ConsumersRights

"In a stunning reversal, the European Commission is once again poised to undermine the privacy of citizens across Europe in the ongoing eIDAS reform process. After promising to close a dangerous loophole in the eIDAS implementing acts, the Commission has yielded to powerful industry lobbyists and reintroduced an optional regime for “relying party registration certificates.” This dramatic backslide threatens the core principle of the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet project: namely, giving users across the EU secure digital identities under reliable and uniform protections."

https://epicenter.works/en/content/eu-commission-undermines-eidas-protections-again

"Since the Trump administration moved to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last month, the bureau has dropped nine lawsuits that it had brought on behalf of consumers.

The actions effectively freed major financial firms like Capital One and the mortgage giant Rocket Homes from the threat of consequences for their alleged significant wrongdoing, shocking consumer advocates and raising questions about the future of America’s consumer watchdog. For their part, when the cases were dropped, the companies lauded the decisions, with a bank spokesperson welcoming the dismissal of the case, “which we strongly disputed,” and Rocket Homes calling the suit an “empty claim.”

But the administration’s new hands-off approach to enforcement at the CFPB extends far beyond those public lawsuits. Behind the scenes, dozens of ongoing investigations into alleged corporate malfeasance are now frozen at the agency, potentially denying accountability and financial relief for untold numbers of consumers, a ProPublica investigation has found.

Under a stop-work order issued by the agency’s new leaders, CFPB investigators have been unable to press forward on probes into companies whose products and services are used by tens of millions of Americans, including Carvana, the online used-car retailer; Mr. Cooper, one of the country’s largest mortgage servicers; and CareCredit, a leader in medical credit cards, according to multiple people with knowledge of the matters."

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-cfpb-investigation-capital-one-rocket-meta-carvana-greenlight

"Nowadays, more and more banks set their interest rates automatically, and without any human intervention. But even the smallest inaccuracies can cost consumers thousands of additional euros. While EU law allows the use of such an automatic system in certain circumstances, companies must follow strict rules to protect people’s fundamental right to privacy. Banks, for example, would need to provide their customers with “meaningful information about the logic involved” in calculating their personal interest rate. But many banks don’t seem to care. Contrary to EU law, Swedbank (one of the largest banks in Sweden) rejected a Swedish citizen’s access request by claiming that the calculation was a “trade secret”. noyb has now filed a complaint with the Swedish Data Protection Authority."

https://noyb.eu/en/swedbank-refuses-transparency-automatic-interest-calculation

"Tracking and profiling for advertising purposes present significant risks to consumers and society. This is demonstrated by a report commissioned by the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv). The advertising industry’s practice of categorising and influencing individuals based on their preferences, behaviours and vulnerabilities leads to manipulation, discrimination and a loss of trust. vzbv calls on the European Commission to ban tracking and profiling for advertising purposes and ensure the protection of digital fundamental rights.

“Every click on the internet is tracked because it supposedly reveals something about us: our preferences, desires and interests. The uncontrolled data collection by the advertising industry poses great risks to consumers and society,” says Michaela Schröder, Head of Consumer Policy at vzbv. “Consumers are powerless against the practices of the advertising industry. Existing laws are not sufficient. A ban on tracking and profiling is the only way to ensure meaningful consumer protection,” Schröder states."

https://www.vzbv.de/en/personalised-advertising-overdue-regulation