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Talk about a security hole you could drive a truck through.

That's not a security hole - that's a feature. and of course T-Mobile has a history of this shit

See, the telecom industry is legally allowed and prefers to be able to charge for third party services because they get a HUGE commission. That's the reason why T-Mobile gave you a hard time because they were also making money on the fraudulent charges. And the way it works is that the crooks don't even need permission to it. They can slam the charges on your bill. And to add insult to injury, our phone bills are so goddamn complicated and with purposefully vague terms like "National service fees" or charges that are made to look like some sort of Federally mandated charge, it's very difficult to catch the bogus charges and therefore, most people pay for the crooks.

What we need is a regulation that makes third party billing on any telecom account illegal. The telecoms cannot be trusted to do the right thing. Self regulation my ass!

So what about?

http://consumerist.com/2007/10/valve-deactivating-customers-who-bought-orange-box-internationally.html
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2007/10/valve-locking-out-user-accounts-for-incorrect-territory.ars

It has the region locks only because certain publishers insist on it. Valve doesn't use it on any of their own games.

You mean like Valve did with The Orange Box?

OMFG AC, here I go again.

2. Banks with $10b in assets have millions of transactions per day and computers make this a massive profit center for banks at the expense of consumers.

Every bank has transactions in proportion to the amount of money it has under its control. What the hell do computers have to do with it?

3. The rate is cranked down to provide relief to merchants and consumers

If it were to provide relief to merchants and consumers, it would apply to all banks. Instead, Dick Durban is telling people to switch to smaller banks who will continue to charge merchants the same amount that were previously charging.

which reduces the massive profits of banks who then proceed to be outraged that they'll only make $4.2 billion in profits this quarter instead of $4.6 billion.

Made-up-number billion in profits on what revenue? Let's look at Bank of America:
$75 billion in revenue in 2010, net loss of $2.2 billion in 2010, or 2.9% loss.

Want more? Citigroup:
$79.5 billion in revenue in 2010, net income of $10.9 billion in 2010, or 13.7% profit.

13.7% return on investment is slightly above average for corporate investment--a US Treasury bond will yield 13%. Bank profits are not extremely high. The repeating of "BILLIONS IN PROFIT" as a mantra is a way to snag useful idiots who think that's meaningful. It's fucking propaganda. The more is invested in a company, the more it needs to make to keep investors interested. If they've got TRILLIONS INVESTED, they damn well better be making billions back on that investment.

4. Banks which used to give customers toasters to open accounts now decides depositors are really just profit centers and attempts to increase their profit margins on those who fund the deposits they use to provide loans and other services.

Because it doesn't currently pay enough to lend money, so they need to make money moving the money around instead. The real estate market is headed for another correction, and everyone knows it. What else do people borrow for? Oh, credit cards? Those are easier than ever to get!

The banks who are borrowing at nearly 0% from the fed and then buying treasuries rather than loaning the money to businesses to spur the economy as intended?

And whose fault is it that the banks can borrow money from the Fed so cheaply? Why would anyone be surprised that they seem uninterested in borrowing from customers and paying them for the privilege of holding their money?

And how in the world can you expect anyone, corporation or person, to put their money at risk by investing in businesses when they can loan it instead to the US government with no risk at all? Since the US government can just order more printed, they'll "never" default!

Certainly something needs to change, but it's NOT THE DEBIT CARD TRANSACTION FEES.

(So I'm going to violate my rule and reply to the AC.)

1. No small(er) businesses will see any difference because of this. Fees are charged to merchants at an average rate, not per-transaction, so they will not see any appreciable difference.
3. What the hell is a "local" community? Every bank is located somewhere, and employs people in that area. It's "local" to them. If a bank has a branch near you, they employ people in your area. Whether the headquarters is near you or in another city, the net result is the same. I have a large CitiBank building a couple of miles away, and their headquarters is nowhere near here. Fifth Third is headquartered near me, but they employ people all over the damn place. And every bank has investors who don't necessarily live anywhere near the headquarters of the bank.
4. They have the same selection, because they moved from one bank to another that already existed. If the other bank hadn't been competitive, they wouldn't have moved their business to it. And since the "too big to fail" are still "too big to fail", their tax dollars will STILL be used to bail out those damned banks when they fail because a bunch of customers left them for other banks.
5. The same institutions continue to exist. No changes have occurred or will occur as a result of the reduced debit card transaction fee.

Shipping around for another bank, people can't gauge integrity, so they'll just go to whichever offers them the best incentive.

Gov't outsourced federal student loan processing to private company, and that didn't work well either. Auto-pay didn't work for days, so many had "payment late" notices. site was unusable for a week.
http://consumerist.com/2011/10/dept-of-educations-new-site-giving-headaches-to-folks-with-student-loans.html

If you're locked into a Verizon contract, Verizon just gave you the option to cancel without paying a penalty. They've made a material change in the terms, and you now have the right to exit the contract.

I read an article about this a few days ago. As a Verizon customer, you can opt-out of both of these. You have to go into your "MyVerizon" site, and uncheck the boxes in your Privacy section.

However, the fact that they basically changed this without clearly notifying customers is ridiculous. We shouldn't have to find out from third parties about this and then have to voluntarily opt-out.

Unfortunately, this is the world we live in now.

If you're locked into a Verizon contract, Verizon just gave you the option to cancel without paying a penalty. They've made a material change in the terms, and you now have the right to exit the contract.

shouldn't we be emulating the much less intrusive Israeli model?

They are planning to do so, but such a major change like this will take time.

Not a prerecorded call, but an autodialer. I forgot to specify, though, that it applies to cell phones only (as far as I know). Article here.

Because their costs are offloaded onto others, who lose their house because they can't afford to pay for it after they've paid all the taxes.

Randian drivel. They also don't have health insurance CEO's worth three quarters of a billion dollars, funny how you left that part out. How do you think that happens? Because United Health pays for prompt medical care, or because they delay and deny care?

Whine about scary socialism as much as you want, but under the scariest scenario you at least get what you pay for: health care. As opposed to in the U.S., where your insurer takes your double digit increase in your premiums and strives to find new ways to deny your claims. Like calling a severe miscarriage an "elective abortion", calling acne an "undisclosed precondition" to deny coverage for breast cancer treatment, or Vietnam vets that lose coverage because were two cents short on their payment.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-grocers-start-bagging-selfserve-checkouts-20110926,0,1600176.story
http://consumerist.com/2011/09/report-fewer-supermarket-shoppers-using-self-checkout-machines.html

so maybe you will see some of this being tried out just to have it fail.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/15/education/15fifth.html?_r=2
http://consumerist.com/2011/09/private-colleges-starting-to-offer-four-year-degree-guarantees.html
Some place have this now and it's due to stuff like.

adviser hadn't erroneously told some one that a particular class would fulfill the math requirement. Unfortunately, for some reason the same class winter quarter was a different class that didn't fulfill the requirement, even though the fall and spring classes with the same course number did.

Classes that are too full to accept all the students that want/need to get in for their majors

Classes would either be full, or would be offered so infrequently that they'd have to wait, sometimes for two years, to take the class.

Hm...

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=are+subprime+loans+subject+to+the+CRA

Also: http://consumerist.com/2009/06/affidavits-on-how-wells-fargo-gave-ghetto-loans-to-mud-people.html

Yes, I think we can safely say that the current global economic slowdown was caused by the government forcing everyone to be nice to black people.

I'm sorry but the attitude on /. here is that whatever not Apple would do it's ALWAYS wrong. Imagine if tables were reversed and how the reaction would be towards Samsung if there would be a reaction at all!

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4058472/Samsung-set-to-sue-Asian-phone-makers-says-report - http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Content_And_Downloads/Industry/X8M9G5T9 - http://consumerist.com/2010/05/samsung-sues-journalist-for-satirically-pointing-out-that-its-chairman-keeps-getting-convicted-of-cr.html - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/07/samsung_sues_matsushita/ - http://www.crn.com.au/News/114322,samsung-sues-polaroid-and-westinghouse-over-patent-infringement.aspx - http://www.cn-c114.net/578/a294176.html

How about a link from this March or even
end of June? Within a month and a half recent enough for you?

How about a link from this March or even
end of June? Within a month and a half recent enough for you?

Right, because Samsung doesn't hold any patents and doesn't enforce them.

Unless you are an LCD maker, of course.

And they would never sue anyone for simple writing an article poking fun at their glorious leader.

http://consumerist.com/2011/05/hr-blocktaxact-merger-blocked-would-substantially-lessen-competition.html

This report is stating that some of China's growth is in fact fake. Interesting read.

http://consumerist.com/2011/07/chinas-hypergrowth-fueled-by-building-giant-cities-no-one-lives-in.html

The idea being, if there was anywhere else worth investing the money, nobody would create a hyperexpensive cash sink like that.

Except for China. Anyone could come up with a good long list of shit they could improve, but instead they build entire cities that damn near nobody can afford to live in just to make their annual GDP growth percentages look good.

Search engine - never used.

says that they have studied around 10,000 Android apps and have found that 800 of them are leaking private information of the user to an unauthorized server

Perhaps Google should follow Apple's lead here and simply change the EULA to give permission for application writers to access personal information and location.

That would certainly get rid of the "unauthorised" part of that statement.

Paid back TARP $$ and then took Federal loans at 0% interest with largely no strings on how to spend it

http://consumerist.com/2011/07/bank-of-america-gives-same-account-number-to-two-customers-deposits-30k-in-social-security-payments.html
http://consumerist.com/2011/06/bank-of-america-threatens-to-foreclose-on-homeowner-if-he-doesnt-pay-000-asap.html
http://consumerist.com/2011/07/chase-regrets-to-inform-you-and-the-credit-bureaus-that-you-are-dead.html
http://consumerist.com/2011/07/bank-of-america-closes-customers-accounts-after-nearly-3-million-in-mysterious-overdrafts.html

http://consumerist.com/2011/07/bank-of-america-gives-same-account-number-to-two-customers-deposits-30k-in-social-security-payments.html
http://consumerist.com/2011/06/bank-of-america-threatens-to-foreclose-on-homeowner-if-he-doesnt-pay-000-asap.html
http://consumerist.com/2011/07/chase-regrets-to-inform-you-and-the-credit-bureaus-that-you-are-dead.html
http://consumerist.com/2011/07/bank-of-america-closes-customers-accounts-after-nearly-3-million-in-mysterious-overdrafts.html

http://consumerist.com/2011/07/bank-of-america-gives-same-account-number-to-two-customers-deposits-30k-in-social-security-payments.html
http://consumerist.com/2011/06/bank-of-america-threatens-to-foreclose-on-homeowner-if-he-doesnt-pay-000-asap.html
http://consumerist.com/2011/07/chase-regrets-to-inform-you-and-the-credit-bureaus-that-you-are-dead.html
http://consumerist.com/2011/07/bank-of-america-closes-customers-accounts-after-nearly-3-million-in-mysterious-overdrafts.html

http://consumerist.com/2011/07/bank-of-america-gives-same-account-number-to-two-customers-deposits-30k-in-social-security-payments.html
http://consumerist.com/2011/06/bank-of-america-threatens-to-foreclose-on-homeowner-if-he-doesnt-pay-000-asap.html
http://consumerist.com/2011/07/chase-regrets-to-inform-you-and-the-credit-bureaus-that-you-are-dead.html
http://consumerist.com/2011/07/bank-of-america-closes-customers-accounts-after-nearly-3-million-in-mysterious-overdrafts.html

It's poor security practice, but if someone drops an expensive device, there's a natural inclination to find the owner and return it. From a security standpoint, that's a horrible decision, but viewed from a societal and human decency perspective, that's exactly the kind of behavior you want to encourage (as opposed to, say, finding a lost iPad and deciding to keep it). Checking a USB drive on a sensitive computer is a stupid decision, but most people don't know how- or where- to check this safely. That's something that needs to be addressed to balance good social practice with good security decisions.

For that matter, most of the users I find doing this think of viruses as flashy, destructive affairs; a common rationalization is that they plugged the device in and "didn't see anything happen". The concept of subtle dangers is relatively new, and wrecking someone's computer to make a point (as someone above suggested) would be very counterproductive.

This isn't anything new- CD-ROMS and floppy disks have served as malware vectors in their day. OS designers have no excuse to be surprised anymore.

Cables probably don't matter. Apparently you can use a coat hanger and get the same effect as those pricey high-end cables. http://consumerist.com/2008/03/do-coat-hangers-sound-as-good-monster-cables.html

Geek Squad is a sales forces with real techs push over people who can sell rip off monster cables and extended warrantys also Best Buy's optimization wizards have fabricated a devilish scam to exploit uninformed customers. Employees download a PlayStation 3's firmware update in advance and tack on an extra $30 to the cost of the system. http://consumerist.com/2010/10/best-buy-will-give-you-free-ps3-software-for-30-mandatory-charge.html

Some times There were no computers left that weren't currently being optimized by the Geek Squad for sale at some best buys.

Real techs need to sell and ripoff at best buy to get hours. Stapes is just as bad with high press sales push on the techs.

Geek Squad was from what I understand actually fairly helpful prior to being taken over by BestBuy. These days though, they're more known for stealing porn from consumers and general ineptitude. 9 Confessions Of A Former Geek Squad Geek

Oh, I don't know. Maybe he was just going on idle speculation.

Or just maybe some of us aren't politically correct enough to ignore the simple fact that it wouldn't be the first time the PRC (got caught) made a cover up for something that would be global news.

They've got quite the rep for that by now.

Sony is a big company with a lot of activities, and not all of them are objectionable.

Given their poor hardware quality, rootkits, data breaches, exploding batteries, inventing fake movie critics, removing advertised features, obnoxious viral marketing, spying on environmental activists, being seen as one of the two worst companies in America, and whatever else I couldn't think of off the top of my head, I'd say "most" rather than "not all".

Sony is a big company with a lot of activities, and not all of them are objectionable.

Given their poor hardware quality, rootkits, data breaches, exploding batteries, inventing fake movie critics, removing advertised features, obnoxious viral marketing, spying on environmental activists, being seen as one of the two worst companies in America, and whatever else I couldn't think of off the top of my head, I'd say "most" rather than "not all".

Why else would they be crippling themselves by making going to the movies even worse than it was before? It certainly can't be because they're making tons of money by showing the films to begin with. And it certainly isn't because of skyrocketing ticket and concession stand prices. Or that they're fighting to keep calorie counts off the menus.

They'd have a good reason for making people not want to go, right? Right?

staples easy tech is just high pressure sales with real techs forced out.

The thing is at stapes you better sell.

http://paulrepair.blogspot.com/2009/04/stay-away-from-staples-for-computer.html

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/staples-c276403.html

http://consumerist.com/2008/03/staples-tries-to-charge-senior-citizen-390-for-basic-computer-repair.html

http://consumerist.com/2008/09/why-i-quit-staples-easy-tech.html

http://consumerist.com/2009/12/i-always-look-forward-to.html

staples easy tech is just high pressure sales with real techs forced out.

The thing is at stapes you better sell.

http://paulrepair.blogspot.com/2009/04/stay-away-from-staples-for-computer.html

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/staples-c276403.html

http://consumerist.com/2008/03/staples-tries-to-charge-senior-citizen-390-for-basic-computer-repair.html

http://consumerist.com/2008/09/why-i-quit-staples-easy-tech.html

http://consumerist.com/2009/12/i-always-look-forward-to.html

staples easy tech is just high pressure sales with real techs forced out.

The thing is at stapes you better sell.

http://paulrepair.blogspot.com/2009/04/stay-away-from-staples-for-computer.html

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/staples-c276403.html

http://consumerist.com/2008/03/staples-tries-to-charge-senior-citizen-390-for-basic-computer-repair.html

http://consumerist.com/2008/09/why-i-quit-staples-easy-tech.html

http://consumerist.com/2009/12/i-always-look-forward-to.html

*koff*

I thought I read that they were running an unpatched version of Apache on a system without a firewall, including here on /..

Yup. Don't remember the post, but this is the linked article:

http://consumerist.com/2011/05/security-expert-sony-knew-its-software-was-obsolete-months-before-psn-breach.html

Actually it was an unpatched Apache server facing the net without a firewall. link

Meanwhile, XBL runs on Win server and hasn't been hacked before. So the lesson to be taken away is, Sony is just THAT fucking incompetent.

someone marketed HD sunglasses around 2003:

http://consumerist.com/2009/09/hd-sunglasses-use-the-power-of-stupidity-to-increase-real-world-resolution.html

because, you know, we only saw the world in NTSC before HD, our European friends saw the world in PAL

so i'm just waiting for 3D sunglasses. because, you know, until "Avatar", the real world was 2D

I actually own a pair of these; I got them for a buck at a dollar store. I liked them so much I bought another pair for $5 off Ebay. Yes as we all know the HD thing is just stupid marketing. On the other hand these are blue-blocker sunglasses. Due to the wavelength, your cornea focuses blue slightly in front of the retina instead of directly on it. Hence the color blue is slightly out of focus. Blue blockers actually do make things look slightly clearer and more in focus. These glasses also fit over your existing glasses which is also absolutely needed for me (though it makes them look extremely dorky). Some hunters and para-military use blue blockers to better spot targets, but their glasses cost 75 or 100 times more (though some of them may be impact resistant, which these are not). So yes, the HD part is B.S. but if you know what they are, they do actually perform a valid function.

It's a cache that doesn't overwrite itself or roll every x days.

Meh. You want to nitpick semantics, go ahead. But like I said: how often is the location of a cell tower going to change? You really think that X days from now the tower might have been moved somewhere else, so that you'd better flush your old data and figure out the location again?

I sure as hell hope you aren't a developer.

If you are let me know who you work for, I never want to be one of your clients.

The point of a cache is to make future searches faster, this means holding the last few records, perhaps even 100 or the number of records for x minutes/hours/days depending on the size, relevance or how the data changes. The information Apple was collecting was lasting for months. Months, I've passed through at least 30 towers today, connected to 4 WiFi networks, multiply that by months. A cache should have rolled an a week, maybe two.

Delude yourself if you want, but I'll have not part in it. This is no mere cache, the sheer size of it defeats that purpose. A cache must be small to be effective.

Whether you like it or not, it is a database.

The question is, why would Apple be keeping a database on an Iphone users movements?

someone marketed HD sunglasses around 2003:

http://consumerist.com/2009/09/hd-sunglasses-use-the-power-of-stupidity-to-increase-real-world-resolution.html

because, you know, we only saw the world in NTSC before HD, our European friends saw the world in PAL

so i'm just waiting for 3D sunglasses. because, you know, until "Avatar", the real world was 2D

Apple responded to this issue back in July of 2010. The major fuck up is that the file is not encrypted.

And the fact it's synced to another device. And the fact that they've already altered the EULA to permit them to share precise location data with third parties. http://consumerist.com/2010/06/privacy-change-apple-knows-your-phone-is-and-is-telling-people.html

... coming from a company that made it into the final four of the worst companies in America? It took a company as bad as BP to knock Comcast out of the running.

Good point.

While the maximum speed that a small fraction of one percent of our population can travel is dropping, lets look at the speeds available to the average person. More people are traveling by air every year. And while their max possible airspeed just went down, the median speed is still pretty good. High speed railways are another advance available to the general population.

And lets not forget the new speed limit coming soon to Texas.

As long as Steam doesn't enact a policy of disabling accounts based on reputation or accusations by other entities, such as the forum mentioned, that's good. However, I'm not sure we can rule that out. And Steam can be capricious: http://consumerist.com/2011/03/valve-disables-steam-account-wont-explain-why.html