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Disney's Sorry It Couldn't Make Your Kid Smarter Blame Disney for your kid's poor test scores. The giant entertainment conglomerate Friday said it will offer refunds on its "Baby Einstein" serious of videos, conceding in a lawsuit that the video exercises didn't increase infants' intelligence despite claims it would. Lawyers threatened Disney last year that it would sue unless Disney offered a full refund -- $15.99 per video -- to customers who wished to cash in on their "Baby Einstein" stash, the New York Times reported Friday. Customers can get a discount coupon, exchange the video for a different title,...

Can you do journalism and not be a "journalist"? Do people declared "journalists" get special speech and press rights that other American citizens do not enjoy? Can anyone enjoy the right to free speech and free publication, even if that individual is not a full-time professional reporter? These are some of the important legal questions that American politicians and bureaucrats must confront now that the Internet has made possible for people other than employees of major media companies to reach large and widespread audiences. In recent weeks, federal officials seems to be favoring a view that certain individuals enjoy more...

Bloggers of the world, relax - the Federal Trade Commission is not out to get you. That was the message from Mary Engle, associate director for advertising practices at the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.

The Federal Trade Commission just released rules to regulate product endorsements not just in advertisements but also on blogs. It is a monument to unintended consequence, hidden dangers, and dangerous assumptions. Mind you, I hate one of its apparent targets: Pay Per Post and its ilk, which attempt to co-opt the voice of bloggers. But I hate government regulation of speech more. And mind you, I am all in favor of transparency; I disclose to a comic fault here. I think that openness is the best fix for questions of trust and advise companies and politicians and certainly governments to...

Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission issued an 81 page document entitled “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising” requiring bloggers who write testimonials about products to disclose gifts or payments they receive. So if a company sends you a dollar-store toy, you will be scrutinized by the government, regardless whether you were asked to post a review or not. Whether it be free review copies of books, trips to oil rigs, payments, t-shirts, whatever it is, you better disclose it, to Uncle Sam, or, as the Washington Post reports, you’ll be fined up to $11,000 in fines...

It all sounds so innocent and good-governmenty: The Federal Trade Commission will hold a workshop Dec. 1 and 2 concerning "How will journalism survive the Internet age?" An assembly of editors, owners, government officials, consumer advocates, advertisers and others is scheduled to discuss a dozen topics. Three ought to make the hair stand up on the necks of every journalist and anybody else who cares about the survival of freedom of the press: » Are new or changed government policies needed to support optimal amounts and types of journalism, including public affairs coverage? » Should the tax code be modified...

The Federal Trade Commission has decided to focus its regulatory sights on the scourge of — product reviews by bloggers. By a unanimous vote, the FTC now mandates that bloggers disclose any payments or freebies received for their reviews, a mandate which does not appear to have an analog with mainstream media organizations: The Federal Trade Commission will require bloggers to clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products. It is the first time since 1980 that the commission has revised its guidelines on endorsements and testimonials, and the first time the rules have...

The federal government is preparing an inquiry into the endangered field of news and reporting -- and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz is dropping some broad hints about what will be in it. In an exclusive interview with TheWrap, Leibowitz expressed some sympathy to easing antitrust enforcement of media consolidations to prevent more newspapers from folding or further declines in TV news staffs. He also said the FTC intends not just throw out a lifeline. He wants to ensure that media companies are doing a good enough job finding alternative revenues. Some media critics contend that at least part...

In today's "Truly Delicious Irony" segment, the Federal Trade Commission, just months after so-called journalists decided who should win a presidential primary and subsequent election, is going to begin going after bloggers who make false claims about products and/or don't fully disclose conflicts of interest. Imagine that. As reported by the Associated Press Sunday: New guidelines, expected to be approved late this summer with possible modifications, would clarify that the agency can go after bloggers — as well as the companies that compensate them — for any false claims or failure to disclose conflicts of interest. It would be the...

You answer the phone, and it's a recorded message: "By now you should have received your written note regarding your vehicle warranty expiring. This call is to give you a final opportunity to extend coverage before it is too late. Press '1' now to speak to a warranty specialist regarding your options on your vehicle." Upon pressing "1," you are transferred to a "warranty specialist" who lies to you, telling you he is affiliated with an automobile dealer or manufacturer and that your warranty is up. And before long, you may have agreed to put $450 down on an extended...

The FTC pulled the plug on the Cutwail botnet by shutting down Internet Service Provider Pricewert LLC when the agency filed a complaint Thursday alleging that it actively and knowingly participated in the distribution of child pornography, spam and malware. Security experts say that the Cutwait botnet was one of the most notorious botnets, accounting for up to 35 percent of global spam levels in May, security experts said. The FTC issued a complaint accusing the San Jose-based Pricewert, also known as 3FN and APS Telecom, of actively recruiting and colluding with criminals that sought to distribute illegal and malicious...

A federal judge has issued a pair of temporary restraining orders to halt what officials describe as a wave of "robo-calls" warning people their auto warranties are expiring and offering new service plans. U.S. District Judge John F. Grady issued a temporary restraining order against Transcontinental Warranty Inc. on Thursday and one against Voice Touch Inc. on Friday. The Federal Trade Commission filed suit against the companies in U.S. District Court in Chicago on Thursday. Chairman Jon Leibowitz says the FTC "has disconnected the people responsible for so many of these annoying calls." Officials say Americans have gotten as many...

WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - Scam artists with sophisticated Web sites, some featuring photos of President Barack Obama, are offering to help consumers cash in on the new $787 billion economic stimulus package, the Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday.

In November, the unemployment rate hit a 14-year high of 6.7 percent. For people who prey on unemployed workers, the high jobless rate is an opportunity to scam vulnerable job seekers out of their money and personal data. Scam artists know that when times get rough and bills are due, even the most sophisticated job hunters can fall prey to their employment schemes. That's why all job seekers should educate themselves about job scams. Many involve either work-from-home projects or online jobs. The ads are enticing: "Earn $200 a day just by clicking a mouse." "Make $50 to $250 an...

Melamine Found in Chocolate Products From China South Korea's food watchdog has detected quantities of melamine, an industrial chemical, in chocolate products from foodstuff giants Nestle SA, Mars Inc. and South Korea's Lotte that were manufactured in China, Yonhap News reported Saturday. The Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) said 2.38 parts per million (ppm) and 1.78 ppm of the toxic substance was discovered in samples of M&M's Milk and Peanut Snickers Fun Size products, respectively, from Mars Korea. A Kit Kat bar from Nestle Korea was also found to contain 2.89 ppm of melamine, the agency said. The...

Excerpt - Responding to a wave of consumer complaints, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said it will bar telemarketers from making prerecorded sales calls unless a consumer explicitly agrees to receive such calls. The FTC also will require all recorded sales calls to provide an opt-out feature to allow consumers to place themselves on the caller's do-not-call list immediately. ~ snip ~

Politics: With gasoline and oil prices going down, what's a crusading lawmaker to do? Change gears and go after the next capitalist monster.The latest dragon to be slain is the one that makes life-enhancing and lifesaving drugs. Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Charles Schumer of New York, Democrats both, asked the Government Accountability Office last week to investigate price hikes in the pharmaceutical industry. This follows Klobuchar's request in April that the Federal Trade Commission open a probe of Ovation Pharmaceuticals, a company that raised prices on four medications in 2006 by up to 3,436%, USA Today reports. Express...

Consumer Protection or Legal Extortion? Daily Article by S.M. Oliva   |   Posted on 7/10/2008 On April Fool's Day of this year, New Mexico resident Mark Hershiser received a letter from Erika Wodinsky, a San Francisco attorney, demanding Hershiser turn over all revenue from Native Essence Herb Company, a small business co-owned by Hershiser and his wife Marianne. The letter was not a joke or a mistake. It was a premeditated act of extortion by Ms. Wodinsky. She had never met or spoken with Hershiser; her staff discovered Native Essence through its modest website.Internet scams and predators are...

This is from Bob Casey Jr. (Senate, D-PA) letter to the head of the FTC, as posted on his own website (http://casey.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/?id=03D35646-FA50-4BE0-B8D7-D1B377D5F2AF)..."For example, the section of the FTC report on gas prices post-Hurricane Katrina found that, even with local and regional market differences taken into account, eight of the 30 oil refiners audited increased their prices at least five cents more than the national average. These same firms also reported increased profits, which logically means that the increased prices were not necessary to cover bottom line costs. " That's right, he is worrying about five cents per gallon in 2006...

Antitrust experts call the agency's effort a long shot. By Lori Hawkins AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Thursday, October 25, 2007 The Federal Trade Commission is making a last-ditch effort to unwind Whole Foods Market's purchase of its biggest rival, even though the deal is done. Despite losing a battle in a federal district court to block the deal in August, the FTC has not given up the fight. On Monday, the agency responded to a Whole Foods motion to formally dismiss the case with another filing. It said the appeal is still relevant and asked an appeals court in Washington to set...

In the New York Times, Gary Cross, a professor of history at Pennsylvania State University, pens a confusing op-ed on the dangers of, not only outsourcing toy manufacturing, but allowing "licensed toys" (Dora, Barbie, etc...) from being introduced to kids. "Young people" just haven't developed the critical judgment necessary to, gulp, deal with "consumerism." Like any good nannyist, Cross uses a scare (the recent Mattel recall, in this case) to kick things off. We quickly jump to commercials. ….In the early 1970s, child advocates like Action for Children's Television recognized that television ads for toys had a magical power over...

The cherished dinner hour void of telemarketers could vanish next year for millions of people when phone numbers begin dropping off the national Do Not Call list. The Federal Trade Commission, which oversees the list, says there is a simple fix. But some lawmakers think it is a hassle to expect people to re-register their phone numbers every five years. Numbers placed on the registry, begun in June 2003, are valid for five years. For the millions of people who signed onto the list in its early days, their numbers will automatically drop off beginning next June if they do...

Three men who ran a now-defunct telemarketing company were charged Friday in an alleged $75 million scam to defraud customers and potential clients into paying for Internet-related services without their consent. GoInternet.net Inc. president and chief executive officer Tyrone Barr, vice president Neal Saferstein and chief information officer Billy Light were charged in a 26-count federal indictment for allegedly scamming customers from March 2001 to April 2004. GoInternet telemarketers would dupe potential customers into receiving an information packet, which was designed to look like junk mail so that it would be thrown away, authorities said. Investigators said that receiving the...

New Study Shows Broadcast TV Family Hour Fare Filthier Than Ever Fox is the worst broadcast network overall LOS ANGELES, September 6, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A new Parents Television Council study of Family Hour programming conclusively shows that children watching television during the first hour of prime time are assaulted by violence, profanity or sexual content once every 3.5 minutes of non-commercial airtime. During the 2006-2007 study period, almost 90% of the 208 television shows reviewed contained objectionable content. The PTC found that Fox is the worst broadcast network overall, noting its 20.78 instances of violent, profane and sexual content...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal antitrust regulators have cleared Cerberus Capital Management's $7 billion purchase of Chrysler, two people close to the deal said Tuesday. The Federal Trade Commission made its decision before the end of a standard 30-day review, according to two people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Early termination of an FTC review typically signifies there will be no conditions placed on the deal.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The Federal Trade Commission has opened an antitrust investigation into Google Inc.'s proposed $3.1 billion purchase of ad-management technology company DoubleClick Inc. The review of the deal was widely expected after Mountain View-based Google announced plans last month to acquire DoubleClick, a company that helps its customers place and track online advertising. New York-based DoubleClick helps its customers place and track online advertising, including search ads, which Google -- more than its nearest search competitors Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. -- has turned into an extremely lucrative business. DoubleClick had been the target of a fierce...

The financial services industry, hoping to befuddle the new Congress, has been busily laying down a smokescreen claiming that identity theft is on the wane. But the Federal Trade Commission's latest compilation of consumer complaints and a survey by the National Crime Prevention Council should do much to clear the air. The FTC's complaint list was dominated by -- guess what? -- identity theft and fraud issues for the seventh year in a row. Identity theft complaints to the FTC totaled nearly 250,000, a whopping 36 percent of the total number of complaints the agency received in 2006. Credit card...

Macquarie to buy newspaper chain; critics fear it's to silence Trans-Texas Corridor opponents. One of the foreign firms leasing the Indiana Toll Road is drawing suspicion from some Texans after announcing plans to acquire a chain of small newspapers there. Australia-based Macquarie Media Group last week said it will pay $80 million for American Consolidated Media, which publishes 40 community newspapers and shopping publications serving nine communities in Texas and Oklahoma. Macquarie's sister company, Macquarie Infrastructure Group, last year joined with the Spanish conglomerate Cintra to lease the Indiana Toll Road for the next 75 years. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels...

With all the recent news stories of debt collectors landing in prison or being taken out of business for illegal and strong arm tactics, I thought i'd share with my fellow Freepers a great resource to help if you ever have to deal with a scumbag debt collector. http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs27-debtcoll.htm This link has resources to use if dealing with collection agencies/collectors, your rights, links to the FTC, sample letters and more. I hope this is helpful to some Freepers who've been hounded rightly or wrongly by this pretty much unregulated billion dollar a year industry.

US firms accuse Qualcomm of unfair practices in South Korea SEOUL, July 3, 2006 (AFP) - Two US technology firms have filed a complaint with South Korea's antitrust watchdog accusing US mobile phone chip developer Qualcomm of abusing its market dominance, officials have said. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC), a state organization watching for fair trade, said the complaint was lodged by Texas Instruments and Broadcom. "Qualcomm was accused of selling its handset chips bundled with other chip products by using its market dominance," an FTC official said. Qualcomm has monopoly market status in South Korea as the sole supplier...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Trade Commission, responsible for protecting Americans from fraud and identity theft, reported on Thursday the theft of two of its own computers with personal information about 110 people. The incident was the latest in a series of recent thefts and data breaches involving government computers. The Veterans Affairs Department said last month an external hard drive containing information on 26.5 million veterans was stolen. The Energy Department discovered personal information about 1,500 employees and contractors was compromised in a cyberattack, and the Agriculture Department said a hacker may have obtained data about 26,000 of its...

In the film-noir movie "Key Largo," a scheming Edward G. Robinson brags about manipulating an election by continually "counting votes" -- until he reached the proper "outcome." "Yeah," says Robinson's character, "how many of those guys in office owe everything to me? I made 'em. Yeah, I made 'em, just like a tailor makes a suit of clothes. . . . Get my boys to bring the voters out, and then count the votes over and over again 'til they added up right and he was elected." This brings us to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) head Deborah Platt Majoras, ordered...

What's up with Chuck Schumer and oil prices? As part of last summer's energy bill, Congress asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate claims that oil companies were price-gouging. Then, when gas prices soared in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Sen. Charles Schumer and then-Sen. Jon Corzine wrote to nudge the FTC on the issue: "We fear that some of the fluctuation and inconsistencies in gas prices are a result of price-gouging at the pump. Price-gouging must not be tolerated, and we must do more to make sure that oil companies and gas-station owners are operating . . . within...

After eight months of intensive investigation, the Federal Trade Commission said it found that gasoline prices tend to rise when supplies are perceived to be scarce. The $10 million study mandated by Congress, found that the average price of gasoline in disaster areas was higher than prices under normal conditions. "It's the weirdest thing," said Jack Ashe, FTC analyst. "It's almost as if there is some kind of hidden force because everywhere we looked we found that as supplies went down, prices went up. And that wasn't all, we also found that when demand went up, so did prices." Economics...

If anyone wonders why gasoline prices have soared above $3 a gallon at the pump, consider the fact that on the same day that the House of Representatives passed a bill that would allow the Federal Trade Commission to investigate and punish oil companies that conspire to keep prices up, it failed to pass a measure to promote expansion of U.S. oil-refining capacity. Consider as well that those to whom the basic laws of supply and demand are a complete mystery are themselves conspiring to keep oil priced high by preventing oil development in a tiny portion of the Arctic...

For some time I have been following the legal dilemma of a computer memory design company, named RAMBUS, and their battles to retain their intellectual property rights against four memory manufacturing giants. The more I learn the more I believe the Federal Trade Commission is a corrupt bureaucracy. Perhaps the most comprehensive writing on this issue (in non-legalese) is the following letter I found on the Yahoo Rambus message board. ------------------------------- "The Honorable Pete V. Domenici United States Senate 328 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510-3101 Dear Senator Domenici, I am writing you regarding an ongoing enforcement action by...

Bush Orders Probe Into Gas Price Cheating By NEDRA PICKLER ASSOCIATED PRESS ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) - President Bush is trying to calm Americans' outrage over soaring gas prices by ordering an investigation into whether the price of gasoline has been illegally manipulated, his spokesman said Monday. During the last few days, Bush asked his Energy and Justice departments to open inquiries into possible cheating in the gasoline markets, said White House press secretary Scott McClellan. Bush planned to announce the action Tuesday during a speech in Washington. Bush is under pressure to do something about gas prices that...

ACLU Backs Away From Congressional Abortion Bill Targeting Pregnancy Centers Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Shortly after announcing its support for Congressional legislation that would target crisis pregnancy centers, the ACLU has backed off of its support for the pro-abortion bill. .... Sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Maloney ... the bill directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to create a rule prohibiting pregnancy centers from trying to deceive women into thinking they perform abortions. Actually, I believe that the don't want CPCs to be allowed to use the word "abortion" in their advertising at all. Maloney seems to want the wording to...

Today the Federal Trade Commission published a Federal Register notice seeking public comments on “marketing activities and expenditures of the food industry targeted toward children and adolescents.” Last November, Congress ordered the FTC to prepare a report on this subject by July 1 of this year. The FTC is now seeking “empirical data” and other relevant information for use in the report. A public comment request is unremarkable and generally unobjectionable. But the FTC's notice also states that [t]he FTC is interested in receiving publicly available information that can be used to prepare the report. However, because it is unlikely...

When you open up that nifty envelope and pull out a shiny new gift card on Christmas morning, beware the fine print that may turn that card to coal faster than you can say "shopping spree." Especially popular during the holidays, some gift cards expire without the customer knowing it or lose value the longer they go without being spent. "Many retailers do not disclose these restrictions," Reps. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and Charles Bass, R-N.H., said Tuesday in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission. "There are no national rules dealing with how gift cards should work." The two lawmakers'...

WASHINGTON--About 70 percent of the world's e-mail messages continue to be spam. But the number is leveling off, which federal officials on Tuesday cited as evidence that a law enacted two years ago is working. At a press conference here, the Federal Trade Commission released a report (click here for PDF), delivered last week to Congress, that said the so-called Can-Spam Act is "effective in providing protection for consumers."...

CHICAGO, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- The Federal Trade Commission is expected shortly to issue a report on the effectiveness of the CAN-SPAM Act, passed by Congress to combat unsolicited junk e-mail, but experts tell United Press International's The Web ahead of the report that spam continues to rapidly proliferate. "The CAN-SPAM Act has been largely ineffective," said Edward Naughton, an intellectual-property law partner with the firm of Holland & Knight, based in Boston. "Most of the data, and my own experience, indicates that the volume of spam has increased since the statute became effective." By Gene Koprowski

CHICAGO, Dec 15 (Reuters)- The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday reversed a $10.1 billion verdict against Philip Morris USA, ordering a lower court to dismiss the case in which the company was accused of defrauding customers into thinking "light" cigarettes were safer than regular ones. The much-anticipated ruling sent shares of Philip Morris parent Altria Group Inc. (MO.N: Quote, Profile, Research) up more than 5 percent to a new all-time high. The court found that U.S. Federal Trade Commission rulings specifically authorized tobacco companies to characterize their products as "light" or "low tar and nicotine." The case has been closely...

The Federal Trade Commission is expected shortly to issue a report on the effectiveness of the CAN-SPAM Act, passed by Congress to combat unsolicited junk e-mail, but experts tell United Press International's The Web ahead of the report that spam continues to rapidly proliferate. "The CAN-SPAM Act has been largely ineffective," said Edward Naughton, an intellectual-property law partner with the firm of Holland & Knight, based in Boston. "Most of the data, and my own experience, indicates that the volume of spam has increased since the statute became effective." A private-sector study released this week confirms the attorney's intuitive read...

A private rocket developer said on Thursday it had gone to court to challenge plans by Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. to jointly launch government satellites. Space Exploration Technologies Corp., also known as SpaceX, filed suit on Wednesday in federal court charging that the joint venture by the two largest U.S. military contractors is anticompetitive and violates antitrust law. SpaceX, based in El Segundo, Calif., asked the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to block the joint venture and award SpaceX unspecified damages. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is conducting an antitrust review of the United...

ntel fired back at rival Advanced Micro Devices on Thursday in a legal response to AMD's lawsuit, denying it has violated antitrust laws. The 63-page response said AMD has fallen behind Intel because of its own business mistakes, not because Intel engaged in any antitrust activity. In the long run, Intel said, AMD's lawsuit will raise prices for consumers. Intel, based in Santa Clara, is the world's largest maker of semiconductor chips. AMD, a smaller rival based in Sunnyvale, filed suit in federal court in June contending Intel violated antitrust laws by using a combination of incentives and threats to...

WASHINGTON (AP) - An uproar over hidden, sexually explicit scenes in the video game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" spread to the halls of Congress on Monday. On a 355-21 vote, the House passed a resolution asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the game's manufacturer, Rockstar Games, and its parent company, New York-based Take Two Interactive Software Inc. "If that company purposely hid that information or material to make a sham of the ratings, it is nothing less than deceptive advertising, and should be punished, in this case severely," said Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.,...

SAN FRANCISCO - The video game industry on Wednesday changed to adults-only the rating of "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," a best-selling game in which explicit sexual content can be unlocked with an Internet download. The decision followed intense pressure from politicians and media watch groups, and retailers reacted swiftly — Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and Best Buy Co. said they would immediately pull all copies from their store shelves nationwide. The game's producer, Rockstar Games, said it stopped making the current version and would provide new labels to any retailer willing to keep selling the games, which had...

Federal regulators accused seven companies Wednesday of hiring others to send illegal e-mails with pornographic messages to tempt consumers to visit adult Internet sites. The government said four of the firms already agreed to pay nearly $1.2 million to settle the charges, making it among the most aggressive government crackdowns on pornographic e-mail operations. The Federal Trade Commission described the practice as "electronic flashing" and said at least some of the unwanted e-mails were sent to children. The threat of children unwittingly receiving smut in their inboxes helped drive the U.S. government to impose restrictions on sending commercial e-mails last...

WASHINGTON — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has attacked violent video games as "a silent epidemic" among children, said she wanted a federal investigation into one of the most popular, "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas." Clinton, D-N.Y., is asking the Federal Trade Commission to probe how players can access "graphic pornographic and violent content" for the game from the Internet. In a letter dated yesterday to FTC chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras, she also urged the agency to examine whether the game's rating of "M" for mature should be changed to an "Adults Only" rating. The Entertainment Software Ratings Board, a...