Consumer Protection

Boston, MA -- Six months after the FTC warned six companies their “void warranty if removed” labels are forbidden under warranty laws, a survey by the consumer group U.S. PIRG Education Fund found that the vast majority of appliance manufacturers continue to oppose independent repair. Of the 50 appliance manufacturers surveyed, 45 automatically void the warranties if the device had “unauthorized” repair.

With Hurricane Michael expected to make landfall Wednesday in western Florida as a major, Category 3 hurricane, then continue through the Southeast, The Public Interest Network (which includes U.S. PIRG, Environment America, Environment Florida, Environment Georgia, Environment North Carolina and Environment Virginia, among other organizations) is sharing information to help your readers and viewers contextualize the major environmental, health and consumer concerns posed by Michael.

Our press release recommending consumers change their credit freeze PINs on their Experian credit reports after reports yesterday revealed a security flaw with Experian’s online PIN retrieval page.

Our statement about Experian's security flaw with its credit freeze PIN retrieval form. 

Facebook announced today that earlier this week, "attackers exploited a vulnerability in Facebook’s code that impacted “View As”, a feature that lets people see what their own profile looks like to someone else. This allowed them to steal Facebook access tokens which they could then use to take over people’s accounts."

Facebook announced today that earlier this week, "attackers exploited a vulnerability in Facebook’s code that impacted “View As”, a feature that lets people see what their own profile looks like to someone else. This allowed them to steal Facebook access tokens which they could then use to take over people’s accounts."