The New York City Council proposed a bill that would require food delivery services to give customer information to restaurants with no restriction on its use, retention, or resale. ACI’s Director Kris Pusok sent a letter to the NYC Council today explaining why protecting consumer information should be paramount, and that the proposal would simply be […]
Consumer Tips / Health
Real Clear Policy: Empowering States Won’t Help Consumers
While advocates of the State Venue Enforcement Act claim it will ensure fairness, they fail to consider how the bill will empower attorneys general to weaponize antitrust laws to satisfy partisan desires and force big tech platforms into expensive lawsuits that will hamper innovation and potentially force them to charge more for goods and services. […]
ACI Submits Testimony on Massachusetts Legislation That Would Raise Consumer Prices for the Financial Benefit of Dealerships
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure, Bill Hearing, An Act further regulating business practices between motor vehicle dealers, manufacturers, and distributors – S239 Testimony of Krisztina Pusok, Ph.D., Director, American Consumer Institute, Washington, D.C. Chairperson and Members of the Committee, on behalf of the American Consumer Institute (ACI), I […]
Town Hall: Federal Government Needs to Act to Protect Consumers’ Data
Increasingly, state legislatures have been considering bills that seek to enhance protection of consumers’ data. These actions are filling the void left by the federal government, as currently there is no comprehensive federal data privacy law. Instead, data privacy is governed by industry specific legislation such as the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. […]
The FTC Has Given Up on Consumers
It is not often that federal agencies make front-page news. Yet, that is what happened last week when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), now led by big-tech skeptic Lina Kahn, voted 3-2 along party lines to rescind a 2015 Statement of Enforcement Principles Regarding “Unfair Methods of Competition.” The 2015 statement committed the FTC’s enforcement decisions to be […]
New Executive Order Is a Mixed Bag for Consumers
On June 7th, President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order designed to promote competition in the American economy. In total, the Executive Order “includes 72 initiatives” that the White House claims will “tackle some of the most pressing competition problems across our economy.” These competition problems, the White House claims, have led to declines in […]
The Hill: Dangerous Hand Sanitizers Need Immediate FDA Attention
Responding to pandemic panic, consumers rushed to stores to arm themselves with hand sanitizing products. This soaring demand prompted the FDA to lower standards for the production of alcohol-based hand sanitizer products, a move that has subsequently resulted in a list of over 200 hand sanitizer products deemed dangerous for consumer health. With trusted brands back on store […]
Letter to the FDA: Remove Unsafe Hand Sanitizers From the Market
Dr. Theresa Michele: The American Consumer Institute (ACI) was founded with the mission to promote consumer welfare by improving the understanding and impact that public policies and regulations have on consumers in a free market. It is with this mission in mind that we are writing to you today to inform you of a serious […]
ACI Joins Coalition Letter in Support of Biosimilar Competition
Today, ACI joined over two dozen groups in sending a letter to Congress in support of legislation that would increase competition for biologic drugs as a means to lower drug prices for patients. On behalf of millions of patients, providers, and taxpayers, we strongly support promoting the use of affordable and safe biosimilars across the […]
Prospects of A Federal Data Privacy Law – with Cameron Kerry
The U.S. currently has no comprehensive national law governing data collection and privacy, and while experts in Washington have been calling for federal data privacy legislation for a while now, we’ve seen very little movement on this issue in Congress. In the absence of federal regulation, more states are advancing their own data privacy bills. In […]