Cable Companies Use Hidden Fees To Raise Prices 24% A Month | Ars Technica

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A Consumer Reports analysis of cable bills found that companies add $37.11 per month in fees to the average bill, raising consumers’ actual costs way above the advertised prices. The $37.11 “in fees created by the cable industry” add 24% to the average base price of $156.71 a month, Consumer Reports said. That doesn’t include another $13.28 in government-related taxes and fees, which raise prices even higher. Read full story here: Cable Companies Use Hidden Fees To Raise Prices 24% A Month | Ars Technica

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The Four Big US Carriers Want To Help You Get Rid Of Passwords | The Verge

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Last September, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon announced Project Verify, a way to log into apps without making a new account or password by instead relying on your smartphone to authenticate your identity. Think of it like the buttons you’ve likely seen that let you sign into apps and websites using your Facebook or Google account. Now, Project Verify has an official name — ZenKey — and it’s starting to roll out, albeit very slowly. Read full story here: The Four Big US Carriers Want To Help You Get Rid…

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Get In Hosers, Electrify America Is Going To Canada! | Roadshow

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Electrify America crossed the border and opened its first charging station as Electrify Canada. Most of you by now are familiar with Electrify America, aka the Volkswagen-backed charging network. It’s been not-so-quietly expanding its network of Level 2 and DC fast-charging stations across the US for a couple of years, and it was only a matter of time before it crossed our northern border. Read full story here: Get In Hosers, Electrify America Is Going To Canada! | Roadshow

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Electric-car State Fees Often Cost More Than Gas Tax, Study Shows | Roadshow

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It’s perhaps an unthought-of benefit for electric-car owners: There’s no way to pay into a state’s gasoline tax at the pump since the cars won’t take a drop of fossil fuels. Numerous states have crafted workarounds, however, as they try recoup costs to keep road budgets afloat for repairs and maintenance. Read full story here: Electric-car State Fees Often Cost More Than Gas Tax, Study Shows | Roadshow

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Think Twice Before You Hand Your Phone To Police To Show Auto Insurance, Experts Say | CBC News

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Ontario drivers should think twice about handing over their unlocked phone to a police officer to show electronic proof of insurance, privacy experts say. The province announced last week that Ontarians can now carry auto insurance information on their smartphones instead of relying on paper copies. Finance Minister Rod Phillips heralded the convenience that move will bring — but privacy watchdogs aren’t exactly doing back flips about it. Read full story here: Think Twice Before You Hand Your Phone To Police To Show Auto Insurance, Experts Say | CBC News

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19 Million Canadians Have Had Their Data Breached In Eight Months | CTV News

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An estimated 19 million Canadians have been affected by data breaches between November 2018 and June 2019, according to numbers obtained by “Attention Control with Kevin Newman,” a new podcast that launched Monday. The numbers come from 446 breaches that were reported to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC). Victims of these kinds of data breaches are vulnerable to identity theft, financial crime, even violence in some cases. Read full story here: 19 Million Canadians Have Had Their Data Breached In Eight Months | CTV News

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Petro-Canada Is Bringing Back Gas Nozzle Locking Clips | CTV News

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Gas nozzle locking clips are returning to Petro-Canada gas stations across the country after the company says they were removed nearly 20 years ago. (PumpTalk) Part of the reason for this is to prevent people from jamming coffee cups in the holders and spilling gasoline. According to a post on Petro Canada’s blog, the company is bringing the locking clips back to its gas stations across Canada, except in Quebec where they’re illegal. Read full story here: Petro-Canada Is Bringing Back Gas Nozzle Locking Clips | CTV News

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‘Tesla Killers’ Are Struggling To Live Up To Their Names | Teslarati

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Given the struggles faced by most new electric vehicle (EV) releases over the last few years, it may be time to put away the phrase ‘Tesla Killer’ in favor of a more realistic label like ‘Tesla Kind-of Competitor.’ With brands like Faraday Future and Fisker Inc. already come and (almost) gone in the same EV arena that Tesla continues to thrive in, each new entrant looks to be the next at-risk for being an ‘also-ran’ in the quest for success in the consumer market. Read full story here: ‘Tesla Killers’…

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Verizon Demands $880 From Rural Library For Just 0.44GB Of Roaming Data | Ars Technica

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A small library that lends out mobile hotspots is facing a tough budget decision because one of its borrowers accidentally ran up $880 in roaming fees, and Verizon refuses to waive or reduce the charges. The library has an “unlimited” data plan for the hotspots, but Verizon says it has to pay the $880 to cover less than half a gigabyte of data usage that happened across the border with Canada. Read full story here: Verizon Demands $880 From Rural Library For Just 0.44GB Of Roaming Data | Ars Technica

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The FBI Wants To Collect Social Media Data From Instagram, Facebook, And Twitter | Digital Trends

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The FBI is looking for a partner to collect data from your social media profiles, which could pit it against new privacy policies Facebook agreed to as part of its $5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). A request for proposal posted on Aug. 8 reveals that the FBI wants to hire a third party contractor to help it scrape to social media data “to proactively identify and reactively monitor threats to the United States and its interests.” The document was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.…

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