Broken Scales Help Airlines Profit On Fraudulent Baggage Weight Fees [Fees]

 

Before leaving home, Shawn's bags weighed 44 pounds. At Chicago, the airport scale said they weighed 44 pounds. When lifting off from Phoenix, the airport's scales said the bag weighed 52 lbs, incurring at $50 fee. When he landed in Chicago, he weighed the bags again at the check-in counter. 47.5 pounds. "Her bag had lost 4.5 pounds on a 3 1/2 hour flight,” Shawn told Elliot.org. After writing a complaint letter, Shawn received a $50 voucher from American Airlines who defended their fraudulent scale by saying they were in "full compliance with the policies for scale calibrations." So apparently the policy allows for defrauding passengers. The voucher is nice, but I would want my actual money back. And what of all the other travelers who didn't pay attention or didn't complain? Pure profit.

American Airlines offers $50 voucher after being accused of scale ’sham’ [Elliot]

(Photo:Getty)

It's Illegal To Stick Unstamped Flyers In Mailboxes, But The Post Office Doesn't Care [Junk Mail]

 

Section 1725 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code prohibits placing mailable materials like circulars and sales bills with unpaid postage in mailboxes with intent to avoid payment of postage. That means that the Chinese menus and offers for cheap lube jobs that end up in your mailbox might have been placed there illegally. One reader whose mailbox was clogged with this junk contacted the USPS to report the businesses. Her story, and the post office's ambivalence, inside.

Our reader writes:

Three years ago I bought a house in NJ and moved into the new development. In the beginning, my mailbox was constantly getting stuffed with flyers and the like offering services such as cleaning, nanny, and contractor work. Knowing that it is illegal to place these materials inside a mailbox without a stamp (see Section 1725 of Title 18 of the United States Code), I asked via the USPS website whom I should be contacting in order to get these to stop coming to me. The response I got back the following day was to forward the matter to my local Post Office. I did exactly that, mailing the offending flyer with a letter to the local post office asking them to enforce Section 1725 of Title 18 of the United States Code. The amount of flyers received in my mailbox has since decreased, but everytime I got one in my mailbox, I would mail it with a letter again asking them to enforce Section 1725 of Title 18.
Several weeks ago, I got a knock on the door and it was a postal worker who had indicated that they have received the letters I had been sending them all along and to please stop. She admitted that they call the business in violation of Section 1725 and ask them not to do it again, but do nothing to really enforce it. It puzzles me why they even bother to establish this and layout penalties if no one is going to enforce them.

It puzzles us too. The USPS's website (PDF) states: "Except under 2.11 [dealing with newspaper boxes attached to mailboxes], the receptacles described in 1.1 may be used only for matter bearing postage. Other than as permitted by 2.10 or 2.11, no part of a mail receptacle may be used to deliver any matter not bearing postage, including items or matter placed upon, supported by, attached to, hung from, or inserted into a mail receptacle." Note that "door slots and non lockable bins or troughs used with apartment house mailboxes" are excluded from this prohibition, and can be loaded up with as many flyers as they can hold. Although our reader was told to contact her local post office, there's actually a specific form for these complaints on the U.S. Postal Inspection website. You can also try contacting the business directly and informing them that they are breaking the law.

Customer Mail Receptacles [USPS]
File a Complaint [United States Postal Inspection Service] (PDF)
Postage Unpaid On Deposited Mail Matter [United States Code]
(Photo:Jenna Belle)

Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Class-Action Ban Issue

 

by Deepak Gupta

A cutting-edge issue in the world of consumer law--and one that this blog has discussed many times before (see, e.g., here, here, and here)--is the extent to which corporations can enforce class-action bans placed in consumer adhesion contracts. Class-action bans are clauses that purport to strip consumers of the right to seek any classwide relief, whether through class-action litigation or classwide arbitration.

The question matters because class actions are often the only thing stopping companies like cell phone or cable providers from getting away with practices that cheat large numbers of consumers out of small amounts of money. As Judge Posner has put it, "[t]he realistic alternative to a class action is not 17 million individual suits, but zero individual suits, as only a lunatic or a fanatic sues for $30."

This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court rebuffed an attempt by one of corporate America's leading Supreme Court litigators, Carter Phillips, to get the Court to weigh in on the battle over class-action bans. Public Citizen filed the brief in opposition, and we're thrilled at the result. The Court's decision not to hear the issue is a good sign that, at least as far as class-action bans are concerned, the Supreme Court is going to allow the law to continue to develop in a way that vindicates the rights of consumers and employees to access the courts. (You can read an Associated Press story about the case here.)

As we explain in our brief, the state and federal courts have increasingly been holding that class-action bans in arbitration clauses are unconscionable under state contract law. These courts have also uniformly rejected industry arguments that the Federal Arbitration Act--which demands neutrality as to arbitration--preempts state law on this issue. The reason for that is pretty simple: The Federal Arbitration Act expressly saves generally-applicable state contract law of inconceivability from preemption.

In T-Mobile v. Laster, 07-976, the petition denied today, T-Mobile asked the Court to take a case from the Ninth Circuit, arguing that a recent Third Circuit decision (Gay v. Creditinform) created a conflict among the lower courts. T-Mobile also filed several other petitions on the same issue, asking the Court to hold all of those cases for Laster. Today, the Court denied Laster and two of the tag-along cases--T-Mobile v. Gatton and T-Mobile v. Ford.

You can read Public Citizen's brief in opposition to the petition here, and the petition and the rest of the briefs here.

Microsoft: we listen to broadcasters, not customers

 

Danny sez, "A Microsoft spokesperson told CNet today that 'Microsoft included technologies in Windows based on rules set forth by the (Federal Communications Commission). As part of these regulations, Windows Media Center fully adheres to the flags used by broadcasters and content owners to determine how their content is distributed and consumed.' Do they really mean that they're obeying the broadcast flag that courts and Congress rejected as being executive overreach by the FCC? The ones they have no obligation to follow?"

This is about the defunct "Broadcast Flag," an illegal proposal to have the FCC regulate devices (PCs, set-top boxes, etc) so that they'll only include approved technologies that the entertainment industry likes. The Second Circuit ruled that the FCC couldn't make these rules. But Microsoft's devices are following the rules anyway, refusing to allow you to record your favorite TV shows with your Windows PC if the broadcaster has marked them as "no record." Link (Thanks, Danny!)

See also: Microsoft and NBC enforce the nonexistent Broadcast Flag, WTF?!

Reason why I love my TIVO... and not about to switch to anything else. 

Microsoft and NBC enforce the nonexistent Broadcast Flag, WTF?

Microsoft and NBC enforce the nonexistent Broadcast Flag, WTF?!

Posted by Cory Doctorow, May 16, 2008 7:51 PM | permalink

Danny O'Brien from the Electronic Frontier Foundation sez,

Vista users are complaining that Media Center refuses to let them record broadcast digital TV shows on NBC.

Here's a screenshot of what they're seeing.

After we won the fight to stop the Broadcast Flag three years ago, over-the-air digital TV shouldn't have any copy controls -- and if it did, Microsoft shouldn't have to obey them.

Is it a bug in Vista's DRM systems? Did Microsoft and NBC cut a deal? What other receivers out there are going to obey the broadcasters instead of their owners?

Link (Thanks, Danny!)

SMS data rate is 4x more expensive than data from the Hubble09

You know how the mobile carriers charge you a couple cents to SMS a few characters' worth of text over their network? When you add it up, you're paying about a zillion bucks a meg for that traffic -- seriously! A space scientist from Leicester has calculated that SMS data is four times more expensive than receiving data from the Hubble space telescope.

He worked out the cost of obtaining a megabyte of data from Hubble – and compared that with the 5p cost of sending a text.

He said: “The bottom line is texting is at least 4 times more expensive than transmitting data from Hubble, and is likely to be substantially more than that.

“The maximum size for a text message is 160 characters, which takes 140 bytes because there are only 7 bits per character in the text messaging system, and we assume the average price for a text message is 5p. There are 1,048,576 bytes in a megabyte, so that's 1 million/140 = 7490 text messages to transmit one megabyte. At 5p each, that's £374.49 per MB - or about 4.4 times more expensive than the ‘most pessimistic’ estimate for Hubble Space Telescope transmission costs.”

Dr Bannister said it had been difficult to work out exactly how much Hubble data transmission costs. So he contacted NASA who gave him a firm figure of £8.85 per megabyte (MB) for the transmission of data from HST to the Earth.

Link (via Consumerist)

I did my little math on the side.. I know that Verizon charges 0.20 per txt message if you don't have a txt message plan, and T-Mobile charges 0.15 per txt if you don't have a txt message package.

Under T-Mobile for every Megabyte that customer txt and dont have a a txt messaging plan, T-Mobile makes about $1123.50

Under Verizon for every Megabyte that customers txt and don't have a txt messaging plan, Verizon makes about $1498.00

Microsoft tries to put a ceiling on ultra-low-cost PC power

Microsoft is aggressively pushing a new low-cost version of its operating system intended for use with "ultra low cost PCs," competing with Linux on machines like the Eee and the One Laptop Per Child XO. However, Microsoft isn't willing to sell the low-cost license to any ULPC -- rather, the company has set out onerous conditions governing the maximum spec of these machines: 10.2" screens and no more than 80GB of storage, and no touch screens allowed.

Microsoft is trying to distort the market for cheap, tiny laptops by setting up artificial incentives to manufacturers to limit the power and capability of their lowest-cost units -- even if a vendor can figure out how to put more storage, a bigger screen, or a touchscreen into its machines, Microsoft doesn't want it there, and they'll punish any vendor that tries by refusing to license XP Home Edition on the same preferential terms that lower-spec machines get.

The key term here ls "Ultra Low Cost" -- note that this is not the same as "Ultra Low Spec. The primary market for these super-cheap machines are kids and poor people, and they'll be the collateral damage in Microsoft's crusade. If Microsoft wants to set up a licensing program for low cost machines, then cost should be the limiting factor, not power.

But this isn't entirely bad news: at least this latest move provides incentive to vendors to continue to bundle GNU/Linux, not Windows, on their machines. After all, Linux isn't just cheap, it's free, and no one's going to slap you around for figuring out how to deliver more power and a better machine. Link

Emergency Telecoms Team Forced to Wait in Thailand by Burmese Junta [Burma]

Emergency communications kits destined to help the clear-up of the Burmese cyclone have been held up by the Asian country's military junta. A five-man team from NGO Telecoms Sans Frontieres has been waiting all week for its entry visas from the turds powers that be of the brutal regime. And, until the visas are issued, over 175 pounds of vital equipment will stay right where it is, in a Thai warehouse.

As well as printers, PCs, scanners, cellphones and laptops, the kits contain a large VSAT satellite dish, two satellite phones, including a mobile device, routers and access points, wireless relays, GPS, power packs that include car batteries and solar panels. Primary connection is provided by an AsBGan satellite link, with a Gan M4 giving back-up.

The gear will be used by both aid workers and any locals affected by the disaster who need to get in touch with friends or family. However, despite continuing diplomatic efforts, the generals are refusing to allow foreign aid workers into the country to help the estimated 1.5 million Burmese caught up in the tragedy. "There is a lot of frustration among aid workers," says a TSF spokesman. "We want to help the people of Burma but the authorities aren't letting us do our job." [BBC News and NY Times]

House passes bill that will let the RIAA take away your home for downloading music

Glenn sez,

I was just alerted that the House of Reps has passed HR 4279, with the lovely name, PRO-IP (Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008). Like the doublespeak PATRIOT Act and Peacekeeper missiles, PRO-IP puts local law enforcement in a position to demand the forfeiture in criminal proceedings of stuff used to violate copyright. Which means that instead of the RIAA simply trying to collect fines, they can also incite local authorities to collect all the computers and related gear that was used to pirate.

This isn't a judgment on my part as to whether piracy is good or bad (I think copyright deserves to be protected through reasonable methods), but I am always horrified when civil enforcement morphs into criminal enforcement. Conservatives and liberals should be up in arms alike that local prosecutors and/or police could intervene as they desire in essentially a private affair arranged by the RIAA, and permanently seize thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in private property in addition to any civil penalties.

If this bill is passed in its present form by the Senate and signed, that means there's no more pro forma RIAA lawsuit payoffs, because if you wind up settling with the RIAA, you could still lose all your stuff in addition to any fee you paid them.

This is particularly irksome in light of the MSN Music shutdown, about which the EFF has written a strong and powerful letter. It is increasingly likely a normal person could have purchased music legally from an online site, burned it to an ordinary audio CD, and in the right set of circumstances be branded a pirate because the original "granting" authority no longer exists to prove that the consumer was a legitimate purchasers.

The more the law is constructed to sweep in folks who are absolutely observant of it, the more we need broader protections.

PDF Link (Thanks, Glenn!)

Dear Virgin Media: if Net Neutrality is "bollocks" then you can get stuffed

Last month, Neil Berkett (the new CEO of Virgin Media, one of my ISPs in London) announced that Network Neutrality was "bollocks" and that Internet services would have to pay for premium connections or be relegated to the "Internet bus-lane." In other words, rather than giving me the sites I asked for as fast as they could, Virgin would henceforth deliver the sites that paid bribes faster than other sites (Virgin tried to spin this by saying that the sites that paid would get priority traffic -- but how do you prioritize one service's packets without de-prioritizing other sites' packets?).

I said then that I would resign my Virgin account over this, and now that I'm back in London, I've been able to look up my account number and send off the following letter (they have 28 days to respond, and I'll post their reply here too):

Complaints,
Virgin Media,
PO Box 333,
Matrix Court,
Swansea SA7 9ZJ

May 7, 2008

To Whom it May Concern:

We are writing to you today to cancel our Virgin Broadband account, having read the remarks of your new CEO, Neil Berkett, in which he described the idea of Net Neutrality as "bollocks," promising that any Internet service that failed to pay off Virgin to deliver its packets would be put into the "Internet bus lane."

We contracted with Virgin Broadband to provide us with access to the Internet, on the implicit understanding that Virgin would supply us with the packets we requested at the highest speeds it could manage. We did not sign up to be used as tokens in a tawdry game in which Virgin demands back-handers from the world's websites in exchange for access to us. We want to access the Internet, not be traded to another inmate for two packs of cigarettes.

We believe that this is a material violation of our agreement with Virgin, that Virgin has substantially altered the nature of the service we are paying for. Therefore in accordance with your own terms and conditions, para, J4, "If we and/or Virgin Media Payments break the terms and conditions of this agreement, you're free to end this agreement" we would ask you to terminate my contract without any penalties or fees.

Sincerely,

Link See also: Virgin Media CEO: Net neutrality is "bollocks," promises to breach agreement with customers

Democratic Senator puts ISPs on notice: "think twice" before screwing up Net Neutrality

Democratic Senator Joe Widen has put ISPs on notice that he's going to do everything he can to preserve Net Neutrality, telling ISPs to "think twice" before they start to corrupt the connections they provide to their customers.

Wyden delivered his ultimatum at a Computer & Communications Industry Association conference in DC, where he cast the entire network neutrality debate in terms of a legislative compromise. Years ago, Congress began protecting ISPs from the twin threats of regulation and taxation; in return, ISPs were expected to deliver an unimpeded connection to the Internet. A move away from a neutral 'Net would undermine the "very philosophical underpinnings of what we fought for for the last 15 years," according to Wyden. If that happens, he sees no reason for Congress to continue sheltering ISPs.

Link

California: Veggie Oil-Powered “Grease Car” Owners Are Scofflaws

Californians who converted their cars to run on vegetable oil pride themselves for saving gas money, as well as promoting alternative or "greener" fuels. Unfortunately, they are also learning that no good deeds go unpunished, especially by the gub'ment:

Dave Eck, a Half Moon Bay mechanic, had attracted a media spotlight with his fleet of vehicles fueled by used fryer grease from a local chowder house. So when Sacramento called, he figured officials wanted advice on promoting alternative fuels.

Not at all. The government rang to notify Eck that he was a tax cheat. He was scolded for failing to get a "diesel fuel supplier's license," reporting quarterly how many gallons of grease he burns, and paying a tax on each gallon. […] The state offered Eck only a potentially large fine — and not just for failing to pay taxes. He can also get in trouble for carting kitchen grease away from eateries without a license from the state Meat and Poultry Inspection Branch.

Or for not having at least $1 million in liability insurance, in case he spills some of the stuff. Or for not getting permission from the state Air Resources Board to burn fat in the first place.

The regulations are so burdensome that even Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, trying to set an example for Californians by driving a Hummer that burns cooking oil he buys at Costco, had not complied.

Link

(Photo: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

$50k Porn-Pilfering Lawsuits Opens With Geek Squad Employee Confession [Geek Squad]

The Star Tribune reports a woman is suing Best Buy for $50,000 after the Best Buy/Geek Squad repair service stole her naked photos from her computer, shared them with other Geek Squad agents, and even copied them onto the hard drives of other customers (this is hardly the first time Geek Squad has been caught stealing porn from customer's computers). William E. Giffels admitted in a written statement that he copied Kaylee Hall's nude photos from her computer onto his personal flash drive. On this drive, he also kept the most up-to-date version of the Geek Squad diagnostic tools and told other agents to copy from it. Then other Geek Squad made CD copies of the drive and installed the tools, along with Kaylee's photos, onto other customers' computers in the Traverse City, Michigan area. Inside, Giffels's written confession...

Once again, the lesson is to keep a separate hard drive just for stuff you don't want people in the repair shop to see.

Geek Squad: A matter of trust [Star Tribune]

Statements + Lawsuit (PDF)

Grocery Shrink Ray Hits Edy's Ice Cream [Grocery Shrink Ray]

 

Attention Ice Cream Lovers: The evil entity wielding the grocery shrink ray has pointed its malevolent device at Edy's Ice Cream. The standard jug of ice cream is now 1.5 quarts, down from an already-shrunken 1.75. The price, naturally, is exactly the same.

Will the grocery shrink ray ever stop? Or will our generation tell our wide-eyed grandchildren stories of the halcyon days of half gallon ice cream containers? Will they even believe us?

(Photo:Kris)

PREVIOUSLY: Breyers Ice Cream Shrinks To 1.5 Quarts

Insiders: Circuit City's In-Home TV Calibration Is A Total Scam [Ripoffs]

 

According to a Circuit City employee, their in-home TV calibration service is a complete ripoff. Basically they give the employees glasses like you might get at a 3D movie and they're then supposed adjust the balance and contrast and brightness with the remote control. When he complained to his manager, his boss said to just, "make believe you're changing some settings. When you're done, tell them how much better their TV looks. Besides, once you perform the calibration, they can't get a refund." Will we soon see Circuit City in-home calibration kits being hawked in the back pages of Boy's Life? Full letter, inside...

I've worked for Circuit City's Firedog for the last 11 months. Since the day I started performing in-home installations I knew that the company was not truly concerned with the service their customer received, but only with the money the customer has in his/her wallet. The point: Purchasing a TV calibration from Circuit City Firedog is a complete waste of money.I knew a lot about installation and repair when I started Firedog, but one of the things I had never done was calibrate a TV. When I checked my appointments for the day and saw that I had to go perform a calibration, I approached one of the managers and said "How do we perform calibrations? Do we have a calibration unit or something?" The manager replied "Come over here and I'll show you." So I followed him to the TV department and he handed me an old Circuit City Advantage TV Care Kit. (These are the pamphlets/packets we USED TO hand out to customers when they purchase an extended warranty.) He pulls out a DVD and "calibration glasses" which were nothing more than those cardboard 3-D glasses you get at the movie theater except there's blue film for both eyes instead of red for one and blue for the other. He says "Put this DVD in their DVD player and follow the instructions." At this point I was bothered by the fact that I had to go to someone's house to perform a task that I'm not even trained to do. Unlike these "bonus-driven" managers, I actually have a conscience. I told the manager that I didn't feel comfortable going to do the job and that he should reschedule it to another installer. His response was "It's not hard, just go to their house, pop in the DVD, look at the test patterns with the glasses, and make believe you're changing some settings. When you're done, tell them how much better their TV looks. Besides, once you perform the calibration, they can't get a refund."At this point I straight out refused to do that, and my manager threatened my job. I was told that if I didn't go to the customer's house and perform a service that I did not know how to perform, that I would be terminated. For fear of losing my job, I went to the customer's home to calibrate his TV. I put in the disc and skipped to the calibration "test patterns". While the patterns were displayed I looked through the glorified 3-D glasses I was given, and made small adjustments to the brightness, tint, sharpness, etc. By the time I was done, I noticed that the levels I ended up with were no different from the levels that were set from the factory. After I was done, the TV looked no better than when I had started, but in following my managers instructions I told the customer how much of a difference I saw in the TV. I left the house after about 10 minutes, and had a horrible feeling in my stomach.Since then I've been arguing with store management about calibrations, and how we should stop selling this service unless we use an actual professional calibration unit. I always get the same answer though, and end up going to the customer's home and playing with their remote control for a few minutes, and then lie to them about how much better I made their TV look. I'm writing this because I can't refuse to perform the job once you pay for it...hopefully you'll read this and think twice before you purchase the service.

PREVIOUSLY: Circuit City Will Access A Secret Panel In Your TV For $104.74

Burger King Exec Hides Behind Daughter's Email Account To Trash Talk Opponents [Living Wages]

 

The next time Burger King VP Stephen Grover goes online to spread FUD about labor advocates, he should probably leave his daughter out of it. For one thing, she's a horrible accomplice and will spill her guts to the first reporter who calls. For another thing, this forthrightness clearly makes her too ethical to smear a group that's trying to bring pay for tomato pickers up to living wage levels.

Here's the quick back story: tomato pickers in the U.S. are paid ridiculously low wages and treated badly, and some people are talking to fast food companies about increasing their pay by a penny per pound in order to help solve the problem. There was an agreement on the penny pay increase—McDonald's and Taco Bell were okay with it—but that fell through after Burger King joined up with some Florida tomato growers to claim that the low-wage claims were false and the workers were treated just fine.

It's gotten so bad that earlier this month, farm workers and their advocates testified before the Senate that claims of $12.50/hour wages were false, and that the industry has a history of worker abuse:

"Itmay not sound like much, but for the tomato pickers, it means the difference between poverty and decent wages," Kennedy said. He invoked Edward R. Murrow's landmark 1960 documentary "Harvest of Shame," which detailed the grim plight of migrant workers in Immokalee and elsewhere.
"Too little has changed over the years," he said. The fact that there's a need for hearings today shows "how far we have to go to provide genuine fairness and justice for this vulnerable workforce," he said.
"Do the math with me," Durbin said in his opening statement. Workers would have to fill and empty a 32-pound bucket of tomatoes, each worth some 45 cents, about every two minutes all day long to earn the $12.50, he said.
"Is that possible?" he asked. "I don't think it is."
Sanders also decried conditions in Immokalee, pointing out that when he visited in January, a 17-count indictment was handed down for enslavement of tomato workers.
"In America, in the year 2008, it is not acceptable that workers producing the food we eat should live in these conditions," he said.
Workers face seven-day work weeks, physical and psychological abuse, and debt bondage to their employers, said Lucas Benitez, co-founder of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.

To give Burger King an edge in the discussions, Stephen Grover took it upon himself to spread disinformation to the media, going so far as to hide behind his daughter's email address. Classy work there, Grover. Where do you think you work, Whole Foods?

At one point, Burger King Vice President Stephen Grover told reporters he was concerned the coalition was pocketing the extra money. After several independent groups that verified the agreements dismissed the allegations, Burger King officials stopped repeating them.
But the allegations were repeated on blog posts, according to a story published Monday in The News-Press in Fort Myers. The paper traced those posts to the online user name of Grover's daughter. The girl, who is in middle school, later confirmed to the paper her father had used her online screen name.
In a post still available Monday on YouTube, an individual with the girl's screen name wrote: "The CIW is an attack organization lining the leaders pockets by attacking restaurant companies. They make up issues and collect money from dupes that believe their story...."
Messages left for Grover at work and at home by The Associated Press on Monday were not immediately returned.

Our favorite part of this is how Grover's wife acts so offended that her daughter has been dragged into the story. Look to your husband, Susan! Don't blame the press because the girl's father decided to use her as a human shield!

His wife, Susan Grover, confirmed the screen name was their daughter's but said she didn't know if her husband had used it. She accused the News-Press reporter of not identifying herself as a journalist to their daughter.
Reporter Amy Bennett Williams said she did identify herself and told the girl she was taking notes. She also said she left all of her contact information, which the girl's mother later used to call and complain.

Incontrast to Susan Grover's complaint, we'd like to give a shout out to the reporter, Amy Bennett Williams, who has been following the larger story since the beginning. She's the main reason any of this has reached the general public in the first place.
"Farm worker advocates to present Burger King with petitions" [Fort Myers News-Press]
"D.C. takes up tomato pickers' plight" [Fort Myers News-Press]
RELATED
"The Harvest of Shame" — report from U.S. senator Bernie Sanders [OpEdNews.com]
(Photo:Getty)

EFF to Ballmer: You owe MSN Music customers an apology, a refund and more

 

EFF has published an open letter to Steve Ballmer upbraiding him for switching off the MSN Music DRM server and nuking the music collections of every customer trusting enough to buy music, laying out a suite of things that Microsoft needs to do to make amends:

In an open letter sent to Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer today, EFF outlines five steps Microsoft must take to make things right for MSN Music customers -- including a issuing a public apology, providing refunds or replacement music files, and launching a substantial publicity campaign to make sure all customers know their options.

"MSN Music customers trusted Microsoft when it said that this was a safe way to buy music, and that trust has been betrayed," said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry. "If Microsoft is prepared to treat MSN Music customers like this, is there any reason to suppose that future customers won't get the same treatment?"

Link (Thanks, Rebecca!)

Don't Reuse That USPS Priority Box, It's Illegal [Post Office]

 

7 News in Denver reports that a Colorado man has been officially warned that reusing a United States Postal Service "Priority Mail" cardboard box is a violation of federal law. We're not even talking about mail fraud but simply reusing them for other types of shipping. Could reusing these boxes actually be a federal crime? Find out more about this outlaw...

Like many others, Gary Adler reuses these boxes after receiving them or sometimes just finds them near the dumpster. Typically, he turns the box inside out to so that it's brown on the outside, then uses the box as a normal shipping box. However, the postal service says this is against postal regulations and if he does it again he could be charged with misuse of postal property. Nicole Reiter of the USPS said, "Our Priority Mail and Express Mail boxes are, bottom line, supposed to be used for that service. That is what they are intended for." She also claims this regulation is actually helping the customer, "enforcing the no-recycling rule would keep postal rates low for everyone."
We believe that a box is a box and if it's clearly marked then why should it matter if it's an "ex" priority mail box? Given the unholy volume of junk mail with which the USPS turns a profit, it's no wonder that the postal service shows so little concern for the environment.
Reusing Cardboard Postal Boxes Illegal [7 News] (Thanks to James for sending this in!)
(Photo: 7 News)