Upon revelations that Cambridge Analytica had harvested extensive psychographic information from about 50 million Facebook users, Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen demanded that Facebook Chairman Mark Zuckerberg answer the questions many Americans were asking: “How and why was their personal data exploited?” He spoke with the Connecticut Mirror about why he launched a multi-state inquiry.
consumer protection
Posted inHealth, Politics
Malloy signs pharmacy bill — and a withering P.S.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed a consumer-protection bill into law Monday, but not before penning an unusual letter reviving his criticism of how the law’s influential sponsors, the top Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate, rebuffed his insurance commissioner’s efforts to shape a bipartisan measure intended to cut the cost of prescription drugs.
Posted inPolitics
It’s Black Friday, time for a caution from your U.S. senator
WEST HARTFORD — It’s an enduring Black Friday tradition, right up there with traffic jams, Walmart brawls, cheap electronics and buy-one-get-one sales — the press conference by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., on a consumer issue. This year, it was “cyber grinches” who use bots to scoop up hot toys online.
Posted inJustice
Malloy hears from homeowners with crumbling basements
ENFIELD — The good news Wednesday night was that at least a dozen of the people waiting to question Gov. Dannel P. Malloy had minimal interest in Connecticut’s intractable budget problems. The bad news: They came to talk about their crumbling basements, a problem that may affect thousands.
Posted inEnvironment, Justice, Politics
Blumenthal keeps his consumer focus with a shot at VW
The Volkswagen scandal is the latest consumer issue seized on by Richard Blumenthal, who has made consumer protection a priority in his five years in the U.S. Senate, much as he did during his 20 years as Connecticut’s attorney general.
Posted inEnvironment, Money
House sends variable electric rate ban to Malloy
The House of Representatives voted 144 to 1 Wednesday for final passage of legislation banning electric retailers from offering variable-rate contracts to residential customers. The governor intends to sign the bill.
Posted inEnvironment
Senate votes to ban variable electric-rate contracts
The state Senate passed bipartisan legislation Wednesday night that a sponsor says could make Connecticut the first state to ban variable electric- rate contracts that consumer advocates say are routinely used to exploit residential customers.
Posted inPolitics
Malloy names Jonathan Harris for consumer protection
Jonathan Harris, a lawyer and former state senator who recently stepped down as executive director of the Connecticut Democratic Party, was named commissioner of consumer protection Tuesday by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
Posted inEnvironment, Money, Politics
Will consumer protections match the promises?
A bipartisan compromise, the product of negotiations with the much-maligned retail electric industry, has been drafted and is expected to be approved by the Senate today or Wednesday.
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
Consumer protections promised, not yet delivered in CT
Consumers’ groups delivered a reminder to legislators Monday about their high expectations for still-developing legislation that leaders promise will protect the public against bait-and-switch marketing by third-party electric suppliers.
Posted inPolitics
CT Democrats make election-year pitch to older voters
The General Assembly’s election-year session doesn’t begin until next week, but one thing already is clear: Legislators and the governor are ardently courting older voters, one of largest and most reliable elements of the electorate.
Democratic leaders Friday outlined a low-cost, high-profile legislative agenda of consumer protections and other items backed by AARP, the over-50 advocacy group that says polling shows its members comprise 40 percent of voter turnout in Connecticut.