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.”
Looking Back and Looking Forward
At the beginning of this year the advocates, organizers and lawyers at Consumer Watchdog promised to take on insurance and healthcare companies, fight for online privacy and build a community of activists who could spread the word about our work for consumer protection and social change.
Here’s a quick look at some of Consumer Watchdog’s 2011 successes by the numbers:
Best Corporate Flip-Flop of 2011
It was a shocking figure. Some Blue Shield policyholders were going to pay rate increases of 86%. Consumer Watchdog, together with nurses and patients, showed up at Blue Shield's headquarters in San Francisco to protest the greed that could lead to such an attempted rip-off.
One of Our Favorite Moments of 2011
If you use the internet, you’re being tracked by the big players of the web like Google. In our quest to shine a light on this constant digital invasion of our lives, Consumer Watchdog decided to turn the tables on Google earlier this year by tracking them... old-fashioned style: with mimes!
When banks buy insurance for you….Watch out!
Does your bank charge you extra on your monthly car or mortgage loan payments for insurance that the bank bought? Do you even know if it’s happening?
Most people insure their homes and cars, but banks sometimes buy an additional policy without asking the owner, adding the costs to the monthly car or home loan payment.
Blue Shield admits to overcharging California customers by about half a billion since 2010
It is a masterful spin by the self-described not-for-profit Blue Shield of California to announce that it is returning all but two percent of its profits to its customers, as though this were some act of humble generosity. It’s a little like a supermarket announcing that from now on it’s going to give
Consumer Watchdog Airs TV Ad Exposing State Senator Ed Hernandez’s $350,000 Kaiser Conflict And Insensitivity To Constituent At Premium Regulation Hearing
Santa Monica, CA – Consumer Watchdog is sponsoring television ads in the San Gabriel Valley district of California State Senator Ed Hernandez to expose the fact that Hernandez, the Chair of the Senate Health Committee, has earned more than $350,000 in rental income for the state’s largest health plan, Kaiser.