ConsumerWatchdog

Justin Kloczko writes about tech, energy and insurance for Consumer Watchdog. He’s covered privacy issues extensively, including data collection, privacy rights and legislation, artificial intelligence, algorithms, and surveillance pricing.
 
He’s a recovering daily newspaper reporter with experience covering local government, education, and the criminal justice system at the Hartford Advocate, Middletown Press, and  Manchester Journal Inquirer. His work has appeared in Vice, Daily Beast, The New Republic, KCRW and Los Angeles Magazine.
 
While covering civil litigation at the Los Angeles Daily Journal he won LA Press Club awards for his stories detailing corruption at the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office and the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power. The stories led to the criminal prosecutions of multiple city officials. Justin also authored The Debaser, an independent newsletter about LA culture and politics that garnered him an appearance on the ABC/Hulu documentary about disgraced plaintiff’s attorney Tom Girardi called “The Housewife and the Hustler.”

KPCC 89.3 FM Southern California Public Radio – Jamie Court On Collapse of Prime Deal to Buy Daughters of Charity Hospitals

Consumer Watchdog warned that a failure of the deal by Prime Healthcare to purchase DCHS, would force hospitals including St. Francis, into bankruptcy and closure: “by rejecting this bid because of this highly-charged political debate, an underserved community and its hospital will be caught in the crosshairs."

KGO ABC TV-7 San Francisco, CA – Consumer Watchdog Calls for Suspension of Facebook’s New Suicide Prevention Program After It Leads To False Imprisonment...

Consumer Watchdog today called on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to “suspend the suicide prevention program until it is fully protective of the rights of all individuals and contains safeguards against abuse,” following a misfire in the program in Northern California. See our full report here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/facebook%E2%80%99s-new-suicide-prevention-program-leads-false-imprisonment-man-mental-instit

KTLA TV-5 – Los Angeles, CA – Refinery Explosion May Cause Higher Gas Prices

Consumer Watchdog urges Governor Jerry Brown, Attorney General Kamala Harris, and leaders of the California legislature to send independent inspectors to Tesoro's Martinez refinery and Exxon's Torrance refinery to verify whether companies are restricting supply to drive up gasoline prices. The two refineries represent more than 16 percent of the state's refinery capacity.

KABC TV-7 – Los Angeles, CA – Turbo Tax Resumes State Filings After Fraud

TurboTax has resumed filing of state tax returns Friday following a temporary halt after noticing several attempts to use stolen identity information to file fraudulent returns and claim refunds.

With a recent rise in data security breaches in high profile businesses this form of fraud has become all to common as Consumer Watchdog's John Simpson explains.

For more information see our website at: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org

Bite Back! Jamie Court talks about Keystone XL and the Koch Brothers

Bite Back! Consumer Watchdog's new weekly segment where our seasoned advocates talk about the great hypocrisies of the day. This week Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court takes on the Keystone XL Pipeline and the Koch Brothers influence. See more of our Bite Back videos here or on our official YouTube channel.

Mercury Insurance Cannot Pass On Costs of “Branding” Ads to Policyholders – Californians Win

A Sacramento judge has tentatively ruled that Mercury Insurance cannot pass on the costs of institutional advertising, like its golf tournament the Mercury Open, to policyholders. Auto and home insurance ratepayers will saving millions.

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Fighting abuses at the world's largest corporations isn't easy, but thanks to your support Consumer Watchdog made big some changes in 2014.

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