NCL urges FTC to use rulemaking to protect consumers’ data rights 

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November 22, 2022

Media contact: National Consumers League – Katie Brown, katie@nclnet.org, 202-823-8442

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Consumers League (NCL) this week filed comments in support of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulation to protect Americans’ data privacy. In its comments, NCL urged the FTC to ensure that consumers have the rights to data confidentiality, access, deletion, portability, and ethical use. Such safeguards are critical for stemming the torrent of privacy abuses that Americans have suffered in the digital age—perpetrated by both corporate and governmental entities. 

“Given our dependency on the internet to conduct our daily lives, the fact that we have gone this long without federal privacy protections is profoundly disappointing. The FTC is doing critical work in initiating this rulemaking process,” said John Breyault, NCL Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud. “Consumers should not be at risk of identity theft, financial loss, or other privacy intrusions simply by having an internet connection.” 

The League urged the Commission to give special consideration to sensitive data types, such as location and genetic information, as well as students’ data utilized by educational technology companies. 

“With the proliferation of ed-tech, classrooms have become another area of vulnerability regarding privacy. This follows students when they take their school-issued devices and software home with them,” said Eden Iscil, NCL Public Policy Associate. “Ed-tech is a particularly worrying sector as students typically have no choice but to use the technology mandated by their institution, regardless of its insecurity.”

NCL has made fighting for consumers’ privacy a priority. Earlier this year, the League released a slate of proposed genetic privacy rights for policymakers to implement. Additionally, the organization is in its seventh year of publishing the #DataInsecurity Digest, a semi-weekly newsletter containing policy analysis and news coverage related to digital privacy. 

NCL’s full comments to the FTC can be read here. 

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About the National Consumers League (NCL)

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit https://nclnet.org.

Consumer groups obtain TTB commitment to issue rulemakings on mandatory alcohol labeling

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November 21, 2022

Media contact: National Consumers League – Katie Brown, katie@nclnet.org, (202) 823-8442

Washington D.C. — A coalition of consumer groups today announced an important victory for the American public: the Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) has agreed to issue proposed rules requiring standardized alcohol content, calorie, and allergen labeling on all beer, wine and distilled spirits products. TTB also agreed to begin preliminary rulemaking on mandatory ingredient labeling.

TTB’s decision comes after three national consumer organizations – the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Consumer Federation of America, and the National Consumers League – sued TTB on October 3, 2022, for failing to act on a 2003 petition to require alcohol labeling with the same basic transparency consumers expect for non-alcoholic beverages and food products. CSPI’s litigation department filed the complaint on behalf of the three organizations in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Based on evidence that alcohol is a significant source of empty calories and increases the risk of certain cancers, alcohol use disorders, traffic accidents, and severe injuries, the 2003 petition specifically called for listing the amount of alcohol and calories per serving, the percent alcohol by volume, the serving size, the number of standard drinks per container, and other needed information to make fully informed drinking decisions. These consumer groups also petitioned for an ingredients listing on all alcoholic beverages, something that is a standard feature for other food products and particularly important to those with allergies or other chemical sensitivities.

As a result of the lawsuit, TTB committed to publishing three rulemakings covering mandatory nutrient and alcohol content labeling, mandatory allergen labeling, and mandatory ingredient labeling within the next year.

In addition to the lawsuit, the groups applauded the House and Senate Appropriations Committee for including report language in the FY23 Financial Services and General Government bill urging the agency to take action on this critical rule.

“This is a groundbreaking day for consumers,” said Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of the National Consumers League. “Consumer advocates have been trying for 19 years to get this far. Now there is light at the end of the tunnel. We thank the TTB for finally taking this action and look forward to working closely with the agency, the industry, and other consumer advocates to make sure this is done right and that consumers are the winners.”

“All we have requested over these two long decades is the kind of information that consumers expect when purchasing other foods and beverages,” said Peter Lurie, Executive Director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “We hope TTB can move quickly on this long overdue action.”

“Better labeling requirements for alcoholic beverages will allow consumers to make more informed decisions,” said Thomas Gremillion, Director of Food Policy at Consumer Federation of America. “Consumers have a right to consistent, reliable, and relevant information about the products they buy. For too long, the alcohol industry has kept consumers in the dark, and TTB’s announcement is an important step forward.” 

The 2003 citizen petition was submitted to the Treasury Department by CSPI, CFA, and NCL and a coalition of 66 other organizations and eight individuals, including four deans of schools of public health.

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About the National Consumers League (NCL)

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit https://nclnet.org.

NCL applauds federal agency’s decision to require mandatory labeling on all alcoholic beverages

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November 18, 2022

Media contact: National Consumers League – Melody Merin, melodym@nclnet.org, (703) 298-2614

Washington D.C. — Today the National Consumers League hailed the decision by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), the federal agency that oversees alcohol labeling, to require mandatory labeling on all alcoholic beverages as a “great consumer victory.” NCL is grateful to the agency for this welcome – albeit long overdue – decision.

In 2003, NCL and other consumer groups filed a petition calling on TTB to provide consumers with robust nutritional information about the alcoholic beverages they drink. Today, 19 years later, the agency acted to grant the petition. The November 17 letter from TTB can be viewed here.

NCL and other consumer groups pursued two avenues this year to get movement on the labeling of alcoholic beverages: filing a lawsuit this past fall against the agency and working with Congress.

NCL also thanks the Senate and House Appropriations Committees for their inclusion of language in the Fiscal Year 2023 Financial Services and General Government Funding Bill that urges the agency to move toward mandatory nutritional labeling of alcoholic beverages.

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About the National Consumers League (NCL)

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit https://nclnet.org.

Coalition of consumer organizations urge supermarket industry to address “digital discrimination”

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November 17, 2022

Media contact: National Consumers League – Melody Merin, melodym@nclnet.org, (703) 298-2614

This week a coalition of national consumer organizations urged leading supermarket chains to offer alternatives to digital-only discounts. Currently, many senior citizens and lower-income shoppers cannot take advantage of digital-only discounts due to smartphone or internet inaccessibility.

In the past couple of years more and more weekly specials advertised by some supermarkets for meat, fish, poultry, produce, and store-brand items are digital-only deals. They typically require shoppers to first go online to electronically “clip” the offers to add them to their loyalty card account to be charged the sale price in the store.

Because 25 percent of seniors don’t use the internet and 39 percent don’t have smartphones, according to a 2021 study by the Pew Research Center, they are effectively shut out of these deals. Similarly, 43 percent of low-income households lack broadband internet access.

The consumer groups suggested multiple ways that supermarkets can offer an offline alternative to digital-only deals to accommodate both the digitally-disconnected and the digitally-challenged shoppers, which include: 

  •  Utilizing barcoded “clip or click” store coupons in store circulars so the customer can choose their preferred redemption method (e.g., Vons and The Giant Company).
  • Empowering cashiers to charge the digital price upon request.
  • Offering physical store coupons next to digital-only deals for those who did not/could not electronically “clip” the offer (e.g., H-E-B).

The letter to supermarket executives was sent on November 15 to the following chains: Kroger, Albertsons, Stop & Shop, Star Market/Shaw’s, Ralphs, QFC, Jewel Osco, Randalls, Fred Meyer, King Soopers, Smart & Final, and Safeway.

Consumer Action, Consumer Reports, Consumer World, National Consumers League, and U.S. PIRG are the consumer organizations pressing supermarkets to expand the way they offer digital-only deals.

The full letter can be viewed here.

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About the National Consumers League (NCL)

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit https://nclnet.org.

DC Attorney General files consumer protection lawsuit against football team and its owners

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November 9, 2022

Media contact: National Consumers League – Katie Brown, katie@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington D.C.— District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine announced today that he has filed a consumer protection lawsuit against the Washington Commanders, their owner Daniel Snyder, the National Football League (NFL), and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for allegedly colluding to deceive DC residents about an NFL investigation into the team’s toxic workplace culture, which includes sexual harassment.

The National Consumers League is pleased that DC Attorney General Karl Racine can use the District of Columbia Consumer Protection Procedures Act (DC CPPA) to address broad ranging issues of public concern with respect to this lawsuit. NCL had a hand in the drafting and passage of this important consumer protection legislation, which was originally introduced by DC Councilmember Mary Cheh and adopted into law in 2012 and further strengthened with later amendments.

“We think that Attorney General Racine’s application of this consumer protection statute underscores the importance of broadly protective statutes that address fraud and deception,” says NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg.

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About the National Consumers League (NCL)

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit https://nclnet.org.

NCL welcomes minimum wage for tipped workers in the District of Columbia

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November 9, 2022

Media contact: National Consumers League – Katie Brown, katie@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington D.C.— The National Consumers League welcomes the decision by the voters of the District of Columbia to support Initiative 82, lifting tipped workers from the subminimum wage to a full minimum wage and to be phased in over the next five years. NCL’s founders, who wrote the first minimum wage laws in the United States at the turn of the 20th Century, is part of the One Fair Wage (OFW) movement headed by visionary Saru Jayaraman. OFW aims to do away with the subminimum tipped wage across America. That subminimum wage is a relic of post-slavery emancipation in the U.S. when African Americans were expected to work for free and get a tip if they were lucky.

Four years ago, residents of the District overwhelmingly voted to support Initiative 77 to get rid of the $5.05 tipped wage and move to the full DC-mandated minimum wage for all tipped workers. Unfortunately, in 2018, the DC Council voted 8-5 to overturn the will of the people and the law never went into effect. However, One Fair Wage and Initiative 82 backers were able to get the measure on the ballot again in 2022, and once again, the measure won by overwhelming margins. This time, DC Council members have pledged to let the ballot measure become law.

Currently, the tipped wage is $5.35. Initiative 82 affects all in DC who rely on tips to bring them up to the minimum wage, which will be $16.10 by 2027 and will apply to restaurant servers, bartenders, nail salons workers, and parking lot attendants.

Employers are required by current law to ensure that if tips don’t bring workers up to the minimum wage, they must make up the difference. Unfortunately, more often than not this doesn’t happen. As DC Councilmember Mary Cheh has noted, the current law “is an invitation to cheat.”

The statement below is attributable to Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of the National Consumers League:

“NCL is deeply appreciative that the voters of the District have once again decided that all workers in DC are entitled to earn the same minimum wage. We hail the overwhelming popularity of Initiative 82 among DC residents and applaud the work of One Fair Wage and the organizers of Initiative 82 in getting this measure on the ballot. This is a big win for workers.

“As a former waitress, I can attest that relying on customers to tip you so that you make minimum wage is unsustainable. Many customers tip minimally, some don’t tip at all, and employers frequently don’t make up the difference. As a result, tipped workers – many of whom are women and people of color – end up with poverty wages; are subject to some of the highest rates of sexual harassment; and are unable to feed their families under the current system.

“Initiative 82 is long overdue. We need to say goodbye to the tipped wage and give all workers in the District the respect they deserve and that includes the right to earn the same minimum wage as all other workers.

“NCL looks forward to working with the DC Government and the  Attorney General’s office to see this measure implemented across the District in the coming months.”

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About the National Consumers League (NCL)

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit https://nclnet.org.

Nation’s leading advocacy groups express their concern over partnership between Major League Baseball and CBD maker

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November 9, 2022

Media contact: National Consumers League – Katie Brown, katie@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington D.C.— The National Consumers League, along with CADCA – a national nonprofit organization committed to creating safe, healthy, and drug-free communities globally – submitted today a joint letter to the commissioners of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Major League Baseball (MLB) expressing concern over the recently announced partnership between MLB and cannabidol (CBD) maker Charlotte’s Web.

“The lack of the product is not well understood by the public and this type of agreement sends … a deceptive message to consumers, implying that CBD is regulated – or at the very least, tested, and proven safe,” according to the letter.

 

To view the letter to FDA, click here.

 

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About the National Consumers League (NCL)

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit https://nclnet.org.

Twitter must do its part to limit the spread of false information and hate speech on its platform, says NCL

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November 4, 2022

Media contact: National Consumers League – Katie Brown, katie@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington D.C.—The National Consumers League (NCL), America’s oldest consumer advocacy organization, had previously urged Elon Musk to protect user privacy while continuing to regulate dangerous and misleading content when he announced his plans to acquire Twitter. Now that Musk has finalized his purchase, NCL is seeing worrying signs that one of the largest social media platforms may become an even greater vector for misinformation and dangerous rhetoric. 

“As a service that reaches millions of users daily, Twitter has a social responsibility to ensure that its space is not used to spread demonstrably false information or discriminatory messaging,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg. “All social media platforms, regardless of who their largest shareholder is, must do their part in limiting misinformation that hampers the COVID-19 recovery and hate speech against marginalized populations. This is not an abstract exercise in free speech—these are matters that impact real lives.” 

More broadly, Musk’s acquisition is only the latest example of the United States’ regulatory system failing to prevent massive wealth and asset consolidation into the hands of a few. Allowing a select number of billionaires to dominate nearly every industry is disastrous for consumer welfare and incompatible with the nation’s democratic principles.

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About the National Consumers League (NCL)

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit https://nclnet.org.

Consumer groups call for moratorium on smaller airplane seats pending FAA safety review

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November 2, 2022

Media contact: National Consumers League – Katie Brown, katie@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Advocates caution that out-of-date emergency evacuation testing standards could put flyers at risk 

Washington D.C.— A coalition of six consumer advocacy organizations yesterday filed comments in response to a Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) inquiry regarding minimum passenger seat dimensions. The groups called for the FAA to prohibit airlines from installing smaller seats in commercial jets while the agency reviews and updates its decades-old emergency evacuation testing standards.

“Airlines have a profit incentive to cram more people on their planes,” said Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of the National Consumers League, which organized the letter. “This trend has created a dangerous environment that could impede safe evacuation in the event of an emergency. The FAA has looked the other way for decades as the airlines have increasingly prioritized their bottom lines over passenger safety.”

U.S. law requires air carriers to ensure that they can evacuate their aircraft in 90 seconds or less. In an alarming number of real-world emergencies in recent years, evacuations took between two and five minutes, even though every airline has certified that their planes comply with federal standards. Despite this, the FAA continues to rely on emergency evacuation testing standards that reflect what flying was like in the 1990’s, not the environment that passengers encounter today.

To address the insecurity of current flying conditions, the consumer groups called on the FAA to take immediate action, including:

  • Instituting a moratorium on the further shrinking of passenger seats. Airlines have reduced the sizes of seats to record lows, having shaved off several inches from when the federal government last updated U.S. evacuation standards.
  • Updating federal evacuation standards to reflect the modern cabin environment, accounting for smaller seat sizes, increased baggage around the cabin, and the proliferation of personal electronic devices.
  • If necessary, provisionally requiring that airline seats be no smaller than 32 inches in pitch (commonly referred to as legroom) and 20 inches in width. These dimensions would ensure that seat sizes are not smaller than the typical minimum dimensions that airlines utilized in the early 1990s.

“In addition to hampering evacuation speeds, it’s important to consider how diminished seat sizes impact traveler health, even when there is not an emergency,” said John Breyault, Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications, and Fraud at NCL. “Cramped airline seating increases the risk that passengers will experience deep vein thrombosis and pressure sores. Current seat sizes make flying more dangerous and often embarrassing for many passengers, particularly those with disabilities or those who are too large to safely fit into the seats.”

In addition to NCL, the letter was signed by the American Economic Liberties Project, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, Ed Perkins on Travel, and U.S. PIRG.

To read the coalition’s full comments to the FAA, click here.

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About the National Consumers League (NCL)

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit https://nclnet.org.

The National Consumers League applauds Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) recent decision to validate updated credit scores

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October 31, 2022

Media contact: National Consumers League – Katie Brown, katie@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington D.C.— The National Consumers League applauds Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Sandra Thompson’s recent decision to validate updated credit scores for the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). By allowing the use of updated innovative, more predictive scores like FICO10T which reduce the impact of unpaid medical debt and include alternative data sources like rental housing payment information, more consumers will be able to get scored and have access to the market.

However, we are disappointed that FHFA will require the use of VantageScore 4.0  Our concern is prompted by the fact that VantageScore, the company that created VantageScore 4.0, is owned by the credit bureaus, who  have proven themselves to be careless with consumer credit data and consumer protection laws over the years.

In fact, over the past few months, congressional leaders like Housing Banking Chair Maxine Waters and House Majority Leader James Clyburn have raised significant concerns about the anti-consumer activities of the credit bureaus. In August, Chair Waters called on the CFPB to put a moratorium on Equifax after it reported faulty credit scores for millions of consumers. On October 14,  Leader Clyburn requested that the CFPB investigate and review the nation’s largest credit bureaus for possible violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

In July of 2021, NCL joined with other consumer groups in sending a letter to the CFPB and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asking them to update a 2012 study about the accuracy of financial data at the credit bureaus.

In addition to our concerns about data accuracy and anti-consumer anti-competitive behavior by the credit bureaus and the score that they own, NCL is also concerned about the potential cost burdens for consumers that will result from transitioning to this two-score system. Back in our 2018 comments, we asked FHFA to consider what the impact would be for the FHFA, the GSEs, mortgage companies, banks, and most importantly for taxpayers and consumers.

As FHFA works to implement this decision over the next year, we hope they keep the concerns of consumers first and foremost. The housing economy is struggling and we need to ensure consumers aren’t left paying the cost of this transition in increased fees and hidden payments.  We also need to make sure FHFA listens to the concerns of Congress and the consumer community when it comes to the credit bureaus. There is much work to be done and we stand ready to help in any way that we can.

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About the National Consumers League (NCL)

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit https://nclnet.org.