Privacy

Business lobbyist tapped as aide;

November 8, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>GOV.-ELECT RANKLES CONSUMER ACTIVISTS</h3><p class="source">San Jose Mercury News (California)</p> <p>"It's an absolute contradiction to Schwarzenegger's promise during the campaign to govern for the people, not special interests in Sacramento," said Carmen Balber of the non-profit Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.</p>

Consumer-credit bill passes Senate

November 6, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Legislation that may override California's tougher privacy law heads to conference committee, then Bush.</h3><p class="source">Orange County Register (California)</p> <p>"Consumers know what's best, and if a consumer says they don't want their information traded like a stock or a bond, it shouldn't be," said Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.</p>

Senate denies privacy motion

November 5, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Shelby leads bipartisan opposition to amendment, despite revelation that his Social Security number had been purchased over Internet</h3><p class="source">Mobile Register (Alabama)</p> <p>"What this shows is that the Senate's leading privacy advocate has been influenced by bank contributions," Jerry Flanagan of FTCR said.</p>

Identity Thieves

November 3, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The Nation</p> <p>George W. Bush will have to choose between the commercial freedoms of corporations and the privacy rights of Americans. There is no way to spin the identity theft crisis so that corporate America has no responsibility.</p>

SSN’s for sale

November 2, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Providence Journal-Bulletin (Rhode Island)</p> <p>Jamie Court, a spokesman for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, says that the average American can safely assume that tens of thousands of companies now hold copies of his or her personal data.</p>

Merger will mean big bucks for execs;

October 31, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>WellPoint's boss could get $194 million; Anthem's will get much less but do well.</h3><p class="source">The Indianapolis Star</p> <p>Jamie Court said his group FTCR, which has fought similar health company mergers in the past and will oppose this one, plans to raise the issue of Schaeffer's potential windfall in regulatory hearings on the merger that may be held in California.</p>

WELLPOINT’S CEO MAY REAP RICHES;

October 30, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>POTENTIAL WINDFALL RAISES QUESTIONS</h3><p class="source">The Daily News of Los Angeles</p> <p>"When a chief executive officer is handed that much money, patients get short changed because there is less money for medical care," said Jerry Flanagan, consumer advocate for Santa Monica-based The Foundation For Taxpayer & Consumer Rights.</p>

Merger would bring multimillion dollar windfall to WellPoint CEO

October 30, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Associated Press</p> <p>Schaeffer's compensation is drawing criticism from the Foundation for Taxpayers and Consumer Rights. The Santa Monica, Calif.-based nonprofit consumer advocacy group wants state and federal regulators to intervene in the merger.</p>

Financial toll the fires are taking on California

October 29, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">CBS-TV Evening News (6:30 PM ET)</p> <p>Insurance experts predict these fires won't cost the state as much as the 1994 Northridge earthquake because so far no major infrastructure has been destroyed.</p>

U.S. shouldn’t restrict states’ stricter rules on consumer protection

October 28, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Austin American-Statesman (Texas)</p> <p>States should be allowed to enact tougher laws than the Fair Credit Reporting Act, or the federal law itself should be considerably strengthened to protect consumers.</p>

Identity Thieves

October 28, 2003  ·  Jamie Court

<!-- excerpt --><p>The FTC has acknowledged that the epidemic of identity theft claimed almost 10 million victims last year. But on the same day it released the data, the agency attacked a new California privacy law that would cure the problem by limiting the corporate trad</p>

Privacy group gets a point across in the sky

October 27, 2003  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The Sydney Morning Herald</p> <p>A privacy group in California has protested against Citigroup-backed legislation in the US Senate, which would gut state privacy laws, by hiring a professional skywriter to release the first five digits of the Citigroup CEO's Social Security number.</p>