Privacy

US Rep Likens Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to ‘Tyranny’

February 21, 2017  ·  Evan Thomas King

<p>The United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has come under increasing fire from Republican lawmakers who now have the Trump administration to back their efforts.</p> <p>Long-time critic Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, who chairs the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, compared the bureau to a tyranny in a recent interview with The Dallas Morning News.<br /> Hensarling reportedly is preparing a new version of the Financial Choice Act -- the Republican-led effort to repeal and replace the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act -- that would include CFPB reforms.</p>

Uber’s sexual harassment case shines light on a startup’s culture of defiance

February 21, 2017  ·  Evan Thomas King

<p>Uber’s sexual harassment case is the latest controversy in a long history of the ride-sharing company flouting regulations and, according to the company’s critics, ignoring ethical and legal standards in the name of “disruption”.</p>

Otto’s California Truck Testing May Depend on Whether Drivers Keep a Foot on the Accelerator or Not

February 14, 2017  ·  Evan Thomas King

<p>When Otto first began testing its technology in California last year, a co-founder of the company sought to assure regulators it was developing driver-assistance systems on the state’s public roads and not self-driving semi trucks. The distinction is critical. Otto, which hopes to develop fully self-driving trucks, would not be required to obtain an autonomous-testing permit from the state if it was only testing driver-assistance features.

Group Demands DMV Halt Uber Unit’s Self-Driving Trucks

February 10, 2017  ·  Evan Thomas King

<p style="font-size: 16.9px; line-height: normal; font-family: Georgia; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-kerning: none; background-color: #ffffff">Consumer Watchdog is asking California officials to revoke the registrations of the self-driving trucks being operated by an Uber unit and to seek charges against the subsidiary, which is called Otto.</span></span></p>

Is Uber’s self-driving truck company operating without a licence?

February 9, 2017  ·  Evan Thomas King

<p style="font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span style="font-kerning: none">In late 2016 Uber's fleet of self-driving cars was forced to leave San Francisco, where they had begun testing on public roads just days earlier. Despite the cars having a driver, they were seen by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) as autonomous and needed a $150 (£119) permit to share the streets with regular traffic.

Otto’s Self-Driving-Truck Tests on California Roads May Run Afoul of State Regulations

February 8, 2017  ·  Evan Thomas King

<p style="font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; font-family: Georgia; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-kerning: none">In December, Uber began testing autonomous vehicles on California public roads without obtaining the necessary permit required by state regulations. A <a href="http://blog.caranddriver.com/california-demands-uber-stop-its-test-of-self-driving-cars-in-san-francisco/"><span style="font-kerning: none; color: #1e84b1">public standoff ensued</span></a>.

Consumer Watchdog Claims Otto’s Self-Driving Trucks not Properly Permitted

February 8, 2017  ·  Evan Thomas King

<p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-kerning: none; background-color: #ffffff">A safety group is urging the California Department of Motor Vehicles to revoke the registrations of Otto’s self-driving trucks, claiming the vehicles are not properly permitted, and weigh more than 10,000 pounds, a violation of the state’s current testing requirements.</span></p>

Consumer Watchdog asks California to take Uber’s self-driving trucks off the road

February 8, 2017  ·  Evan Thomas King

<p style="font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(59, 59, 59);"><span style="font-kerning: none; background-color: #ffffff">The advocacy group Consumer Watchdog wants California to do to Uber’s self-driving trucks what it did to Uber’s self-driving cars: Take them off the road.</span></p>

Watchdog group wants Uber’s self-driving trucks off the road

February 8, 2017  ·  Evan Thomas King

<p style="font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-kerning: none; background-color: #fafafa">SAN FRANCISCO — Seems like Uber is in another tussle with the California Department of Motor Vehicles over its self-driving vehicle testing. And this time it's trucks.</span></p>

Cars take place with PCs and smartphones as threat to privacy

February 3, 2017  ·  Evan Thomas King

<p style="font-size: 17.5px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'PT Serif';"><span style="font-kerning: none; text-shadow: 1.0px 1.0px 1.0px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0)">You probably know that you should delete all the data off your phone before you give it away and wipe the hard drive on your computer before you sell it.</span></p>

Analysis: Autonomous Vehicles Not Ready for Deployment Without Drivers to Grab the Wheel

February 2, 2017  ·  Evan Thomas King

<p style="font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; font-family: Georgia; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-kerning: none; background-color: #ffffff">Disengagement reports from companies testing autonomous cars on California’s public roads show that driverless vehicles are not ready to be deployed without human drivers who can take control when the self-driving technology fails, according to the group Consumer Watchdog.</span></span></p>

In The Self Driving Car Race, Waymo Looks To Be Way Out In Front

February 2, 2017  ·  Evan Thomas King

<p style="font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; font-family: Georgia; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-kerning: none">Self-driving cars operated by Waymo are logging significantly more miles on California public roads than their competitors, and the Google project’s cars are traveling significantly more miles without experiencing disengagements of their autonomous technology, according to <a href="https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/vr/autonomous/disengagement_report_2016"><span style="font-kerning: none; color: #1e84b1">reports releas