Just about everyone’s had a regrettable moment online. For some, it could be something as minor as an embarrassing middle-school photo. For others, it could be a serious slip in judgement that threatens to end a career. Still others simply want and need privacy. One safe assumption is that all of us have wondered at [...]
An interesting article in the Washington Post recently highlighted the high interest rates consumers are being surprised with after bringing home a puppy. Families who fell in love with dogs at certain pet stores were shocked to find out, after signing loan paperwork, that a $5,000 puppy would eventually cost $19,000 or more in the [...]
We have all seen the “magnanimous” attitude of our insurance companies on TV lately. One decided to reduce rates because of the Coronavirus. That was followed by many others. We see "Jake" nicely advising somebody to do something; we see an emu riding in a sidecar; we see those who have seen everything before, therefore [...]
Second only to mortgage debt, student loan debt is the second highest consumer debt category, and it’s even higher than both credit card debt and car loans according to Forbes.com. About 44 million borrowers collectively owe more than $1.52 trillion in student debt in the United States across all demographics and age groups. The Federal [...]
An expose published in Stat magazine with data from ProPublica reveals the dearth of African American patients in clinical trials for breakthrough cancer drugs. However, it is not just clinical trials for cancer drugs which seem to exclude black patients. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) conducted a [...]
Every cellphone owner is all too familiar with robocalls. The pesky phone calls just don't seem to stop—from unknown area codes, from local area codes, from people posing as IRS agents, Social Security agents, or other government entities. And, if some corporations have their way, robocalling might get even worse. The Washington Post recently reported [...]
A local Ohio hospital has been faxing other people's personal medical records to Elizabeth Spilker's home for months, in an apparent violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The information in the faxes contained patient names, ages, weights, medications, and medical histories. In a report from ABC 6, Spilker said, “We have [...]
Let’s start with the good news: Democrats and Republicans created a bill – together – that President Trump signed into law. That law is the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, and it’s purpose is to stop people from trafficking boys and girls for sex via the Internet. The law was passed on April 11th – [...]
Word spread on March 21, 2018 of another data breach. This time the information came from American Express. Apparently, those who use American Express Travel may have had their data stolen due to a data breach at Orbitz. According to an email sent to American Express members, transactions made using the Orbitz platform between January 1, [...]
There has been much in the news lately about Cambridge Analytica utilizing data from Facebook without consumer authorization. Despite the political upheaval around this, and the consequences it may or may not have had on the election in 2016, this is nothing more than a simple data breach case. Data breach occurs when users provide [...]
