Details of President-elect Obama’s stimulus package are not known, but its general focus on creating jobs is coming increasingly clear. He recently characterized the package in part as: “…a two-year, nationwide effort to jump-start job creation in America.” It has been reported that the president-elect has directed his economic team “to come up with an [...]

IT Consumers Need Fuller Disclosure:
Privacy, Security, Labeling and Online Safety
 
Consumers can make rational choices only when they are given full and accurate information about their options.  Indeed, insufficient, misleading, or otherwise incomplete information is a prime cause of both market and government failure.  Consumers pay, and pay dearly, when they are not given sufficient information [...]

The Lack of Industry Standards Leads Consumers to Overspend
$6 Billion for Home Computer Printers and Printer Ink
A major study released by the Institute found that consumers were being lured into buying inexpensive printers, only later to pay substantially more for ink. In a recent ConsumerGram, we concluded that giving all consumers more information on the [...]

Washington, DC, November 5, 2008 – After the announcement today that Google will no longer pursue a partnership with Yahoo, Steve Pociask, president of the American Consumer Institute issued the following statement:
“The announcement by Google that they would abandon their deal with Yahoo, after the Department of Justice informed them they would seek to block [...]

With Google’s Dominance in Online Search and Advertising, Deal Raises Serious Concerns for Consumers
 
Washington, DC, October 20, 2008 — As the Department of Justice moves closer to deciding whether to take action to block the partnership between Google and Yahoo, or impose conditions on the deal, the American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen Research (ACI) [...]

Our last ConsumerGram analyzed the hidden telephone fees that consumers pay as a result of an outdated system of regulated payments between telephone companies.  We concluded then that these payments represent subsidies that hurt consumers, are inefficient, and are not sustainable in the face of increasing competition.  Moreover, the subsidy scheme works to discourage investment [...]

October 14, 2008
 
Dear Chairman Martin and Commissioners:
On behalf of the American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen Research (ACI), I am writing to urge you to place the interests of consumers nationwide ahead of parochial, and too often vague, unidentifiable, or inconsistent local government interests in matters related to timely deployment of wireless facilities.  ACI is [...]

Identity theft, Viruses, Privacy and Spam are Top Worries
 
 
WASHINGTON, DC, September 29, 2008 – Internet consumers are growing increasingly concerned about online threats such as viruses, spam, and identity theft, according to a survey by the American Consumer Institute’s Center for Citizen Research (ACI).  Consumers also report a considerable worry that their privacy might be [...]