Archives: News
Archive of News from WirelessEd, in reverse chronological order.
- Headlines | Facebook leak exposes personal data on half a billion users. Telephone numbers were just the top layer of what was stolen. Security researcher Alon Gal detailed that a person’s Facebook ID, full name, location, past…
- Headlines | CFPB’s new team has a message for banks it regulates: We’re back. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is already sending a message that it’s getting tougher. On-site examinations are up, banking executives tell consultants. Big banks aren’t…
- Headlines | AT&T’s new arbitration clause isn’t doing you any favors. Go ahead and agree to AT&T’s new arbitration clause if you want (or if you have no choice). But don’t think the company is doing…
- Headlines | Social Security imposters use fake badges to fool victims. The Social Security Administration warns that phone scammers are creating “fake versions” of identification badges. “The scammers will text or email photos of the fake…
- Headlines | Coronavirus relief could net you $50 toward your broadband bill. A new bill, The Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act, set to be introduced Thursday in the U.S. House and Senate, devotes more than $94 billion…
- Headlines | Amazon’s new rotating, follow-you camera is useful—and invasive. The covid-19 Zoom boom has turned us into camera operators. Making sure everyone’s face can be seen in the videoconference is a daily struggle. Along…
- Headlines | Government agencies increasingly are accessing private information. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have tapped a private database containing hundreds of millions of phone, water, electricity and other utility records while…
- Headlines | California can enforce its internet equal access law. A federal judge ruled that California can for the first time enforce its tough net neutrality law, clearing the way for the state to ban…
- Headlines | Civil rights groups ask Biden to oppose facial recognition. The American Civil Liberties Union and more than 40 other groups urged President Biden in a letter to freeze federal use of facial recognition and…
- Headlines | How the GameStop frenzy sabotaged a bid to ‘democratize’ finance. The episode with Robinhood Financial has unearthed a growing sentiment on the left: “Fintech” is just a fancy word for everything they already hate about…
- Headlines | Lacking a Lifeline: How help to pay low-income Americans’ phone bills failed. The coronavirus has reinforced the Internet as the fabric of modern American life, a luxury-turned-necessity for a generation now forced to work, learn and communicate…
- Headlines | Tips on how to master the vaccine-appointment website. Starting this week, there will be even more places you need to look for appointments online. Pharmacy chains including CVS and Walgreens are beginning to…
- Headlines | Consumer protection agency investigating Venmo. The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau is investigating money transfer app Venmo over the way it handles collections, a new regulatory filing shows. First reported by…
- Headlines | Apple’s new privacy ‘nutrition labels.’ Many were false.. You go to your iPhone’s App Store to download a game. Under a new “App Privacy” label added last month, there’s a blue check mark,…
- Headlines | Pressure builds to revive net neutrality rules. For more than two decades, Democrats and Republicans have warred over net neutrality, the idea that Internet providers should treat all Web traffic equally. At…
- Press Releases | New debt collection rule is a mixed bag for consumer rights. Bad news: New debt collection rule permits unlimited electronic access to consumers. Good news: It may eliminate "debt parking" by forcing debt collectors to reach…
- Headlines | Black Americans suffered the most under Trump-era CFPB, study finds. The paper, from two Boston College researchers, tracked consumer complaints, and the follow-ups recorded by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Their findings show that in…
- Headlines | Consumer bureau director resigns at Biden’s request. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Kathy Kraninger resigned at the request of the newly sworn-in President Biden, clearing the way for his nominee to…
- Headlines | Biden choices for CFPB, SEC pivot to robust enforcement. President-elect Joe Biden is set to nominate Rohit Chopra, the former student loan ombudsman for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to lead the consumer finance…
- Headlines | Millions flock to Telegram and Signal apps. Over the past week, tens of millions of people have downloaded Signal and Telegram, making them the two hottest apps in the world. Signal allows…
- Headlines | Ford is researching tech for bikes, e-scooters to ‘talk’ to cars. If bicycles and e-scooters could “talk” to cars on the road, riders would be safer — at least in theory. That’s the idea behind a…
- Headlines | Supreme Court limits abortion pill access (during a pandemic). The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday granted a Trump administration request to reinstate restrictions for patients seeking to obtain a drug used to terminate early…
- Headlines | Citing ‘censorship,’ internet provider blocks Facebook, Twitter. A North Idaho internet provider, Your T1 WIFI, confirmed it is blocking Facebook and Twitter from its WIFI service for some customers due to censorship…
- Headlines | Millions to get Internet access rebates under new stimulus plan. A massive coronavirus aid package approved by Congress late Monday sets aside $7 billion to help Americans connect to high-speed Internet and pay their monthly bills, marking…
- Headlines | How will the Biden administration treat FinTech companies?. Regulation and governance have not kept up with the FinTech explosion domestically or globally. The challenges for US regulators are well chronicled. How will the…
- Headlines | Zoom to lift time limit on free calls during Christmas holiday. Zoom has a gift for families this holiday season. The video conferencing platform will drop its 40-minute time limit on calls from free accounts starting…
- Headlines | Should you upgrade to a 5G phone?. In the ads, 5G means blazing fast speeds—download a movie in mere seconds!—and more reliable service. The wireless carriers all have maps showing how many…
- Headlines | State, federal authorities to file antitrust lawsuits against Facebook. The filings from more than 40 attorneys general and the U.S. government will allege the tech giant engaged in unlawful tactics to buy or kill…
- Headlines | Fix bad WiFi without spending a dime. Our five-step guide will help you speed up your Internet connection and eliminate wireless ‘dead zones’ while you’re stuck at home.
- Headlines | Biden has the power to make the CFPB more aggressive thanks to Trump. Analysts expect the CFPB under Biden to follow a similar model to what the agency pursued under Obama and Cordray in terms of calling out…
- Headlines | Four online safety myths that parents should know. Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, children are spending more time online than ever before, chatting on gaming platforms, posting selfies on Instagram and making TikTok videos for…
- Headlines | How private Is my pay app?. Virtual peer-to-peer payments are the currency of the pandemic. Pay apps say they need access to certain personal information, including names, Social Security, and bank…
- Headlines | Biden faces economic mess and plans emergency cleanup. The Democratic president-elect pledged to begin repair work immediately. On a newly launched website — buildbackbetter.com — he said he will move to provide emergency…
- Headlines | FCC forces T-Mobile to pay $200 million fine for Sprint’s fraud. T-Mobile has agreed to pay a $200 million fine to resolve an investigation into subsidiary Sprint, which was caught taking millions of dollars in government…
- Headlines | How to make sense of your (dozens of) credit scores. Businesses pay Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion to provide them with your credit scores—based on your credit history—to decide whether you're a good credit risk. But…
- Headlines | Recession’s silver lining: Households are doing better than expected. Despite the pandemic’s economic devastation, which has tipped millions of people into unemployment, many American households are in relatively good shape. Since April, consumer savings…
- Headlines | To limit tech, some say a new regulator is needed. Even as the Justice Department filed an antitrust suit against Google for unlawfully maintaining a monopoly in search and search advertising, a growing number of…
- Headlines | The police can probably break into your phone. At least 2,000 law enforcement agencies in all 50 states now have tools to get into locked, encrypted phones and extract their data, according to…
- Headlines | Google antitrust case centers on consumer choice. The suit likely won’t result in a big breakup of Google, but it could change how you search the Web on your phone.
- Headlines | ‘Fast fraud’ surges on payment apps. People are getting defrauded as they turn to Square’s Cash App and PayPal’s Venmo to do more online banking in the pandemic.
- Headlines | Teachers can look inside students’ homes now. Remote learning has brought school home for students during the pandemic, turning a living room or bedroom into a makeshift classroom. But many families worry…
- Headlines | Congress accuses four tech giants of monopoly tactics. Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google engaged in anti-competitive, monopoly-style tactics to evolve into four of the world’s most powerful corporate behemoths, according to congressional investigators…
- Headlines | Ransomware attacks take on new urgency. Attacks against small towns, big cities and the contractors who run their voting systems have federal officials fearing that hackers will try to sow chaos…
- Headlines | Cleaners demand safeguards from booking service Handy. Workers for a home services company say they face sexual harassment and unfair fees. A civil rights group is asking California regulators to step in.
- Headlines | Telehealth expansion eyed beyond pandemic. During the coronavirus pandemic the use of telehealth visits has taken off after Medicare temporarily relaxed restrictions that predated the smartphone era. But permanently expanding…
- Headlines | CFPB penalties decline as enforcement actions go small. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s enforcement actions, under Director Kathy Kraninger, have slowed down compared to former Director Richard Cordray’s tenure. Monetary penalties and consumer…
- Headlines | Privacy concerns about cellphone apps designed to track Covid-19. A global wave of experimentation in using smartphones to combat the spread of covid-19 has stumbled over privacy concerns, security glitches and slow program rollouts,…
- Headlines | Start-up culture collides with mental health concerns. The therapy-by-text company made burner phones available for fake reviews and doesn’t adequately respect client privacy, former employees say.
- Headlines | Why robocalls are still a thing—and why there’s hope they’ll end. Efforts to end the scourge of unwanted robocalls have been ongoing for years, but they have ramped up in recent months. The FCC last year…
- Headlines | Going cashless during COVID makes life even more difficult for the unbanked. The coronavirus pandemic has caused people to shift away from cash transactions for fear of coming in contact with coronavirus on the surface of dollar…
2021
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08
March
25
22
15
12
01
February
27
25
18
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14
11
08
January
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28
21
18
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2020
December
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22
17
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November
27
25
19
09
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October
29
22
21
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07
September
28
11
August
31
18
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