The shady tax refund industry skims onerous junk fees from low-income returns and shares personal taxpayer data in the process.
digital privacy
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Federal Highway Safety Regulator Torpedoes Massachusetts Right-to-Repair Legislation
The federal regulator cites concerns over hacking, but that argument is an industry pretext.
Posted inHealth and Social Policy
Can Digital Credentials Boost Enrollment in Social Welfare Programs?
A new study says yes, but barriers will persist.
Posted inEducation in America
The Companies AI Might Replace Aren’t Exactly Good
A review of Chegg, an online education tutor that’s threatened by ChatGPT, suggests that a bigger problem than AI is what we allow businesses to get away with.
Posted inTAP
The Global Race to the Bottom
Today on TAP: Will the Biden administration help Big Tech undermine consumer regulation by the EU and Asian nations?
Posted inLaw and Justice
The Half-Operational Digital Immigration Office
Want to apply for asylum? The government has an extremely janky app for that.
Posted inHealth and Social Policy
Big Retail Surveils Food Stamp User Data
SNAP beneficiaries can now shop online. Payday lenders are hoping to advertise to them.
Posted inTAP
Attacking the ‘You Are the Product’ Economy
Today on TAP: The FTC takes action against GoodRx for sharing personal health data with advertisers.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The Growing Movement to End the Surveillance Economy
A new coalition has formed against digital platforms’ dangerous business model of collecting voluminous user data and using it to serve up ads.
Posted inWorking in America
Remote Controlled Workers
The pandemic has allowed companies to expand an old practice of spying on workers. That’s a problem for their privacy and their power.