A California court has upheld the scrawny ... [Throttling]

A California court has upheld the scrawny Netflix "throttling" settlement from 2006. That was when Netflix settled a class-action lawsuit that alleged they intentionally slowed down the rental rates of high-renting customers. The settlement only really benefited lawyers and Netflix, but it stands. [ Reuters ]

Lending Tree Says Rogue Employees Leaked Customer Info To Outside Lenders [Espionage]

Lending Tree sent out an email this week letting customers know that its customer information, including addresses and social security numbers, was accessed by outside parties. Lending Tree doesn't think any fraud or ID theft was involved—instead, several rogue employees leaked passwords to rival mortgage lenders so that they could advertise their own loans to applicants. We're glad that Lending Tree clearly explained the problem (although it wouldn't kill them to offer some free credit report monitoring just in case) and that they avoided the "taking it seriously" phrase, but what we really want to know now is, what loan companies participated in the espionage? Tell us, Lending Tree! We want to share the names of those companies with the world.

Here's their alert email, forwarded to us by a reader yesterday:

April 21, 2008
Dear LendingTree Customer:
 
We want you to know that some loan request forms our customers sent to LendingTree may have been seen by lenders without our consent. These lenders then used the forms to market their own mortgage loans to our customers. While we don't believe that the forms were used for any other purpose, we want you to know what happened and what we did to correct this situation, as well as what you can do to monitor your credit records.
 
What Happened and What We Did
 
Recently, LendingTree learned that several former employees may have helped a handful of mortgage lenders gain access to LendingTree's customer information by sharing confidential passwords with the lenders. When we learned of this situation, we quickly contacted the authorities, and LendingTree is helping with their investigation. We promptly made several system security changes. We also brought lawsuits against those involved.
 
Based on our investigation, we understand that these mortgage lenders used the passwords to access LendingTree's customer loan request forms, normally available only to LendingTree-approved lenders, to market loans to those customers. The loan request forms contained data such as name, address, email address, telephone number, Social Security number, income and employment information. We believe these lenders accessed LendingTree's loan request forms between October 2006 and early 2008.
 
What You Can Do
 
Again, we don't believe any identity theft or fraudulent financial activity resulted from this situation. However, we suggest you get a free credit report. Look for any accounts you didn't open and/or inquiries from creditors that you didn't initiate. If you see anything you don't understand, contact the credit bureau. If you see anything suspicious, you may want to file a fraud alert with the bureaus. For more information on how to do this, please refer to LendingTree's Guide to Protecting Your Credit and Identity.
 
Where to Get More Information
 
We regret any inconvenience and apologize for any unwanted mortgage calls you may have received. For more information about this situation, and for more information on what you can do, please refer to the attached Questions & Answers.
 
Sincerely,
R.L. Harris

New Dairy Law In Ohio Designed To Strangle "rBGH-free" Labeling [Labeling]

Monsanto failed to get the FDA to ban "rBGH-free" labeling nationally, and it's had mixed success at the state level. Now the company and its gang of ethics-free dairy farmers (those are the ones who use rBGH to increase profits, but want that truth kept out of the marketplace because it's unpopular with consumers) have scored a significant win in Ohio this week. Yesterday the state passed a law that forces extra, rBGH-friendly fine print on every milk label that promotes itself as "rBGH-free." The goal of the ruling: to require expensive label redesigns on competitors, and to crowd the label with unnecessary fine print in order to dilute the marketing power of the "rBGH-free" label.

The Columbus Dispatch explains some of the expected consequences of the ruling:

The Kroger Co., for example, recently made the switch to milk from cows who don't receive the added hormone, saying that it's what consumers wanted. Ben & Jerry's Homeade Inc. has done the same.
 
Both companies argued against the rule change, saying it was a solution in search of a nonexistent problem and would require expensive labeling changes that would potentially hurt their position in the marketplace.
 
"They simply did not consider the costs of designing labels, not to mention marketing strategies," said Jerry Slominski, senior vice president for legislative affairs for the International Dairy Foods Association, which represents 85 percent of the nation's milk, cheese and ice cream makers.
 
Janene Holmes, marketing assistant for the Smith Dairy Products Company, told lawmakers that the family owned company pays its farmers a premium to supply milk from cows not treated with the growth hormone. The new labeling rule will require the company to move its hormone advertisement to a less prominent place on the label, Holmes said.

"On Monday, Ohio passed a milk-labeling rule that could deny all Americans important information about how their milk was produced. Governor Strickland, and the Ohio Department of Agriculture's rule limiting hormone-free milk labels goes far beyond the Food and Drug Administration's guidance. It is clear that this rule was crafted for industrial agribusiness and not consumers. It requires the prohibitive use of a misleading disclaimer, while banning accurate claims such as 'rBGH-free' and 'artificial growth hormone-free.'
 
"In a nation where milk is sold across state lines and by national chains and distributers, labeling laws in just a few states will impact consumers nationwide. If other states follow Ohio's lead, it will be challenging for national dairy companies who do not use artificial growth hormones to comply with differing state labeling rules. Already Kroger and Wal-Mart, while they've gone rBGH-free this year, have decided not to label their milk pending the outcome of the state-by-state battles.

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