Current Events in March 2011

There may be no free lunch but Skype comes close. The Luxembourg-based Internet telephony company provides free Internet calls and ridiculously cheap calls from an Internet-based Skype account to a landline or cell phone just about anywhere on earth.

But fiscal reality eventually rears its handsome head in even the most idealistic venture and thus, with its initial public offering looming, Skype has announced it will begin running ads on its home page. The first advertisers to sign up with Skype include Groupon, Nokia, Universal Pictures, and Visa.

Skype says the ads may include audio or video but promises they won't pop up in the middle of calls.

“The user experience on Skype is always job number one. So, we’ve spent a lot of time working through the best way to show advertising in the Skype environment. We believe our daily sponsorship ad from one brand per day is valuable for premier advertisers, but doesn’t detract from the experience for our users,”  said Doug Bewsher, Chief Marketing Office for Skype.

“Many people log into Skype as part of their daily routine, just like they check Groupon," said Rob Solomon, president and COO of Groupon. "We look forward to leveraging Skype's new display advertising to connect Groupon to an even larger captive audience."

Skype's IPO is expected to be one of the biggest in the technology space since Google raised $1.67 billion in 2004. Some investors are nervous about the company's ability to turn a profit, though. Last year, Skype had a loss of about $7 million on revenue of $860 million.  “We are just taking our first steps in this space and we expect to test and learn a lot as we move forward.”

The company says it has 145 million connected users, but only 8.8 million of them are paying a monthly fee.

Researchers say young drivers are more likely to text and drive than their elders, so the U.S. Department of Transportation and Consumer Reports are launching a publicity campaign to alert parents, teachers and teens about the dangers of distracted driving.

“Distracted driving has become a deadly epidemic on America’s roads, and teens are especially vulnerable because of their inexperience behind the wheel and, often, peer pressure,” Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said.  “Behind the statistics are real families who have been devastated by these tragedies. We’re pleased to be working withConsumer Reportsto raise awareness and help communities fight this problem.”

Not everyone agrees with LaHood, however. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), for one, said recently that texting bans haven't been effective in reducing crashes. IIHS prsident Adrian Lund said LaHood was ignoring"the endless sources of distraction and relies on banning one source or another to solve the whole problem."

The DOT-Consumer Reports campaign consists primarily ofa free guide for parents and educators called “Distracted Driving Shatters Lives,”s available at the Department of Transportation (DOT)’s web site Distraction.gov and ConsumerReports.org/Distracted. 

Copies will be distributed to schools and volunteer groups by the National School Safety Coalition. DOT and Consumer Reports today are sending a public service announcement to TV stations nationwide, and the guide will be highlighted in a Consumer Reports video to air in retail stores across America in April, where it is expected to reach as many as 100 million people.

Survey shows risk

A new, national survey by Consumer Reports National Research Center showed how widespread distracted driving is, especially among younger drivers:

• 63 percent of respondents under 30 years old reported using a handheld phone while driving in the past 30 days, and 30 percent of them texted while driving during the same period.   That compares with 41 percent and 9 percent, respectively, of respondents who were 30 or older.

• Among the under-30 respondents, only 36 percent were very concerned about the problem of distracted driving, and only 30 percent felt it was very dangerous to use a handheld phone.

• 64 percent of respondents overall said they had seen other drivers texting using a handheld device in the past 30 days.  94 percent had observed drivers talking on a mobile phone and 58 percent had seen a dangerous driving situation related to a distracted driver in the past month.

• 78 percent of respondents overall said they had reduced or stopped behaviors related to distracted driving.  Of that group, 66 percent said they did so because of reading or hearing about the dangers.

According to the Department of Transportation, nearly 5,500 people in the U.S. were killed and almost half a million were injured in accidents related to distracted driving in 2009.  Eighteen percent of those fatal accidents involved the use of a cell phone.

As part of a settlement with a company offering debt settlement services, more than 5,000 New Yorkers will get refunds totaling $1.1 million.

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the agreement with Freedom Debt Relief, a company he says misled debt-saddled consumers about the amount of money they would save and the services it would provide, while reaping large profits in up-front fees.

"Freedom Debt promised relief and financial stability, but left thousands of its customers even farther in the red,"  Schneiderman said. "This office has zero tolerance for those who prey on the vulnerable to make a profit, and will continue to root out the kinds of deceptive practices seen in this case. It is just as important that New Yorkers know how to both recognize and avoid a bad deal, so that they can make sound financial decisions."

Lured consumers

Schneiderman said his investigation revealed that Freedom Debt lured consumers by making false and misleading claims, promising to eliminate large portions of debt by negotiating directly with creditors, claiming that it could reduce total debt by 40 to 60 percent. Consumers were told that they would be "debt-free" within anywhere from one to three years.

But, says Schneiderman, the company's program was fundamentally flawed, leaving most New York consumers with as much or more debt than they had before signing up for the service. In lieu of making even the minimum payments to their creditors, customers made monthly deposits to a designated account that was purportedly to be used to settle their debt. Freedom Debt deducted its up-front fees from this account before it engaged in a discussion with consumers' creditors - a practice it continued until the Federal Trade Commission banned it in October 2010.

When consumers were unable to make the strict monthly deposit schedule the program required, they dropped out of the program - having paid most or all of the fees without receiving the promised services.

Not just one company

Schneiderman says these practices aren't limited to this particular company, and that consumers should be wary of most firms promising credit relief. His advice? Be wary of debt settlement companies that promise to reduce your debt substantially or to make you "debt free." Also, never agree to sign a contract with a debt settlement company that requires the payment of up-front fees, which are generally illegal.

Keep in mind that enrollment in a debt settlement plan premised on stopping payments to creditors will likely lead to more frequent and aggressive creditor collection efforts often resulting in judgments, wage garnishments, and freezing of bank accounts.

Schneiderman says a wise first step to help resolve an outstanding account is to speak directly to the credit card issuer. Alternatively, it may be helpful to speak to an attorney or an accredited credit counselor who can help develop a plan of action that best works for each consumer's unique situation.

One seemingly unavoidable hazard of modern life is being billed by DirecTV for pornographic movies, whether or not you actually watch the skin flicks. Complaints have piled up for years and the company has occasionally said it is “evaluating possible solutions” but customers complain thatDirecTVreps are unsympathetic and unbending.

As recently as March 2, Jerry of Coral Springs, Fla., complained that after he terminated his DirecTV service in January and paid the final bill, he received a new bill for $29.35, supposedly representing Pay Per View charges from 2004.

“I have NEVER in 10 years as a Direct TV customer EVER ordered anything much less filth!Jerry told ConsumerAffairs.com. “Iam beyond disgusted to be threatened with collections by Direct TV for refusing to pay for this fraudulent bill.”

Jerry, like many others, took note of a 2006 ConsumerAffairs.com story that told of an outbreak of similar disputed billings in the Philadelphia area. DirecTV refused to help, even though some of those billed were not even DirecTV subscribers.

One theory then was that rogueemployees at some DirecTV subcontractors were setting up bogus accounts for the commission a theory that Jerry thinks might explain his problem.

“A few years ago, I had my Direct TV account and satellite plus receivers upgraded by a subcontracted field rep for Direct TV. I complained to Direct TV that I should be dealing with an employee not a subcontract and they did not care. Now I am finding out that these subs are stealing account info from the cards removed from the old receivers and charging pornographic material on them.”

Jerry is not the only one belatedly billed for viewings that supposedly occurred in 2004. Lisa of Minneapolis received a bill in December 2007 that included porn charges,she said. DirecTV insisted the bill was accurate and said she would be charged a late fee, even though she had not previously been billed for the supposed viewings.

Company can't corroborate

A company spokesman said he could not comment on the individual cases and would not concede that any such incidents had ever happened.

Asked what customers could do in the event of inaccurate billing, he said, “Our customers cancall 1800DirecTv. We have proficient customer service reps who can assist you.”

But not all consumers have found the customer service reps helpful.Kimberly of Shannon, N.C.,said she was charged $197 for pornographic movies that she said she did not watch. DirecTV refused to waive the charges, even though a customer service rep agreed that the purchases did not show up in her purchase history, Kimberly said.

Melissa of Stern, N.C., who is a technical writer, and her husband, an engineer, took great pains to avoid unauthorized charges when they set up their DirecTV account, seeking to ensure that their mentally-disabled son would not inadvertently incur charges.

“As soon as the system was installed, we set the Parental Locks and Limits feature to restrict the purchase of pay-per-view movies, as instructed by DirecTV, she said."We are technically competent and believe we set up the controls correctly. “

Despite their efforts, they were billed for several Pay Per View movies. DirecTV eventually agreed to block movie orders via the remote control and reduce the unauthorized charges by half, but refused to refund the entire amount or allow Melissa to cancel the account.

More about DirecTV

What would you do if your grandchild called and desperately needed money to get out of jail in a foreign country?  Assuming you have a grandchild, you'd probably send it, right?

Bad idea, says Lawrence Wasden, the attorney general of Idaho, which has seen a rash of such cases lately.

The scam, which has been around in one form or another for years, involves a phone call from a criminal posing as the victim’s grandchild.  The caller says that he or she is in trouble or under arrest in another country and needs money right away. 

The caller then asks the grandparent to wire the cash right away and asks the grandparents not to tell anyone.  Sometimes another person will get on the line to back up the caller’s story. 

The second person usually claims to be a police officer, bail bondsman or just a helpful bystander.  If the grandparent does send money, the scammers usually call again to ask for more and give various reasons for the second request for money.

Wasden says he has heard from three Idaho residents who fell for the scam and lost thousands of dollars.

One Idaho, man received a call from a young man whom he felt confident was his grandson.  The caller told him that he was with a number of other young men, and he had been arrested for speeding and put in jail in Canada.  He went on to say that the police searched their car and found marijuana. 

The grandparent was told to call an “Officer Steely” at a Toronto, Canada number. “Officer Steely” then instructed him to send $6,100 via Western Union to Nashville, Tennessee, because bail had been let out for competitive bid and the Nashville’s bondsperson submitted the lowest bid. 

“Officer Steely” said that a bail bondsperson in Nashville would forward it to Canada, and the man’s grandson would be released from jail.  After being asked to send additional money for a court-ordered fine, the victim became suspicious and called his grandson, who was actually at home in Oregon.

Two Idaho women reported losing $3,000.  The grandmother was told that her grandson had been driving an uninsured rental car in Trinidad when he was sideswiped and that the rental company needed to be paid or he would go to jail.  The grandmother contacted the mother and together they came up with the money. 

After wiring the money, the mother received a call from the imposter.  She became suspicious of his unfamiliar voice and accent.  She then hung up and made an effort to contact her son. Later, her real son called her back and said, “Mom, tell me you didn’t send $3,000 to Trinidad.”

 An Idaho couple was told that their granddaughter was in Spain attending a funeral with relatives, when their car was stopped on the way to the airport to fly home.  The couple was told their granddaughter was arrested after the police searched the trunk of the car and found cocaine and that she needed money for a bail bond. 

After they sent the money, someone impersonating a Marine sergeant called and said he was calling from the American Embassy.  He advised them their granddaughter had lost her passport and needed money for a replacement.  They sent that money as well, losing a total of $5,870.  Although the callers claimed to be in Spain, the telephone company said that the number where the call originated was in Canada.

Off-guard 

“You may think that you wouldn’t fall for these scams, but they’re designed to catch you off guard,” Attorney General Wasden said. “Con artists play on your fears to make you do things you wouldn’t normally do.”

 If you receive a call like this, Wasden recommends you follow the three C’s: Calm, Contact and Confirm.

 • CALM down.  Being agitated or upset clouds your judgment. Take a few deep breaths and then evaluate the situation. 

• CONTACT your grandchild with the information about the call.  Call his or her home or cell phone.  Call the parents or other family members.  Don’t trust the caller.  When he says, “I don’t want Mom and Dad to know,” it is just a scammer’s technique to keep you from discovering the truth. 

• CONFIRM your suspicions.  The people who don’t fall victim to this scam find out where their grandchild is. Usually, that is at home, work or school, and completely unaware of the scam.

There has been a lead-change in the ongoing battle for supremacy in the smartphone world, with Android pulling ahead of Research In Motion's (RIM) Blackberry, according to Nielsen Co.

However, the results may be open to interpretation.

"When it comes to consumer marketshare by operating system, Android (29%) appears to be pulling ahead of RIM Blackberry (27%) and Apple iOS (27%)," Nielsen said in a release. "But an analysis by manufacturer shows RIM and Apple to be the winners compared to other device makers since they are the only ones creating and selling smartphones with their respective operating systems. HTC follows with 12 percent of consumer smartphone owners having an HTC Android device and 7 percent owning an HTC device running a Microsoft OS. Ten percent of consumer smartphone owners had a Motorola Android device and one percent owned a Motorola device running a Microsoft OS."

Advantage, Android

Android has an advantage, say industry analysts, because the operating system is used by so many different manufacturers. Apple's operating system, on the other hand, is only available on the iPhone.

Another thing going for Adroid's operating system is demographics. When you analyze who are buying Android phones, it tends to be those in the 18-24 age group, one of the largest groups of mobile device consumers.

Android's gain in marketshare is also impressive when measured against Nielson's Summer 2010. At the time, Android had only a 19 percent market penetration, which had grown to 25 percent in January.

It's also good news for Verizon Wireless, which offered a large number of Android phones, at a time when it couldn't offer Apple's iPhone. Ironically, now that Verizon is selling the iPhone, industry speculation has suggested lackluster iPhone sales. AT&T, meawhile, recently began offering more Android phones, perhaps compensating for the loss of iPhone exclusivity.

The battle shows no sign of letting up, especially considering the stakes. In the last six months, Neilson observes that 47 percent of consumers who purchased a mobile phone selected a smartphone over a feature phone, capable only of voice and text communication.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has expanded the use of Allergan’s LAP-BAND Adjustable Gastric Banding System, a device implanted around the upper part of the stomach to limit the amount of food that can be eaten at one time.

The approval expands the use of the LAP-BAND to include obese individuals with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 to 34 who also have an existing condition related to their obesity. BMI is a general measure of body fat based on an individual’s weight and height.

The FDA approved the LAP-BAND in 2001 for use in severely obese patients with a BMI of at least 40, those with a BMI of at least 35 and who also have an existing severe condition related to their obesity, such as heart disease or diabetes, or those who are at least 100 pounds overweight.

But not all LAP-BAND procedures are successful. A lawsuit seeks damages in the death of a 50-year-old California woman who died last July, five days after Lap Band surgery. Laura Faitro of Simi Valley died after undergoing surgery at Valley Surgical Center in West Hills, Calif.

She was the fourth Southern California patient to die following surgery related to the 1-800-GET-THIN advertising campaign, according to The Los Angeles Times.

The LAP-BAND is intended to be used for weight loss in adults who have not lost weight using non-surgical weight loss methods. The newly-approved indication is limited to patients with a BMI of 30 to 34 and at the highest risk of obesity-related complications. This represents a narrower indication than originally sought by Allergan. 

Public health concern

The company had also proposed to expand the indication to include people with a BMI of 35 to 39 and no obesity related condition. Patients using the LAP-BAND must be willing to make major changes to their lifestyle and eating habits.

“Obesity is a major public health concern in the United States,” said William Maisel, M.D., M.P.H., deputy director for science at the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. “A healthy lifestyle and weight loss are keys to improvements in health and a person’s overall quality of life.”

Use of the LAP-BAND in patients with BMIs between 30 and 40 was examined in a U.S. study. Results showed that 80 percent of patients lost at least 30 percent of their excess weight and kept it off for one year. Some patients in the study lost no weight, while others lost more than 80 percent of their extra weight.

Adverse reaction

In the same study, more than 70 percent of patients experienced an adverse event related to LAP-BAND, most often vomiting and difficulty swallowing. The events ranged from mild to severe but most were mild and resolved quickly.

Seven out of 149 patients needed other procedures after implantation: four to remove the LAP-BAND, two for port revisions, and one to reposition the LAP-BAND.

The LAP-BAND works by limiting the amount of food that can be eaten at one time and increasing the time it takes for food to be digested, to help people eat less. It is placed around the upper part of the stomach during a surgical procedure. The band creates a small stomach pouch that holds a small amount of food.

The LAP-BAND should not be used in certain people, for example, those who are poor candidates for surgery, have certain stomach or intestinal disorders or an infection, take aspirin frequently, or are addicted to alcohol and/or drugs. It should also not be used in those not able or willing to follow dietary and other recommendations.

The LAP-BAND is marketed by Allergan Inc., based in Goleta, Calif.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)notified healthcare professionals and patients of an increased risk of development of cleft lip and/or cleft palate in infants born to women treated with Topamax (topiramate) during pregnancy.

Because of new human data that show an increased risk for oral clefts, topiramate is being placed in Pregnancy Category D. Pregnancy Category D means there is positive evidence of human fetal risk based on human data but the potential benefits from use of the drug in pregnant women may be acceptable in certain situations despite its risks. 

The patient medication guide and prescribing information for Topamax and generic topiramate will be updated with the new information.

Topiramate is an anticonvulsant medication approved for use alone or with other medications to treat patients with epilepsy who have certain types of seizures. Topiramate is also approved for use to prevent migraine headaches.

Recommendation

Before starting topiramate, pregnant women and women of childbearing potential should discuss other treatment options with their health care professional. Women taking topiramate should tell their health care professional immediately if they are planning to or become pregnant.

Patients taking topiramate should not stop taking it unless told to do so by their health care professional. Women who become pregnant while taking topiramate should talk to their health care professional about registering with the North American Antiepileptic Drug Pregnancy Registry, a group that collects information about outcomes in infants born to women treated with antiepileptic drugs during pregnancy.

Car rental companies would be prohibited from renting cars that have been recalled for safety-related issues under legislation being proposed by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY). Earlier this week, a study by federal safety regulators found that since 2006, major car rental companies have let tens of thousands of drivers go on the road without repairing defects.

Under current law, any car under a recall notice cannot be sold by an auto dealer until the safety issue has been resolved, but that same restriction does not apply to rental car companies, which are currently allowed to rent cars under recall before the safety issue has been addressed.

Schumer's bill, the Safe Rental Car Act, would make that illegal.

The issue was brought to public attention when two sisters from California died when their rented PT Cruiser caught fire and crashed into a tractor-trailer truck as a result of a safety defect subject to a recall.

Schumer’s bill will address serious concerns brought to light by a recent study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that shows that major rental car companies are failing to address safety recall issues for a significant percentage of cars in their rental car fleets before renting their vehicles.

“Rental car companies should be immediately barred from renting cars that would be pulled from showrooms and car dealer lots because of safety recall concerns,” said Schumer. “This is a serious public safety issue and, tragically, we have already seen the grave and devastating consequences of inaction.”

NHTSA examined the percentage of dozens of GM and Chrysler vehicles in rental car fleets that had been fixed within 90 days of 10 different recall notices from 2006 to 2010. (Ford failed to respond to the survey).

Automakers have previously told the federal government that rental car companies typically fix less than a third of recalled vehicles within a month of the recall and, over the course of a year, that number climbs to just 50%.

According to the audit only 34% of Hertz’s rental cars under recall had been fixed within 90 days. Avis/Budget had only fixed 53% of the cars under recall during the same time period, and Enterprise, the top performing member of the group, had only addressed recall notices in 65% of their cars after 90 days. The study suggests that tens of thousands of rental car drivers have unknowingly rented vehicles under recall, posing a serious threat to safety on roadways.

Raechel and Jacquie Houck, sisters from California, rented a Chrysler PT Cruiser from Enterprise. One month before it was rented to the Houcks, the car had been recalled because a possible leakage of power steering fluid could result in a fire under the hood of the car.

Enterprise failed to address the safety recall, and the Houck sisters were killed when their rental car caught fire and slammed into an oncoming truck. The victim’s mother, Cally Houck, sued Enterprise and was eventually awarded $15 million.

"I welcome a bill that would prevent the sort of tragedy that took my daughters' lives,” said Cally Houck. “No other family should have to endure the heartbreaking loss of loved ones because of an unsafe rental car." 

Yesterday it was the august New York Times sniffing that it would soon launch an “upscale” and “curated” daily deals program for what it sees as its highly select and discerning audience, rather than the masses that flock to the likes of Groupon.

Coming back down to earth, Microsoft's Bing today announced it's launching daily deals for the desktop and mobile (m.bing.com), claiming to offer more than 200,000 unique offers in more than 14,000 cities across the United States.

Bing is assembling all these deals from existing sites, including Groupon, Living Social and Restaurant.com, it said, “ making it easier to discover, share and search for the best deals in your area – all from one place.”

Bing is partnering with The Dealmap to launch Bing deals. Dealmap already assembles daily offerings from other deal sites and says it has its own Deal Heroes, stealthy undercover operatives who sleuth out the best buys around town.

And what of Google, Bing's arch rival in the online search business?

No one quite knows. There have been reports that Big G is working on a Groupon-like program and supposedly has talked with businesses around its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters but that seems to be all anyone knows at the moment.

Debt settlement and other credit-related issues topped the list of consumer complaints in Illinois last year, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said today as she released her top 10 consumer complaints, detailing concerns of the 170,000 consumers who contacted her office’s Consumer Protection Division in 2010.

That consumer debt again topped the list of concerns in 2010 mirrors what Madigan’s office has seen in recent years as consumers struggle with pocketbook issues in a down economy. Complaints related to residential mortgages ranked highest among consumer debt concerns, showing that, much like 2009, people are still fighting to stay in their homes. Many consumers also contacted Madigan’s office over credit card debt and abusive collection practices.

“The economic crisis continues to affect consumers in Illinois,” Attorney General Madigan said. “People are struggling just to make ends meet. Consumers should know my office is here to help protect them against financial abuse and from con artists who are taking advantage of these tough times to make a quick buck.”

Included in the more than 7,000 consumer debt complaints filed with Madigan’s office is a new attempt to evade recent reforms aimed at protecting consumers. Last year, Madigan successfully led an effort to pass the Debt Settlement Consumer Protection Act, which bans upfront fees debt settlement companies charge and requires they can only collect fees if a consumer’s debt is actually settled.

Legal Helpers

Madigan today filed a lawsuit against a national legal firm that has unlawfully charged upfront fees to consumers in Bureau, Champaign, Kendall, Will and Cook counties. Madigan’s suit, filed in Sangamon County Circuit Court, alleges Legal Helpers Debt Resolution LLC unlawfully charged consumers upfront fees for debt settlement services with promises to make them debt free. But, in fact, they never lowered the consumers’ debt and actually left them worse off financially.

The lawsuit alleges Legal Helpers Debt Resolution, based in Chicago, illegally charged fees upfront under a guise that attorneys, who are exempted from an upfront fee ban, were providing the debt settlement service to consumers, enabling them to charge the initial fees. In fact, Madigan alleges, attorneys with Legal Helpers Debt Resolution only served as a front to the business, and debt settlement service was contracted out to non-lawyer, third-party companies.

Credit cards are becoming more sophisticated objects. This level of sophistication makes transactions easier, but safeguards are important to protect users, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center.

The biggest recent change in credit cards is the embedded Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip, enabling what the industry calls "contactless payments."

Contactless cards

In 2005 JP Morgan Chase led the way by introducing their RF Credit Card and coined the term "Blink" technology.  These "contactless" cards could be simply waved in front of a special reader or swiped through a traditional terminal.

An RFID Credit Card is a standard credit card with a Radio Frequency Microprocessor embedded in it.  At its most basic level it is nothing more than a "Read Only" Chip with your personal credit card information embedded in it, which can be read by an RFID Enabled Point of Sale Terminal.

The apparent benefits of RFID credit card transactions are convenience, speed and the elimination of employee contact with the card.  To minimize accidental reading of these cards, they are designed to be read at a distance of one to four inches from the reader.

Hijacked?

Even so, there is some concern as to whether RFID cards can be "hi-jacked" by use of an unauthorized RFID scanner, and then the information used for fraudulent purposes.  It is important to note that there are two parts to this process:  Scanning the card to retrieve the information, and then being able to use the retrieved information to make a fraudulent financial transaction.

The implication in recent media articles is that it is easy to "hi-jack" the RFID information, and that it is easy to then use this information to make fraudulent purchases.  ITRC said it requested information from a variety of technical resources to review this assertion, including information provided by the card manufacturers.  ITRC says its investigation is still underway, but has already established a few facts:

Ability to scan RFID enabled cards

• Scanners that can "read" the RFID cards are available to merchants and the general public
• These scanners can interrogate the RFID card, and retrieve the information provided by the RFID chip on the card
• This is a fairly simple process, and can certainly be done without the card owner knowing that it has been done.

Ability to use the retrieved information for fraudulent purchases

• The assumption is that the RFID chip provides the same information that is embedded in the magnetic strip, which is the traditional method of swiping a credit card.  So, if the RFID chip can be read, then the perpetrator has the ability to use that information to make fraudulent purchases.
• ITRC's investigation so far has indicated that some RFID card manufacturers have implemented security features which make it difficult or impossible to use the "hi-jacked" information to make a fraudulent transaction.

ITRC also directly requested information from card issuers, and received information from Discover, MasterCard, Visa, and American Express.

According to Discover

“Contactless payments are secure. Unlike RFID, which can operate at ranges up to 25 feet, contactless payment devices are designed with RF enabled technology that operates at very short ranges - less than 2-4 inches - so that the consumer needs to make a deliberate effort to initiate the payment transaction. For contactless payments, Discover uses added security technology both on the contactless device as well as in the processing network and system to prevent fraud, and with Discover's 0% fraud liability, Discover cardholders have the added protection of never being held liable for any fraudulent activity on their cards.

“Importantly, the Discover Zip contactless card has a unique security feature in that the verification value changes each time you use it -- so that any skimmed data could not be reused.”

According to Visa

“To authorize a payment, you must wave your Visa Micro Tag directly within 1-2 inches of a secure reader at an authorized merchant, and it must be properly oriented. Each time you use the Visa Micro Tag, a unique transaction code is generated, which must be verified through the reader before the transaction can be completed.

“Visa payWave also generates a unique digital watermark for every transaction to prevent unauthorized transactions. Active cardholder participation is required to perform a transaction, as the card or Visa Micro Tag must be within 1-2 inches of the secure reader that accepts Visa payWave payments and must be correctly oriented to be processed.”

According to MasterCard

“Due to a microchip that's embedded inside the PayPass card and because of its advanced encryption technology, it is extremely difficult to copy a PayPass chip and create a functioning counterfeit version of that card.

“In addition, it is unlikely that the details from the PayPass chip could be read and then copied onto the magnetic stripe of a counterfeit card. This is because only a minimal amount of information would be accessible - and not the same information that would be used on a magnetic stripe to conduct payment transactions at the point of sale.

“A PayPass card only sends the account number and the expiration date of the card to a reader, along with a dynamic, one-time-only number that uniquely and securely identifies each specific transaction. PayPass cards do not send the CVC2 code (the three-digit code on the back of the card) or any billing address or zip code information. Importantly, the PayPass chip doesn't even have your name on it.

“For a purchase to be authenticated and authorized via phone or online, typically several pieces of information must be presented - such as the personal account number (the number on the front of the card), expiration date, the CVC2 code (that three-digit number on the back of a card), and the cardholder's billing address. The chip on a PayPass card does not send the CVC2 code or any billing address or zip code information. It doesn't even have your name on it.”

According to American Express

"Expresspay" will NOT reveal your personally identifiable information such as name, address, or other types of information typically required for identity theft, or Card account number. "expresspay" uses encrypted and unique codes for each transaction.  As with all American Express products, Cardmembers are not responsible for any fraudulent/ unauthorized charges on their Cards."

Conclusion

"We will continue to monitor RFID card issues, but at this time we believe in both the technology and the companies that are using it," ITRC said in a statement. "It is apparent so far that although scanning the card can be done, getting all the necessary information useful to commit fraud is probably not easy."

Research has suggested a genetic link to Alzheimer's disease. If one of your parents has it, the risk that you will one day get it increases.

Now, results from a new study finds that if it is your mother who has the cognitive illness, the odds against your are even greater. The study is published in the March 1, 2011, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

"It is estimated that people who have first-degree relatives with Alzheimer's disease are four to 10 times more likely to develop the disease themselves compared to people with no family history," said study author Robyn Honea, DPhil, of the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City.

For the study, an equal number of participants had a father with Alzheimers and an equal number had a mother with the illness. The groups were given brain scans and cognitive tests throughout the study.

Twice the gray matter shrinkage

The researchers found that people with a mother who had Alzheimer's disease had twice as much gray matter shrinkage as the groups who had a father or no parent with Alzheimer's disease.

In addition, those who had a mother with Alzheimer's disease had about one and a half times more whole brain shrinkage per year compared to those who had a father with the disease. Shrinking of the brain, or brain atrophy, occurs in Alzheimer's disease.

"Using 3-D mapping methods, we were able to look at the different regions of the brain affected in people with maternal or paternal ties to Alzheimer's disease," said Honea. "In people with a maternal family history of the disease, we found differences in the break-down processes in specific areas of the brain that are also affected by Alzheimer's disease, leading to shrinkage. Understanding how the disease may be inherited could lead to better prevention and treatment strategies."

Growing threat

Alzheimer's continues to be the focus of intense medical research as millions of Baby Boomers enter the age in which they are at risk. A 2010 report by the Alzheimer's Association projects that as many as 10 million baby boomers in the U.S. will eventually develop Alzheimer's, a degenerative and always fatal disease.

Today, as many as 5.2 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease, which includes between 200,000-500,000 people under age 65 with young-onset Alzheimer's disease or other dementias. Medical researchers predict by 2010, there will be almost a half million new cases of Alzheimer's disease each year; and by 2050, there will be almost a million new cases each year.

Eventually, the report says, the disease will strike one out of every eight Boomers.

The New York Times is preparing to introduce its own daily deals service called TimesLimited later this month, preferring to go it alone rather than teaming up with Groupon or LivingSocial.

“We looked at partner options when we began looking at the space a few months ago,” said Denise Warren, senior vice president and chief advertising officer for the NYT Media Group and the NYTimes.com GM. “But we realized that we have the assets, the consumer reach, and the relationships with advertisers to do this on our own.”

TimesLimited will be aiming a little more upscale and providing a more “curated experience” than the more general offerings of other sites, Warren sniffed.

Over the past few days, TimesLimited was quietly sending offers to print subscribers and registered online users. It will publicly debut in the New York area shortly, with other areas to follow.

“Right now, we’re building our e-email list and making sure we have users permission and interest,” Warren told PaidContent, a trade publication.

Skeptics may say the Times doesn't have a chance against the wildly successful Groupon and its followers but those of a more traditional bent think the Times brand means a lot. And, they note, this isn't the first dive into ecommce for the Times Company.

In addition to theNYT Wine Club -- dubbed a "glorified affiliate program" by one longtime Web observer -- that was unveiled in the summer of ‘09, the NYT has other e-mail-based marketing programs, including the Sophisticated Shopper, which offers readers “an inside look at exclusive luxury shopping deals,  and Great Getaways, which spotlights “last-minute retreats, vacation packages and exclusive travel destinations.”

The TimesLimited project comes as the Times continues dithering with its metered paywall, said to be in the “final testing phase.” The Times thinks its content – much of which, like all other newspapers, comes largely from the wire services – is so outstanding that consumers will rush to pay for it rather than read news stories from, ahem, lesser publications.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns that prescription proton pump inhibitor (PPI) drugs may cause low serum magnesium levels (hypomagnesemia) if taken for prolonged periods of time, in most cases, longer than one year.

In approximately one-quarter of the cases reviewed, magnesium supplementation alone did not improve low serum magnesium levels and the PPI had to be discontinued.

PPIs work by reducing the amount of acid in the stomach and are used to treat conditions such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), stomach and small intestine ulcers, and inflammation of the esophagus. In 2009, approximately 21 million patients filled PPI prescriptions at outpatient retail pharmacies in the United States. Patients who take prescription PPIs usually stay on therapy for an average of about 180 days (6 months).

Prescription PPIs include Nexium (esomeprazole magnesium), Dexilant (dexlansoprazole), Prilosec (omeprazole), Zegerid (omeprazole and sodium bicarbonate), Prevacid (lansoprazole), Protonix (pantoprazole sodium), and AcipHex (rabeprazole sodium). Vimovo is a prescription combination drug product that contains a PPI (esomeprazole magnesium and naproxen).

Over-the-counter (OTC) PPIs include Prilosec OTC (omeprazole), Zegerid OTC (omeprazole and sodium bicarbonate), and Prevacid 24HR (lansoprazole).

In contrast to prescription PPIs, OTC PPIs are marketed at low doses and are only intended for a 14 day course of treatment up to 3 times per year. FDA believes that there is very little risk of hypomagnesemia when OTC PPIs are used according to the directions on the OTC label.

The Government Accountability Office warns that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is reaching a “tipping point” unless it can stop its rapidly deteriorating financial condition.

The problem is not complex: the post office is not taking in enough money to cover its expenses. But the solution may not be all that simple. The GAO, a non-partisan Congressional agency, says the USPS needs to take swift action to modernize and restructure its operations.

USPS experienced a net loss of $329 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2011 and is projecting a $6.4 billion total net loss for fiscal year 2011. Mail volumes, USPS's main revenue source, have generally been decreasing as customers have shifted to electronic alternatives, GAO noted.

“This trend exposes weaknesses in USPS's business model, which has relied on mail volume growth to help cover costs,” the GAO said in a report released today. “While USPS continues to reduce employees' work hours, its cost reduction efforts have not been sufficient to offset lost revenue.”

Since fiscal year 2006, USPS has relied on debt to help cover its obligations. If it borrows $3 billion in fiscal year 2011 as its plans indicate, USPS will reach its $15 billion statutory debt limit.

President Obama proposes provide $4.5 billion in short-term help in fiscal year 2011 but the GAO says those actions don't address USPS' structural problems.

The GAO report says Congress, the administration, USPS and key constituencies must quickly agree on a modernization package that would “meet changing customer needs, and remove barriers restricting USPS actions.”

“This would allow USPS to optimize its networks and workforce so that it can become more efficient and reduce costs,” GAO said.

GAO recently reported on lessons learned from foreign postal services' modernization efforts, including using outreach and communication strategies to inform public officials and customers of increased access to products and services to help gain acceptance for retail network changes.

Some post offices also developed labor transition strategies that included training, relocation, job search services, and financial incentives to support employees who were negatively affected.

While USPS has taken steps to generate ideas for modernizing its retail and delivery networks, GAO said the experiences of foreign posts suggest that it will be “critically important for USPS to fully develop and implement similar outreach, communication, and labor transition strategies.”

Declaring his company pretty much owns the tablet computer market, Apple CEO Steve Jobs today took the wraps of the technology industry's worst-kept secret - the iPad 2.

Sleeker and lighter than the original device introduced a year ago, the iPad2 features an all new design.

"These are not marginal improvements," Jobs said.

For starters, he says the new iPad will be quite a bit faster than the one it replaces. It features the A5 chip and a dual core processor that moves at twice the speed of the original.

More compact

The iPad2 will also come in a more compact design. Where the original case measured 13.4 mm thick, the new tablet is just 8.8mm. It weighs about the same, however. Battery life should be about the same as the original - 10 hours.

The iPad2 features built-in cameras and a gyroscope. It will come in both black and white and be available through both AT&T and Verizon at the same price as the original iPad, with units starting at $499.

Apple says the iPad2 will begin shipping March 11 in the U.S. and March 25 internationally.

Jobs said Apple sold 15 million iPads in the nine months during 2010 that it was available. Sales totaled  $9.5 billion, giving Apple 90 percent of the tablet market.

Meanwhile, Jobs announced that Random House will make its books available through the iBook store. He said the store now has more than 2,300 participating publishers.

Most big banks are raising fees on checking accounts and other services, but PNC says it will keep its basic checking account free, although some perks will go away.

The Pittsburgh-based bank, the nation's sixth-largest, says basic checking customers will no longer get debit card rewards or refunds of fees when they use a non-PNC ATM machine, but basic checking will remain free.

"We are focused on understanding what our customers want and need to achieve their financial goals," said Joseph Guyaux, president of PNC. "As a result, we've made it easier for them to save, manage spending and avoid fees."

Banks have been piling on new fees in anticipation of a new federal law that limits how much banks can charge merchants for debit-card transactions. Banks say they need to make up for that lost revenue but although PNC estimates it will lose $800 million from the new rule, it thinks it can squeak by without jacking up fees for its poorest customers.

PNC hopes it will attract some new customers from Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and other banks that are raising their fees. It also hopes that some of its basic customers will sign up for fee-based accounts that offer more services and is lowering the minimum balance requirements for some types of accounts.

PNC estimates about 70 percent of its customers currently have free, basic checking accounts.

PNC said it would introduce a prepaid, reloadable card for lower-end customers in June. Other banks also are introducing prepaid cards for customers whose checking accounts carry low balances, making them less profitable for the bank.

PNC also said it is reducing restrictions on Virtual Wallet, its online and mobile bank account to encourage greater use by its mainstream checking-account customers.

The new rules that cap fees on debit transactions take effect in July. Banks are fighting the provision.

Currently, banks charge merchants an average of 44 cents to process a debit card sale. The Federal Reserve is proposing to cap that figure at between 7 and 12 cents.

Certain unapproved prescription medicines intended to relieve cough, cold and allergy symptoms could do you more harm than good.

As a result, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it intends to remove them from the U.S. market.  That won’t leave you hacking and wheezing, though. The agency says there are other products available — including FDA-approved prescription drugs or over-the-counter drugs that follow appropriate standards.

These products being have not been evaluated by FDA to assure that they are safe, effective, and of good quality. They may therefore pose unnecessary risk to consumers, especially when there are other products available for treatment of cough, cold, and allergy symptoms, including FDA-approved prescription drugs or over-the-counter drugs that follow appropriate FDA standards.

Complaints, problems and confusion

FDA officials say they have numerous concerns about these products that have not been evaluated by the agency. Some may have potentially risky combinations of ingredients, while others — marketed as “timed-release” — may release active ingredients too slowly, too quickly or inconsistently.

FDA has also received reports that some of the products have names that look or sound similar to other products — a problem that could contribute to medication errors.

In addition, FDA health experts are concerned that some of the products are inappropriately labeled for use by infants and young children. Many of the unapproved drug products covered by the announcement contain the same ingredients as the over-the-counter cough and cold products that were the subject of a 2008 FDA public health advisory.

That advisory said non-prescription cough and cold products should not be used for infants and children under two years of age because of serious and potentially life-threatening side effects. Many manufacturers voluntarily withdrew products labeled for children under two-years-old, and some products were relabeled to state that they were not for use by children under four-years-old.

Safe and effective drugs

“Removing these unapproved products from the market will reduce potential risks to consumers from products that have never been evaluated by the FDA for safety, effectiveness, and quality,” says Deborah Autor, compliance director at FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

FDA says most manufacturers affected by this action must stop making the products within 90 days and stop shipping them within 180 days. (Some manufacturers may have to stop making and shipping their products immediately.)

Autor says taking them off the market shouldn’t create problems for consumers because there are many other products — both prescription and over-the-counter — available for treatment of cough, cold, and allergy symptoms that meet FDA standards.

Some of the prescription medicines being removed have been marketed for many years. Over the past century, the laws outlining the requirements for drug approval have changed. First, drug regulation focused on adulteration and misbranding, but did not require that new drug products be approved prior to being marketed. Then, laws on drug regulation changed to include drug safety as a requirement for approval.

Currently, the law requires that new drugs be shown to be safe, effective, of good manufacturing quality, and not misbranded prior to being approved by FDA for marketing in the United States. In part, as a result of these changes in the law, many of the products that are the focus of this action have been marketed without being approved under the current legal requirements.

Approved drug lists

If you are taking a prescription medicine for cough, cold, or allergy symptoms and you want to know if it is an approved drug, use one of the FDA resources listed below. (These resources do not include many over-the-counter drugs because many of these drugs do not require FDA approval to be legally marketed.)

• Drugs@FDA (contains most FDA-approved drug products): If a product is not included here, the search results will say, “Your search term did not return any results.”

• The Orange Book List of Approved Drug Products: If a product is not FDA approved, the search results will say, “No matching records found.”

• The National Drug Code (NDC) directory of prescription drugs and insulin products: Search results include a column marked “Appl No.”  FDA-approved products will have an associated NDA (new drug application) or ANDA (abbreviated new drug application) number in this column.

If you are taking one of the unapproved prescription medications that are affected by this FDA action, discuss alternatives with your health care provider. To dispose of your unused, unapproved prescription cold, cough, or allergy products, please see this link.