your identity. Here are six easy things to do today: Stop

08

• What you need to know if you’re being tracked down by a debt collector. What proof does a debt collector have to provide me that I owe the debt? This “debt collection validation notice” should include enough information to help you figure out if you owe the

07

• Safety app Life360 Is selling precise location data on Its users. Life360, a popular family safety app used by 33 million people worldwide, has been marketed as a great way for parents to track their children’s movements using their cellphones. The Markup has learned,

• Your next smartphone might have a camera that’s always on. This week, chipmaker Qualcomm revealed its latest Snapdragon processor, which will power many of the high-end Android smartphones you’ll see in stores in 2022, including models from Motorola, Sony, OnePlus. And a new feature

01

• New rule will let debt collectors track you down on social media. Debt collection rules have expanded the ways debt collectors can chase down debtors. In practice, it may mean millions of consumers can now be bombarded with email and text messages and requests to connect on

November

22

• Amazon wages secret war on Americans' privacy, documents show. In recent years, Amazon.com Inc has killed or undermined privacy protections in more than three dozen bills across 25 states, as the e-commerce giant amassed a lucrative trove of personal data on millions of

• Piden ley sobre privacidad tras reporte sobre "lobby" de Amazon. Cinco miembros del Congreso de Estados Unidos pidieron una ley federal sobre la privacidad del consumidor después de un reporte de...

October

26

• Your browser can tell websites how to treat your data. Privacy-conscious Internet surfers will soon have an additional weapon on their side. You can’t see it working, but a special signal known as global privacy control tells every website you visit not to

11

• Your driver’s license could soon live on your phone. More than 20 states have either considered, tested or already launched digital versions of driver’s licenses that live on smartphones. Tech giant Apple plans to make digital licenses a key feature in its iOS 15

04

• Senate confirms Rohit Chopra to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Senate narrowly approved President Joe Biden's pick to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, giving the bureau a director* who is likely to embrace an aggressive "watchdog" role, similar to how

01

• Consumer Action INSIDER - October 2021. In this month's edition, we report on our upcoming 50th anniversary events, warn rental car customers about the often unexpected cost of tolls, highlight recent coalition efforts and CFPB activities, and alert readers to a class action suit against Wells Fargo for unrefunded GAP fees.

September

27

• Facebook delays Instagram app for users under 13. Facebook said that it had paused development of an Instagram Kids service that would be tailored for children 13 years old or younger, as the social network increasingly faces questions about the app’s effect

• Companies are hoarding your personal data. How to get them to delete it. What data can you actually request to delete? When we say “your data,” we mean information like your name, phone number, email and home address. Some companies collect far more, like your age,

26

• Instagram suspende planes de lanzar versión para niños. Instagram suspenderá por ahora sus planes de lanzar un servicio para niños menores de 13 años, en medio de preocupaciones por la vulnerabilidad de los chicos.

19

• Lentes inteligentes: Facebook le da una oportunidad a la tecnología que hizo quedar mal a Google. Nuestro reportero probó unas gafas hechas en colaboración con Ray-Ban capaces de hacer fotos, grabar videos, responder a llamadas telefónicas y reproducir pódcast.