Privacy

Will Cosmetic Regulation Kill Independent Beauty Brands?

August 18, 2016  ·  Mark Reback

<p class="inaugural"><a href="http://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2016/08/18/51378/will-cosmetic-regulation-kill-independent-beauty-b/">Click here to listen to this radio broadcast segment</a>.</p> <p class="inaugural">A <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/16/us/politics/cosmetics-industry-congress-regulation-wen.html">new bill </a>has been proposed to give the Food and Drug Administration authority to test cosmetic ingredients, as well as recall products that prove to be unsafe for consumers.</p>

Access, Accountability Reporting and Silicon Valley

August 18, 2016  ·  Mark Reback

<p><b>With the lines between media firms and tech firms blurring, coverage of the tech sector presents one of the most profound accountability challenges in modern journalism</b></p> <p>The first time I visited Facebook’s office in Washington, D.C., I was asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement. I didn’t.</p> <p>Then there was the time I got through an entire interview with a product manager at Apple, only to be told, after the fact, that it was presumed to be on background. “Everyone knows this is how we do things,” a spokesman explained apologetically. Nope.</p>

Safety Rules Are Still Being Formed As Self-Driving Technology Marches Ahead

August 18, 2016  ·  Mark Reback

<p>The top U.S. highway safety regulator, Mark Rosekind, last month said of self-driving cars: “We are literally seeing the future being created in front of us.”</p> <p>Uber Technologies Inc. and Ford Motor Co. this week proved Rosekind’s point. They announced plans to roll out autonomous vehicles and thus heightened a key question facing Rosekind and other regulators: What will be the rules of the road for these cars?</p> <p>The short answer: It’s not clear yet.</p>

Fatal Tesla Crash Recharges Self-Driving Criticism

August 8, 2016  ·  Mark Reback

<p><i>Washington</i> — A spate of crashes involving Tesla cars equipped with Autopilot driver-assist software has emboldened consumer groups to push federal regulators to pump the brakes on rules governing self-driving vehicles.</p> <p>The safety advocates say the fatal accident involving a 2015 Tesla Model S with Autopilot engaged that occurred in May has cast doubt on the viability of self-driving cars among potential consumers.</p>

DHS Invokes Silicon Valley for More Drones

August 5, 2016  ·  Mark Reback

<p><strong>A group of federal regulators held a meeting in Menlo Park, Calif., asking for help in monitoring the country's southern border with drones.</strong></p> <p>Last week, technology entrepreneurs filled a Menlo Park conference room, where officials spelled out their needs — drones small and light enough to launch easily and fly over vast stretches of desert. The machines would look for questionable activity, scan faces of suspects and compare them against a database for prior criminal history.</p>

Ignoring Deadly Defects In Autonomous Cars Serves No One, Say Auto Safety Advocates

July 29, 2016  ·  Mark Reback

<p>The US Center for Auto Safety, Consumer Watchdog and former National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA) administrator Joan Claybrook have told NHTSA administrator Mark Rosekind that "you inexcusably are rushing full speed ahead" to promote the deployment of self-driving robot car technology instead of developing adequate safety standards "crucial to ensuring imperfect technologies do not kill people by being introduced into vehicles before the technology matures."</p>

Consumer Advocates Reprimand NHTSA for Response to Fatal Tesla Crash

July 28, 2016  ·  Mark Reback

<div class="entry-content"> <p>Former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chief Joan Claybrook joined Consumer Watchdog and the Center For Auto Safety in reprimanding NHTSA for its response to the fatal crash of Tesla Model S operating in Autopilot mode.</p>

Safety Advocates Slam NHTSA for Pushing “Robot Car Technology”

July 28, 2016  ·  Mark Reback

<p>The National Highway Traffic Administration should stop pushing the adoption of “robot car technology” until more testing is done and enforceable safety standards are promulgated, according to a July 28 letter sent by three advocacy groups to NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind.</p>

Consumer Groups: Self-Driving Car Occupants Are Guinea Pigs

July 27, 2016  ·  Mark Reback

<p>The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Obama administration want self-driving cars on the roads as soon as possible, but not everyone is in such a rush. Auto safety organizations say the government is rushing autonomous technology into cars without safety rules necessary for the technology.</p>

Self-driving cars’ fatal attraction

July 22, 2016  ·  Carmen Balber

<p><img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2939" alt="" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/images_teslatruckpc_0.jpeg" style="width: 275px; height: 206px; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 7px; float: right;" width="640" height="480" />Obama administration officials’ love affair with self-driving cars is so blinding that even a fatal crash – caused when a Tesla in autopilot mode failed to "see" a white truck against a bright sky – has failed to slow their rush to deploy robot cars on public highways.</p>

Feds: Tesla Crashes Won’t Slow Self-Driving Push

July 20, 2016  ·  Mark Reback

<p><i>Washington</i> – Federal regulators have not lost their enthusiasm for self-driving cars after a series of crashes involving Tesla vehicles that were operating with their automated driving system activated, the nation's top highway safety official said Wednesday.</p>

DOT Secretary Wants More Rigorous Reviews Of Robotic Cars

July 19, 2016  ·  Mark Reback

<p><span class="dateline">SAN FRANCISCO -- </span>U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said Tuesday that he wants government regulators and the auto industry to work more closely together to test self-driving technology before people entrust their vehicle's steering and brakes to a robot.</p>