Mar 1, 2016

At&T Just Dodged a Bullet in Court — but Its Troubles Are Just Beginning

A California judge decided that the class-action lawsuit filed against AT&T for throttling unlimited data will not be allowed to proceed. According to AT&T, customers should only have their complaints heard on an individual basis through arbitration, and it seems as though Judge Edward Chen from the U.S. District Court in Northern California agrees with the company. Many customers, however, …



200 Women Join Lawsuit Against WEN Hair Care Products

Hair today, gone tomorrow. More than 200 women in 40 states have joined a class-action lawsuit against the makers of the hair care line WEN, claiming that the products can cause severe hair damage — including bald spots and rashes, according to a report. The class-action lawsuit against celebrity hairstylist Chaz Dean and direct marketing company Guthy-Renker, which markets the product, was …


Unions Fight to Reclassify Lyft Drivers as Employees

The battle over whether Lyft drivers are employees or contractors is going another round. The Teamsters union and five Lyft drivers have objected to a proposed class-action settlement that does not force the company to reclassify drivers as employees. Drivers would split $12.25 million under a proposed settlement agreement, which also adds new benefits such as termination protection.


Troy Hunt: How Your Data Is Collected and Commoditised via “free” Online Services

I get a lot of people popping up with data breaches for Have I been pwned (HIBP). There’s an interesting story in that itself actually, one I must get around to writing in the future as folks come from all sorts of different backgrounds and offer up data they’ve come across in various locations. Recently someone sent me a list of various data breaches they’d obtained, including this one: …


News From the Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Education Department is removing a law firm hired to oversee the turnaround of schools owned by Corinthian Colleges Inc., a for-profit education company whose financial collapse had placed at risk more than $1 billion in federal student loans. An Associated Press investigation identified conflicts with the ostensibly independent monitor. The department said it was …


KARE 11 Investigates: Prescription Price Shell Game

Pharmacist counts prescription pills. Credit: KARE 11
GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. – A major company has rolled back the price of a potentially life-saving prescription drug after a KARE 11 News investigation. But the decision has some people asking how often we’re being overcharged on other medicines.


After False Start, New GM Ignition Switch Trial Set to Start

NEW YORK (AP) — Weeks after the first New York trial over General Motors’ faulty ignition switch controversy ended prematurely, a new one is set to start. The Manhattan federal court trial that begins on Monday is meant to define legal boundaries that may aid the settlement of hundreds of lawsuits filed after GM revealed that it had continued to sell flawed cars after discovering an ignition …


Spotify and Publishing Group Reach $30 Million Settlement Agreement Over Unpaid Royalties

The National Music Publishing Association (NMPA) has announced its successful brokering of a settlement between Spotify and its constituents over unmatched (songs that haven’t received payment because Spotify didn’t identify their publishers) and unpaid song royalties, a topic that has given rise to several legal cases against the streaming services over the past few months. The settlement …


The Bill for Home Depot After Its Sales Registers Were Hacked: $19.5m

Home Depot will pay at least $19.5m in compensation to the 50 million customers hit by hackers who infiltrated the chain’s sales tills in 2014. The US home improvement warehouse will create a $13m fund to reimburse shoppers and spend a further $6.5m providing a year’s worth of identity protection for those impacted. Those are the terms of an agreement disclosed in federal court in its home town …