Current Events in August 2014

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wants a federal court to drop the hammer on a debt relief scam that claims to have the endorsement of President Obama .

According to the FTC, two websites promoting what is called the “Bill Payment Government Assistance Program,” are full of misrepresentations about the fake program.

The sites claim the program was governed by the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, a government agency formed to oversee projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

In addition, YouTube videos created by the scam’s operators included a purported personal endorsement from the president with an audio recording of him saying, “I approve this message.”

Cleaning up your credit

The FTC's complaint alleges that the defendants purported to offer up to $75,000 in debt relief to consumers, along with promises that consumers’ credit scores would “increase within 30 days.”

Consumers contacting the scammers, according to the complaint, were told that in exchange for an advance “service charge” of $900 to $1,100, the defendants would pay off the consumers’ debts.

According to the complaint, scammers would ask consumers for details of their outstanding debt, including account numbers, and then arrange bogus electronic payments that gave consumers the impression their debts were in fact being paid.

The scammers would then tell consumers to pay the “service charge,” typically through money transfer services such as Western Union or MoneyGram. Once consumers paid the charge, the scammers would then reverse the payments made to consumers’ bills, leaving consumers without the promised debt relief or improvements to their credit scores or limits.

The unnamed defendants are charged with two counts of violating the FTC Act’s prohibition on deceptive acts or practices, as well as two counts of violating the Credit Repair Organizations Act’s prohibitions on collecting advance fees before providing credit repair services and making untrue or misleading representations about their services.

The complaint asks the court to take steps to halt the scam immediately, as well as for a permanent order stopping the defendants’ activities and requiring them to give up their ill-gotten gains.

Once upon a time, before banks started charging fees to keep customers' money for them, many banks offered “Christmas Club” accounts.

Customers would put a small amount of money in them each week. By the time the holiday season arrived, they had enough money to cover their holiday expenses.

Some banks still offer the old fashioned Christmas Club accounts, but these days consumers are more likely to put their holiday spending on a credit card and worry about paying for it later. That's how many consumers rack up tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

Save now

To avoid going into debt, why not start saving for the holidays now? It's an expense that isn't coming as any kind of surprise so it's one you should start planning for now, right.

But where is the extra money going to come from? That's the hard part.

First, decide where you are going to keep your savings. If it goes back into your checking account, it will be easy to spend it. If, on the other hand, you take the money you save and put it in a safe place at home, it stays separate from the money you need to live on.

The easiest way to find extra money is to examine what you are now spending and where, seeing if there are places you can cut back. If you are spending $100 a week on groceries, how much can you save by making a concerted effort to use coupons, for example?

Take a look at your household budget if you haven't done so in a while. Are there regular, small expenses you can get rid of, at least temporarily? If so, that money can go into the holiday cookie jar.

Clean house

Have a yard sale. You not only clean our your closets and eliminate the clutter of unwanted items, you can easily raise $200 or more on a weekend. Books, CDs, children's toys and clothing are always in demand. Pieces of furniture you no longer need will bring you the most money.

If you don't have enough items for a yard sale, you can always sell things on Craigslist. If you live in a rural area not covered by Craiglist, buy-sell-trade Facebook pages are popping up, connecting local buyers and sellers.

Consumers spent an average of $800 each year on the holidays. It's a big expense if faced all at once. If you have the money in hand when the holidays arrive, it's a lot more manageable.

Avoid January debt

It can reduce some of the stress of the holidays, but more importantly it keeps consumers out of debt in January. Gail Cunningham, spokeswoman for the National Federation of Credit Counseling (NFCC) points out if a shopper runs up $1,000 in holiday credit card bills and makes only the minimum monthly payment of 2% of the balance at an Annual Percentage Rate of 18%, it will take 12 years to pay off the debt.

You could be paying on Christmas 2014 until Christmas 2026. Worse still, that $1,000 in Christmas goodies will have ended up costing you $2,353.

"If you're still paying for holiday spending 2013, consider rethinking your gift giving for this year," Cunningham, said. "It makes no financial sense to pile new debt on top of old. Kindness and experiences are meaningful substitutes for purchased gifts, and are remembered long after the wrapping paper and bows have been discarded."

One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch — and it look like one bad app can, too. Security researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of California/Riverside have discovered that certain types of mobile devices are riskier than previously believed.

Zhiyun Qian of UC Riverside's Computer Science and Engineering Department, Z. Morley Mao from the University of Michigan, and Mao's Ph. D. student Qi Alfred Chen all co-wrote a paper titled “Peeking into your app without really seeing it: UI state interference and novel Android attacks.”

To put the paper's results into layman's terms: the researchers believe they've discovered a previously unknown security weakness in Android, Windows and iOS mobile operating systems. There's a widespread belief that apps are self-contained – in other words, one app on your phone can't interfere with other apps.

But this might not be true. Qian said, “The assumption has always been that these apps can’t interfere with each other easily …. We show that assumption is not correct and one app can in fact significantly impact another and result in harmful consequences for the user.”

App malware

It's basically the app equivalent of malware: hackers convince you to download a seemingly harmless app, perhaps offering pretty new background wallpaper for your phone. But the app is actually malicious, and once it's installed, according to UC/Riverside, “the researchers are able to exploit a newly discovered public side channel — the shared memory statistics of a process, which can be accessed without any privileges. (Shared memory is a common operating system feature to efficiently allow processes share data.)”

The researchers made and posted some videos showing in detail exactly how the process works; they were successful in attacking Gmail and H&R Block apps 92 percent of the time. Amazon, however, seems to have the best security of the seven companies they tested; only 48 percent of attempts against Amazon were successful.

The researchers are presenting their findings before the Usenix Security Symposium in San Diego today.

A lot of people are excited about the concept of the hydrogen fuel cell car. It basically runs on water.

Carmakers are among the enthusiasts. Hyundai introduced a hydrogen car this summer in Southern California. Toyota is on track to introduce one in the U.S. next year.

The big question, of course, is how will motorists driving these zero-emission hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles refuel? Motorists driving electric vehicles (EV) can plug in their cars at home each night. Drivers of hydrogen cars can't.

Building refueling stations

But one possible answer emerged this month when Linde AG, a German gases and engineering company, announced it will start small-series production of hydrogen fueling stations. Some stations will open in California next year, coinciding with the introduction of the Toyota fuel-cell vehicle.

Linde has been deeply involved in developing hydrogen fuel cell infrastructure in other parts of the world. Its entry into the U.S. market may speed up consumer acceptance of these new vehicles, if it proves easy to refuel them.

"The successful commercialization of fuel-cell cars hinges on a sufficiently widespread hydrogen infrastructure," said Dr. Aldo Belloni, member of the Executive Board of Linde AG. "The development of small-series production capabilities is a key milestone on this journey. It gives us the flexibility we need to meet rising demand in different markets.”

Toyota has been making efforts to improve the technology as well. It says the Highlander FCEV can travel 5 times farther than currently available electric vehicles before recharging, refuels in minutes and emits only heat and water vapor — not fossil-fuel emissions.

Getting real

Joan Ogden, a professor at the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis, believes a threshold of seriousness has been crossed in the concept of a practical Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCV). She believes that FCVs are on track to be cost competitive with gasoline powered vehicles.

In that light, she says the Linde announcement of the fueling stations is a very big deal, helping to resolve the “chicken or egg” question that has held the industry back.

“The good news is that it might not take that much investment to build up infrastructure to the point where new investments are profitable and less risky for infrastructure providers,” she writes. “In our study, we calculated that a targeted regional investment of $100-$200 million in support of 100 stations for about 50,000 FCVs could be enough to make hydrogen cost-competitive with gasoline on a cost-per-mile basis.”

Besides California, she said she believes that level of investment in hydrogen fuel cell infrastructure will also occur in Germany and Japan.

The current rivalry between Sprint and T-Mobile provides more evidence that a saturated market is a wonderful thing for consumers: last January, we told you how smartphone-industry analysts were saying that the technology has been around long enough to thoroughly saturate the market — with the exception of kids whose parents think they're too young, pretty much everybody who wants a smartphone has one by now.

Thus, with so few “new” potential smartphone customers out there, companies looking to expand their base must try “poaching” pre-existing smartphone users from other companies — say, by offering better prices or services than their competitors.

And The Wall Street Journal reports that Sprint and T-Mobile, two companies which had talked about merging together into one mega-company earlier this summer, are now engaging in a fierce battle to steal each other's customers (with the result that, as of Aug. 22, both of them saw slight drops in their stock values):

Sprint unveiled this week a new pricing strategy for individual and family plans that offer more data and come with incentives to grab customers from rivals. T-Mobile is firing back with a referral program aimed at doing the same.

Signing bonus

So if you're with one company, there's a good chance you can save money and get a better deal by swiching to the other. Such competition is nothing new. Earlier this year, for example, T-Mobile offered to pay cancellation fees for new customers who canceled old phone contracts to sign on with them.

At the time, T-Mobile's chief competitor was AT&T, whereas Sprint's chief rival was Verizon. Sprint and T-Mobile generally didn't try “poaching” each other's customers, because the two companies used technologies different enough that switching a user from one network to another was very difficult.

Indeed, earlier critics of the proposed Sprint and T-Mobile merger were quick to point that out. In January, when the proposal was new news, a tech writer for FierceWireless.com published a list of “6 reasons the Sprint/T-Mobile merger is a terrible idea.” Reason number 4 was “It would be immensely complicated to combine the two networks,” and rhetorically asked:

Seven months after shutting down the Nextel network, does Sprint really need to worry about integrating T-Mobile's GSM/HSPA+/LTE network with its CDMA/LTE network?

Moreover, the only major spectrum band that Sprint and T-Mobile have in common is 1900 MHz, which Sprint uses for CDMA and LTE and T-Mobile uses for HSPA+ service. Not to mention that T-Mobile is busy migrating MetroPCS customers from CDMA to HSPA+ and LTE-capable phones.

So would the companies keep CDMA or GSM? Would they deploy LTE across AWS like T-Mobile is doing or across 1900 MHz/800 MHz/2.5 GHz like Sprint? These questions would be mind-bogglingly complicated to sort it out....

Indeed, for a non-tech professional, it's mind-bogglingly complicated just to figure out what those questions mean, let alone what the answers should be. But for now, with T-Mobile and Sprint remaining separate and fiercely competitive companies for the time being, it appears that both companies have either figured something out (or are making it up as they go along).

Date me, date my dog. I think the phrase originally started out as "date me, date my kids" but with so many single people getting pets as a companion it's no wonder the phrase has changed.

Dating sites are catching on to that as well.

Petsdating.com is a site where, on the home page, you see pet profiles instead of humans. Its a purrfect idea -- only problem when we went to check it out, when you click on the animals profile it said page not found. Perhaps just a bad day for computer problems. Just when you think you found the pet that your pet will get along with! (It appeared to be working later).

"By becoming a member you will be able to show off your pet to the rest of the pet owners, while having access to a variety of resources," the site promises. 

Youmustlovedogsdating.com is set up more like a Match.com or a traditional dating site. What sets them apart? According to their website, "We know that you have other choices when it comes to dating sites, but ours offers one thing that others do not take into consideration. We respect and understand that you already have one love in your life, and encourage you to find someone equally as special to fill the other half of your heart. Everything about Must Love Dogs is meant to accommodate both you and your dog."

Most dating sites cater to religious beliefs and cultural preferences and even political beliefs, so having a site where you care and share the same canine passion is a good start. I am sure many single people can tell you horror stories of things that went wrong where one person was an animal lover and the other not so much.

Not everyone likes dogs that are inside or sleep on the bed. That could end a potential relationship right there.

Bringing a pet on a first date can be an ice breaker and make everyone more comfortable as long as it isn't a python, although I'm sure that if you look hard enough there is a site for snake lovers too.

Princeton University researchers have developed a way to use a laser to measure people's blood sugar, and, with more work to shrink the laser system to a portable size, the technique could allow diabetics to check their condition without pricking themselves to draw blood.

"We are working hard to turn engineering solutions into useful tools for people to use in their daily lives," said Claire Gmachl, the project's senior researcher. "With this work we hope to improve the lives of many diabetes sufferers who depend on frequent blood glucose monitoring."

In an article published June 23 in the journal Biomedical Optics Express, the researchers describe how they measured blood sugar by directing their specialized laser at a person's palm. The laser passes through the skin cells, without causing damage, and is partially absorbed by the sugar molecules in the patient's body. The researchers use the amount of absorption to measure the level of blood sugar.

Sabbir Liakat, the paper's lead author, said the team was pleasantly surprised at the accuracy of the method. Glucose monitors are required to produce a blood-sugar reading within 20% of the patient's actual level; even an early version of the system met that standard. The current version is 84% accurate, Liakat said.

"It works now but we are still trying to improve it," said Liakat, a graduate student in electrical engineering.

The redesigned 2015 Honda Fit, showing a significant improvement over the 2009-13 model, has qualified for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Top Safety Pick award.

After the earlier model was rated “poor” in the institute's challenging small overlap test, the new edition of the minicar earned an “acceptable” rating and earned “good” ratings in four other crash tests.

Second time's the charm

IIHS conducted two small overlap tests of the new Fit. In the first, the bumper beam -- a steel bar located behind the plastic bumper cover -- broke free of the frame rail on the passenger side early in the crash. This caused much more of the crash energy to be absorbed by the driver side of the car, resulting in extensive intrusion into the occupant compartment and excessive upward movement of the steering column.

In response to that initial test, Honda engineers improved the strength of the bumper beam welds, and the company asked to have the the car tested again. With the improved welds, the bumper beam stayed attached to the frame rail. Intrusion into the occupant compartment was reduced, and the steering column was much more stable, resulting in an acceptable rating. The rating applies to vehicles built after June 2014.

Mass replacement planned

Honda will initiate a "product update" to replace the bumper beams on approximately 12,000 2015 Fits that were sold earlier this year, prior to the change to the bumper welds. Owners will be notified by mail, and dealers will do the work free of charge. This modification will significantly improve protection in small overlap crashes.

Only cars with the replacement bumper beam earn the acceptable rating in the small overlap test and qualify for the Top Safety Pick designation.

"We commend Honda for its quick response to the test and for taking the additional step of replacing the bumper beams on early-production vehicles," said IIHS President Adrian Lund. "People who bought cars produced earlier in the year should take advantage of this free replacement to improve protection in small overlap crashes."

In the the small overlap test, which is more challenging than either the head-on crashes conducted by the government or the IIHS moderate overlap test, 25% of a vehicle's front end on the driver side strikes a rigid barrier at 40 mph. The crash replicates what happens when the front corner of a vehicle collides with another vehicle or an object such as a tree or a utility pole.

To qualify for Top Safety Pick, a vehicle must earn a “good” or “acceptable” rating for small overlap protection and “good” ratings in the Institute's moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint tests.

Ace Bayou of New Orleans, La., is recalling about 2.2 million bean bag chairs following the deaths of two children.

The zippers on the bean bag chairs can be opened and children can then crawl inside, get trapped and suffocate or choke on the bean bag chair’s foam beads. The voluntary standard requires non-refillable bean bag chairs to have closed and permanently disabled zippers.

A 13-year old boy from McKinney, Texas, died and a 3-year-old girl from Lexington, Ky., died after suffocating from lack of air and inhaling the chair’s foam beads. Both children were found inside the chairs.

The recalled bean bag chairs have two zippers that can be unzipped and opened, including one of the exterior cover and other directly underneath that zipper.

The recalled chairs with zippers that open were sold in a variety of sizes, shapes, colors and fabrics. They include round or L-shaped, vinyl or fabric, and are filled with polystyrene foam beads. They were sold in a variety of colors, including purple, violet, blue, red, pink, yellow, Kelly green, black, port, navy, lime, royal blue, turquoise, tangerine and multi-color.

The round bean bag chairs were sold in three sizes, 30, 32 and 40 inches in diameter. The L-shaped bean bag chair measures 18 inches wide by 30 inches deep by 30 inches high. “ACE BAYOU CORP” is printed on a tag sewn into the bean bag chair’s cover seam.

The recalled bean bag chairs, manufactured in China, were sold at Bon-Ton, Meijer, Pamida, School Specialty, Wayfair and Walmart stores and online at Amazon.com, Meijer.com and Walmart.com before July 2013 for between $30 and $100.

Consumers should check their bean bag chairs for any zippers that can open, take those that can open away from children immediately and contact Ace Bayou for a free repair kit to permanently disable the zippers so that they cannot be opened.

Consumers may contact Ace Bayou toll-free at (855) 751-8151 from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CT Monday through Friday.

APPA Fine Foods of Corona, Calif., is recalling approximately 92,657 pounds of fully cooked chicken Caesar salad kit products.

The kits may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

Rhere are no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of these products.

The salad kits were shipped nationwide to the Sam's Club bulk warehouse chain for retail sale in its in-store cafés. The following productt is subject to recall:

• 11oz. clear plastic containers and 6.5-lb. boxes labeled, “APPA Fine Foods/Sam’s Club Daily Chef CHICKEN CAESAR SALAD KIT” with case codes 141851, 141922, 141951, 141991, 142021, 142201 or 142131 with use by dates of 8/14/14, 8/21/14, 8/27/14, 9/1/14, 9/3/14 or 9/17/14.

The kits were produced on July 4, July 11, July 14, July 18, July 21, July 25, Aug. 1 and Aug. 8, 2014.

Box labels bear the establishment number “P-21030” inside the USDA mark of inspection.

Consumers with questions regarding the recall may contact Thom Rindt of APPA Fine Foods at 951-547-8111.

As has been rumored for weeks, the Justice Department and Bank of America have reached agreement on a massive $16.65 billion fine growing out of the housing meltdown and financial crisis.

“This historic resolution - the largest such settlement on record - goes far beyond ‘the cost of doing business,’” said Attorney General Eric Holder. "Under the terms of this settlement, the bank has agreed to pay $7 billion in relief to struggling homeowners, borrowers and communities affected by the bank’s conduct. This is appropriate given the size and scope of the wrongdoing at issue.”

The agreement resolves federal and state claims against Bank of America and its former and current subsidiaries, including Countrywide Financial Corporation and Merrill Lynch.

The bank has agreed to pay a $5 billion penalty under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) – the largest FIRREA penalty ever – and provide billions of dollars of relief to struggling homeowners, including funds that will help defray tax liability as a result of mortgage modification, forbearance or forgiveness.

The settlement does not release individuals from civil charges, nor does it absolve Bank of America, its current or former subsidiaries and affiliates or any individuals from potential criminal prosecution.

$7 billion for homeowners

That relief will take various forms, including principal reduction loan modifications that result in numerous homeowners no longer being underwater on their mortgages and finally having substantial equity in their homes.

It will also include new loans to creditworthy borrowers struggling to get a loan, donations to assist communities in recovering from the financial crisis, and financing for affordable rental housing.

Also, Bank of America has agreed to place over $490 million in a tax relief fund to be used to help defray some of the tax liability that will be incurred by consumers receiving certain types of relief if Congress fails to extend the tax relief coverage of the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007.

"Real accountability"

“At nearly $17 billion, today’s resolution with Bank of America is the largest the department has ever reached with a single entity in American history,” said Associate Attorney General Tony West.

“But the significance of this settlement lies not just in its size; this agreement is notable because it achieves real accountability for the American people and helps to rectify the harm caused by Bank of America’s conduct through a $7 billion consumer relief package that could benefit hundreds of thousands of Americans still struggling to pull themselves out from under the weight of the financial crisis,” West said.

Robots are generally thought of as something to look forward to in the future. But loosely defined, robots are not only here now, but have been around for quite a while.

Been to a supermarket lately? Chances are, you've used the self check-out, with the help of a robot. Admittedly, these robots don't fit our vision of what a human-helping machine is supposed to look like. We expect something more like C3PO from Star Wars, or Rosie from the Jetsons.

But the self checkout kiosks at your neighborhood Kroger scan your groceries, accept your cash or credit card, and thank you for being a valued customer in a soothing, pleasant voice. More importantly, they replace a human worker, which is what most robots are all about.

If we expect our robots to have a personality, then maybe your iPhone can be considered a robot. The 2013 film “Her” told the story of a man who developed deep, if weird, emotional relationship with his phone's operating system. Then again, Apple's Siri doesn't sound anything like Scarlett Johansson.

Friends and robots

But personality seems to be key to our idea of robots. It's not enough for our robots to help us with a task, we seem to want them to be our friends too. And some actually are.

Automata is a company that builds social robots for health care, focusing on challenges where behavior change is key to success. The company's first robot is Autom, a pint-sized weight loss coach the company says has helped dieters reach their goals.

Autom engages the user, creates a relationship which it develops over time, just as a friend would. Just as a friend would, Autom provides encouragement and positive feedback.

Another company, Romotive, has developed a technology allowing users to turn their smartphone into a robot. The robot part of the device is a dock, set on tracks, much like a toy tank.

Once the programmed smartphone is slipped into the dock, Romo can play games as it moves around the house.

Helping with housework

IRobot also makes robots. These machines are short on personality but long on usefulness around the house, helping with the vacuuming.

The company says the iRobot Roomba removes up to 50% more dirt, dust, hair and debris than a typical vacuum. Only it does so without a human operating it.

More to come

The pace of robot development appears to be accelerating and 2015 could, in many ways, be the year of the robot. It's not that there are that many new breakthroughs in robot technology – those were made years ago. It's that this technology is now being priced for the consumer market.

Developer Cynthia Breazeal has produced Jibo, which she calls “the first family robot.” It's expected to hit the consumer market in December 2015.

Jibo can see with two high-resolution cameras and learn faces. It can hear and speak, reminding you of important meetings or your dental appointment.

It can also learn. Artificial Intelligence algorithms learn your preferences to adapt and fit into your life.

Other robots are scheduled for release next year as well. And while they are intended for the consumer market, some cost as much as a new car. As the price comes down, it may be good news for America's aging population.

Japan is a leading developer of robots for that very reason. Because of that country's rapidly aging population, it has invested in development of robots that can care for people in their homes. While they're expensive, they're less than institutional care.

Earlier this month, the FCC suggested changing its current broadband standards: if the proposed changes go through, the minimum downloading speed required for an Internet connection to call itself “broadband” would rise to 10 Mbps (megabytes per second), more than double the current minimum broadband standard of only 4 Mbps. Even at the current low standard, almost 20 percent of Americans live in places without access to broadband.

But minimum speed is not the only broadband issue the FCC's currently considering. The question of whether or not to allow municipal broadband networks in states that have banned them is also raising heated partisan debates among national lawmakers.

Chairman Tom Wheeler has long said that the FCC has, or should have, the authority to override any state law banning municipalities from establishing public broadband networks (20 states already have such laws, thanks to legislation supported by cable companies and the ISP lobby in general).

So on August 19, two Democratic lawmakers – Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Rep. Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania – published an open letter/press release urging Wheeler to do just that.

The press release on Markey's website says, in part:

The June 27 Doyle-Markey letter – which was also signed by Senators Al Franken, Amy Klobuchar, Richard Blumenthal, and Corey A. Booker, along with Representatives Henry A. Waxman and Anna G. Eshoo – urged the FCC to use all of its authority to promote affordable, high quality broadband service in communities across the country:

“We are pleased by your recent comments about community broadband, particularly your assertion that municipal governments should not be inhibited if they wish to pursue the creation of their own networks…. We urge you and your colleagues to utilize the full arsenal of tools Congress has enacted to promote competitive broadband service to ensure America’s communities obtain a 21st century infrastructure to succeed in today’s fiercely competitive global economy.” 

A number of municipalities across the country have undertaken efforts to address their residents’ unmet broadband needs through a number of means, including creation of their own broadband networks. In recent years, however, a number of state governments have enacted laws prohibiting municipalities from creating their own broadband infrastructure. As a result, many communities across the country still don’t have adequate access to fast, reliable, and affordable broadband networks.

Republicans, by contrast, think states should have the right to ban municipal broadband networks, and the FCC should not have authority to override those states.

Matthew Berry, chief of staff to FCC Republican Ajit Pai, gave an Aug. 20 speech before the National Conference of State Legislatures in which he said that states should have the right to ban public municipal broadband, and also warned the current Democratic-led Congress and FCC against imposing partisan policies likely to be overturned by future Republican-led ones (or, depending on how you'd interpret it, a warning for one party not to use power in ways it wouldn't like once the other party gets into power):

So those who are potential supporters of the current FCC interpreting Section 706 to give the Commission the authority to preempt state laws about municipal broadband should think long and hard about what a future FCC might do with that power.

“Section 706” refers to the Telecommunications Act of 1996 – indeed, you could say this entire argument stems from disagreement over exactly what it means.

That section starts out by saying that:

(a) IN GENERAL-The Commission and each State commission with regulatory jurisdiction over telecommunications services shall encourage the deployment on a reasonable and timely basis of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans (including, in particular, elementary and secondary schools and classrooms) by utilizing, in a manner consistent with the public interest, convenience, and necessity, price cap regulation, regulatory forbearance, measures that promote competition in the local telecommunications market, or other regulating methods that remove barriers to infrastructure investment.

In other words ...

So here's the debate: the FCC is supposed to encourage the deployment of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans, and in today's Internet-dependent world, that definitely includes improving America's dismal broadband infrastructure. The current global average broadband speed is 17.9 Mbps, whereas America's current minimum broadband speed is only 4 Mbps, and almost 20 percent of Americans don't even have access to that.

What is the best way to make fast and reliable broadband service available to all Americans -- public, tax-funded municipal networks, or privately owned networks such as those run by Cox, Comcast, Time-Warner and other ISPs? If cities do develop public broadband networks, will that discourage private investment in those cities?

In general, it appears that the current batch of Democratic lawmakers and FCC members believe public municipal broadband is a good way to bring fast connections to areas where they doesn't exist, whereas the Republican lawmakers and FCC members support states' rights to ban public networks on the grounds that private ISPs can better provide broadband service without facing unfair tax-funded competition.

Bad news for certain customers of The UPS Store: the company's customer-information databases have been hacked.

The company website released information on Wednesday, discussing what it calls a “Data Security Incident”:

The UPS Store, Inc. recently received a government bulletin regarding a broad-based malware intrusion targeting retailers in the United States. … An assessment by The UPS Store and the IT security firm revealed the presence of this malware on computer systems at 51 locations in 24 states (about 1%) of 4,470 franchised center locations throughout the United States. Based on the current assessment, the earliest evidence of the presence of this malware at any location is January 20, 2014. For most The UPS Store locations, based on our current assessment, the period of exposure to this malware began after March 26, 2014. This malware was eliminated as of August 11, 2014 and customers can shop securely at The UPS Store.

The website also lists the exact store locations affected, as well as the “Malware Intrusion Date” and “Secure Transaction Date” for each one. If you have bought goods or services at any UPS Store earlier this year, you should definitely check the list to see if “your” store was hacked. If so, what should you do?

The UPS Store is offering credit monitoring and identity-protection services at https://theupsstore.allclearid.com  and advises customers seeking assistance to call 1-855-731-6016.

Company president Tim Davis also posted a letter on the same webpage, admitting that “The UPS Store customers who made credit and debit card purchases at the impacted franchised center locations between January 20, 2014 and August 11, 2014 may have been exposed. … includ[ing] customers’ names, postal addresses, email addresses and payment card information.”

If you've bought anything at one of the affected locations during the listed time frames, you need to carefully monitor activity on all of your accounts as well as your credit report.

An escalator can be a dangerous place for your dog. So dangerous, the San Francisco SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) has put out a warning, saying the escalator can cause serious injury and in some cases require amputation of a limb.

In the past year the organization has seen injuries on an average of two or three a month. according to Dr. Roger Helmers, a veterinarian at the SPCA who says they seen all kinds of things -- like lacerations to a nail, a toe being torn off and a skin injury from fur catching in an escalator.

Sometimes a whole toe gets torn off and the dog comes to the clinic with a toe already missing.

Seems like the smaller they are the harder they fall and the little dogs get injured more often than the big dogs. More than half require surgery that costs as much as $4,000.

Escalators are everywhere so it's not just San Francisco that sees the problem. If you have ever gotten a heel or even a shoelace caught in an escalator you can empathize on some level.

To prevent such injuries, the SPCA suggests pet owners carry their dogs on escalators, or use the stairs or an elevator. Additionally, booties can be used to protect dogs' paws. Dog booties can be purchased online or at pet supply stores.

And, if all else fails, get your dog to a vet right away if it is injured.

Delaware made history last week by becoming the first U.S. state to give a person's digital assets the same status as tangible assets where inheritance laws are concerned.

House Bill 345, the Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets and Digital Accounts Act, gives executors and heirs the same legal rights over digital assets (such as email or social-media accounts) as they have over physical assets.

However, this law only applies to Delaware residents, not to social media companies (including Facebook, Google and Twitter) which happen to be incorporated there.

Ars Technica noted that “people creating family trusts could conceivably use this Delaware law to their advantage, even without residing in Delaware.”

Presumably, various companies will have to change their policies or terms of service (at least for Delaware residents) to comply with this new law. For example, Facebook's current “Statement of Rights and Responsibilities” says this:

You will not share your password (or in the case of developers, your secret key), let anyone else access your account, or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account.

You will not transfer your account (including any Page or application you administer) to anyone without first getting our written permission.

So even if you wanted to, for example, leave your Facebook login and password information to someone in your will (or just write it down and keep it in your safe deposit box where your executor will find it), this officially violates Facebook policy: your heir or executor couldn't even log in to your Facebook page to let your “Friends” know that you are gone.

Privacy concerns

Some privacy advocates have expressed concern over the Delaware law. Ars Technica printed a statement from Jim Halpert, director of the State Privacy and Security Coalition, who said he opposed the law because it “takes no account of minimizing intrusions into the privacy of third parties who communicated with the deceased … This would include highly confidential communications to decedents from third parties who are still alive — patients of deceased doctors, psychiatrists, and clergy, for example — who would be very surprised that an executor is reviewing the communications.”

An initial layman's glance at the text of the Delaware law suggests that it does not make any distinctions between personal and professional digital assets: for example, the personal email accounts physicians use for off-duty chats with friends, versus the professional email accounts they might use to discuss patient treatments with staff and colleagues.

Then again, Halpert went on to say that Delaware's new law “may well create a lot of confusion and false expectations because, as the law itself acknowledges, federal law may prohibit disclosing contents of communications.”

That's in reference to this bit from the text of the bill:

§ 5004. Control of digital accounts and digital assets by a fiduciary.

Except as otherwise provided by a governing instrument or court order, a fiduciary may exercise control over any and all rights in digital assets and digital accounts of an account holder, to the extent permitted under applicable state or federal law or regulations or any end user license agreement.

In that case, it appears that such digital assets as a physician's professonal email or password-protected access to a patient-records database are already exempt from Delaware's law, since federal confidentiality laws override it. Still, over the days and weeks to come it'll be worth watching to see how the tech and legal communities respond to the new law in Delaware.

It's no secret that banks – like airlines – charge fees for many things that, in the past, were free. Things customers once took for granted as part of the service now come with a price.

It's one reason so many consumers have been fleeing banks in recent years. One of ConsumerAffairs' readers, Penny from Fallon, Nev., wrote to say that her bank recently initiated a number of new fees.

“I just got a list of new fees that my current bank will begin charging as of September 15th,” she wrote in an email. “It will cost some customers $15 a month, just for the privilege of having an account at their bank! Actually, I am one customer who WON’T have to pay fees, because I am on automatic deposit, and only live on Social Security. But getting a printout? $5.00! And if I overdraft by one cent, fees begin – $39.50 for the first day, and $5.00 every day after that until my account is showing a ‘balance’ again.”

At least Penny is aware of her bank's fees. Far too many consumers get blindsided by them.

The personal finance website Wallethub.com has just conducted a study to determine how transparent banks make their fees on their websites, where consumers tend to shop for a bank. If customers are going to be charged a monthly service charge or a fee for talking to a teller, it's reasonable to expect those fees to be disclosed up front.

The study found that the average checking account has approximately 30 fees associated with it. But that isn't a certainty.

Hard to tell

“Once again, the variance in disclosure policies made it hard for us to determine the precise number of fees associated with each checking account, but most banks fell in the 20 to 40 total fee range, with some reaching almost 50,” the authors write. “The sheer number of different fees associated with checking accounts prevents effective product comparison and decreases the likelihood that consumers will find the best checking accounts for their needs.”

The study also names names. It said 2 banks out of 25 in the survey – USAA and M&T Bank, don't provide a fee schedule to consumers on the checking account product pages of their websites.

A check by ConsumerAffairs shows the USAA Secure Checking Account pagedoes clearly state “no monthly fees, free nationwide ATMs.” But if there are fees for other services, they don't appear to be listed.

On the M&T Bank checking account page, there is a list of different types of checking accounts, along with the monthly service charge for each. Under the “Free Checking” heading, the reader is directed to this footnote at the bottom of the page:

“Regardless of whether a monthly maintenance charge applies, M&T checking accounts (including Free Checking) are subject to transaction and service fees, including insufficient funds and overdraft fees, as noted in the Specific Features and Terms for each account and, also the Additional Fees and Fees for Use of Electronic Banking Card for Consumer Checking Accounts, which are available on request at any M&T banking office or through the M&T Telephone Banking Center.”

Some fees might be disclosed, some not

The fees might actually be disclosed on the website, but Wallethub says they may not be where you would expect to find them.

“Consumers should be aware that there are banks that disclose only a part of their full list of fees initially, another part during the application process and the rest after the consumer has signed up for the account,” the authors conclude.

They also advise to watch out for language like “A full/complete fee schedule will be provided after sign-up.”

Do athletic mouthguards really prevent concussions? The Federal Trade Commission is warning five retailers to be sure they have evidence to back up their claims for the mouthguards sold on their websites.

It's a little hard to see how a mouthguard would protect the brain, and in an article in the British Medical Journal, researchers say flatly there's not much evidence it does:

"One of the most commonly held myths in sports medicine is the premise that wearing a mouthguard will prevent concussion," wrote lead author Paul McCrory, a sportsmedicie physician in Australia. "The ability of mouthguards to protect against head and spinal injuries in sport falls into the realm of 'neuromythology' rather than hard science."

“Given all of the news reports in the past few years about concussions, retailers should be vigilant in reviewing claims made for products they are selling for young athletes,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Each letter identifies a mouthguard on the retailer’s website for which a concussion protection claim is made. The letter then discusses the FTC’s 2012 case against mouthguard manufacturer Brain-Pad Inc., and recommends that the retailer review its website to ensure that it is not making unsupported concussion protection claims.

This is the third set of warning letters the FTC has sent regarding concussion protection claims. In November 2012, after the order in the Brain-Pad case became final, agency staff sent out warning letters to 18 other manufacturers of sports equipment, advising them of the Brain-Pad settlement and warning them that they might be making deceptive concussion protection claims for their products. Letters to almost a dozen additional manufacturers were subsequently sent out over the next 18 months.

The FTC also testified before a Congressional subcommittee last May, noting that as awareness of the danger of concussions has grown, manufacturers have started making concussion-protection claims for an increasing array of sports-related products.