Look MA, the FTC is doing something good!

Posted on Thursday, Mar 30, 2023 by Ned Bellavance

Featured in this episode of Chaos Lever

FTC Chairperson Lina Khan has been up to more shenanigans, siding with corporate interests, going easy on ISPs, and listening to lobbyist, wait… what’s that? She’s not doing any of that? She’s introducing stuff that might actually help the consumer? Seems sus. What’s her game?

My more skeptical nature notwithstanding, there is a new proposed rule out of the FTC that would require a simple cancellation mechanism for consumers in the same format as they signed up for any given service. If you signed up through an app, you can cancel through the app. Signed up through the website? There must be a form on the website to cancel. And the process to cancel cannot be more onerous than the one to sign up.

Additionally, the rule also states that if the service wants to incentivize you to stay with special offers, they must ask if you want to hear them and listen when you invariably say “No”.

Naturally the only dissenter on the panel is Republican Christine Warren, who makes some vague illusion to the Supreme Court and also how she murders kittens. I don’t know, the whole thing got pretty confusing.

The comment period will begin shortly, so if you have a moment, leave a comment about how ease of canceling is good and devouring kitty flesh is bad.