Blog

2019 Fight Over Data Privacy Rights Heating Up Already

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Senior Director, Federal Consumer Program

Next year, a highly-anticipated privacy and data rights battle will occur in Congress. Powerful special interests from Google to Facebook are responding to the new European General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR) by seeking to quash any similar effort to protect U.S. consumers while simultaneously seeking to preempt a new California privacy law before it takes effect in 2020. Will we continue as data collector products, not their customers, or will we gain control over our own financial DNA? The state PIRGs are in this one; guess which side we're on. Today we joined 34 leading groups in issuing shared Privacy Principles.

Financial Reform

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Take Action To Support Right To Repair

Thursday, November 1, 2018

By | Nathan Proctor

Director, Campaign for the Right to Repair

An undercover reporter from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation took a broken laptop to the Apple store in Toronto, where they were told repairs would be at least $1,200. But when an independent tech opened the computer, it took him less than two minutes to repair it. For such a simple repair, said technician Louis Rossmann, he usually wouldn't charge anything. $1,200 vs. free -- how much more stark can it get?

Solid Waste

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Samsung, Apple fined for software updates that slowed phones

Friday, October 26, 2018

By | Nathan Proctor

Director, Campaign for the Right to Repair

Have you ever received an update on your phone or device, and afterward found that phone ran significantly slower? Well, an Italian court ruled on Wednesday that sometimes that can amount to a violation of consumer rights, and fined two offending cell phone manufacturers.

Solid Waste

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Update to How You Can Change Your Experian Credit Freeze PIN

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

By | Mike Litt

Consumer Campaigns Director, U.S. PIRG

Our consumer campaign director provides an update to how you can change your Experian credit freeze PIN after a security flaw was discovered two weeks ago.