U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Investigating Apple and Other Tech Companies

[Robert.Walter]

Consumer financial protection bureau - that almost is an oxymoron in the US or they would have shutdown a place like Wells Farfo already, and now they’re joining the club “going after” high tech… yet the gauging cable providers for example get away with everything…

There are limitations as to what they can do. You want aWells breakup? Write your Sen/reps and tell them so.

 

[cuencap]

I concur with this.
Banks, Insurance companies, credit bureaus and other lending financial services… these groups right there know to the T or can predict close to the T customers spending habits, trigger money movements from A to B, entice them to sell/buy “financial products”, etc.
All that information that they harvest directly from the source for sure they share between each other and third parties building said “financial profiles”.

Big finance (Visa, Mastercard, banks, etc) know that info to the T and willingly and openly sell it. They must feel threatened that big tech companies can do what they do but better.

 

[Robert.Walter]

It’s a way for the government to get the foot in the door. For now, it won’t affect most people. But down the road, the government can use this data to audit you if there‘s even a hint that your finances don’t meet the government‘s expectations. It’s like my dad used to say: if you let the camel stick its nose under the tent, pretty soon the whole camel will be in the tent. The government is a very big camel.

Fact is because conservatives cut resources and funding for the IRS, they only have resources to mostly go after the small fish.

The intention is to go after the high net worth individuals who are escaping paying taxes.

The 600$ figure just makes things fair by making everybody from top to bottom income subject to the same system but excluding the smallest of accounts which are likely kids and definitely well beyond the point of diminished returns from scrutiny.

 

[FaustsHausUK]

I use Apple Pay and Apple Card. Apple treat me significantly better than any standard financial insititution ever has. Go waste your time on Bank of America, who crippled me with fees when I was financially worse off… or any of their equal terrible friends.

 

[sudo-sandwich]

According to the CFPB, tech companies have developed "new products and business models" during the ongoing global health crisis, which "present new risks to consumers and to a fair, transparent, and competitive marketplace."

As an example, the CFPB says that "Apple and Google have sought to integrate payments services into their operating systems," though there have been no changes on that front to iOS and the iOS App Store during the pandemic.

Typical to bring up covid for absolutely no reason to appear to be helping with the pandemic.

 

[sudo-sandwich]

Gonna see so many paranoid people posting here

Yep, and they're right. Add me to the list.

 

[SurferPup]

And me!

 

[Macbookprodude]

Good maybe they will all be taken down ! I want to see big tech suffer and die.

 

[miniyou64]

It’s always a knee slapper when some government agency starts an investigation to “protect“ people. Lol

 

[ksec]

Out of all the countries that are investigating Apple, US is the only one where you wont find MR comments calling Apple to pull out of the country.

MR comments calls for Apple to pull out of EU, UK, AUS, Canada, Japan, South Korea.

 

[LV426]

So, a government agency wants to find out if Apple, for example, “limits consumer choice and stifles innovation by anticompetitively excluding certain businesses” by dint of using Apple Pay / Apple Card. Fair enough. Consumers should be “protected” if that is happening, and it seems reasonable to gather data on that to make an assessment.

But does this actually happen? Can you, for example, subscribe to an adult pornography website using Apple Pay? Are there market sectors where Apple Card won’t be accepted?

 

[SurferPup]

So, a government agency wants to find out if Apple, for example, “limits consumer choice and stifles innovation by anticompetitively excluding certain businesses” by dint of using Apple Pay / Apple Card. Fair enough. Consumers should be “protected” if that is happening, and it seems reasonable to gather data on that to make an assessment.

But does this actually happen? Can you, for example, subscribe to an adult pornography website using Apple Pay? Are there market sectors where Apple Card won’t be accepted?

Dunno, sign up, give me your log in dets and I might get back to you.

 

[Wildkraut]

Hit me baby one more time!

?

/s

 

[Philip_S]

Seems more like Big Brother and CFBP want to spy more on our spending habits than anything else. It is my choice to use Apple Pay or whatever other payment source that I wish to as I know and accept whatever information they need and/or track about my purchases when I use their payment source. If I really cared I would pay cash for everything that I could. Hopefully it gets held up in the courts or better yet flat out denied and thrown out.

Companies that are legally treated as payment processors like credit cards etc. are subject to rules limiting their use of transaction data, requiring fees to be disclosed, and so on. You don’t want companies to exempt themselves from regulation by calling themselves a tech company, or being owned by one, especially when they are issuing credit.

Even if you trust Apple, do you trust Google? Remember that not everyone can afford Apple products, and It would be bad if the existing regulated oligopoly was replaced by an unregulated oligopoly.

 

[Philip_S]

T

I concur with this.
Banks, Insurance companies, credit bureaus and other lending financial services… these groups right there know to the T or can predict close to the T customers spending habits, trigger money movements from A to B, entice them to sell/buy “financial products”, etc.
All that information that they harvest directly from the source for sure they share between each other and third parties building said “financial profiles”.

they’re governed by totally inadequate laws to moderate that a bit, but the mobile OS companies aren’t even regulated that much.

 

[bobbie424242]

Apple's under attaaaack !!! Raise your pitchforks! Your favorite trillion company needs your help !

 

[jimbobb24]

The $600 thing is getting spun all over the place. It's not bad. They are not looking at every transaction you make. At the end of the year, your bank reports the total amount deposited and the total amount spent. If you say, you only made $800 dollars that year, but 128 million passed through your accounts, that might trigger an audit. They don't know that you spent all your money on putter miniatures of Darth Vader, all painted in pink.

It’s bad. It’s surveillance of a level undreamed of by a govt that cannot keep track of billions.

 

[jimbobb24]

Fact is because conservatives cut resources and funding for the IRS, they only have resources to mostly go after the small fish.

The intention is to go after the high net worth individuals who are escaping paying taxes.

The 600$ figure just makes things fair by making everybody from top to bottom income subject to the same system but excluding the smallest of accounts which are likely kids and definitely well beyond the point of diminished returns from scrutiny.

You have Stockholm syndrome for the surveillance state. I would rather criminals get away than the govt be collecting this much information on their citizens.

 

[vipergts2207]

You have Stockholm syndrome for the surveillance state. I would rather criminals get away than the govt be collecting this much information on their citizens.

Nah, I’d rather we catch tax cheats. Why should I care if the government knows how much money I spend in a year? They already know my income.

 

[scuac]

According to the CFPB, tech companies have developed "new products and business models" during the ongoing global health crisis, which "present new risks to consumers and to a fair, transparent, and competitive marketplace."

As an example, the CFPB says that "Apple and Google have sought to integrate payments services into their operating systems," though there have been no changes on that front to iOS and the iOS App Store during the pandemic.

Typical to bring up covid for absolutely no reason to appear to be helping with the pandemic.

Exactly! They are trying to paint it as if Apple came up with Apple Pay during the pandemic to take advantage of it, when it has been around for over 6 years. In fact, THEY (CFPB) are the ones taking advantage of covid by making these statements and create FUD.

 

[avgapple]

Just out of curiosity, what's stopping investigators from CFPB to acquire this data, then leave their jobs and go into private sector lol

 

[siddavis]

The $600 thing is getting spun all over the place. It's not bad. They are not looking at every transaction you make. At the end of the year, your bank reports the total amount deposited and the total amount spent. If you say, you only made $800 dollars that year, but 128 million passed through your accounts, that might trigger an audit. They don't know that you spent all your money on putter miniatures of Darth Vader, all painted in pink.

Now who's spinning.

 

[siddavis]

It’s funny you mentioned four years ago, as their power was all but completely stripped away and essentially shut down about four years ago, with people who hated the CFPB placed in charge of it.

It’s more like they are going back to make up for lost time until the next “conservative” leader completely cuts all services that actually benefit citizens.

How about stopping the constant government overreach? They act like the money citizens earn is the government's unless proven otherwise. Private property rights eroded at every turn...

 

[siddavis]

Fact is because conservatives cut resources and funding for the IRS, they only have resources to mostly go after the small fish.

The intention is to go after the high net worth individuals who are escaping paying taxes.

The 600$ figure just makes things fair by making everybody from top to bottom income subject to the same system but excluding the smallest of accounts which are likely kids and definitely well beyond the point of diminished returns from scrutiny.

The IRS had a workforce of about 76,000 and operating expenses of $12,300,000,000. Pretty sure they're OK for one of the most consequential (direct impact to the individual) bureaucracies with little oversight. Who's watching them?
Why do my private financial transactions require scrutiny?

 

[steevn]

How about stopping the constant government overreach? They act like the money citizens earn is the government's unless proven otherwise. Private property rights eroded at every turn...

That’s quite the oversimplification about what is requested and not even a correct assessment of what they are asking.

The government is not overreaching when they are asking businesses their operations about data mining and the information those businesses are gathering.

You’re missing the part where “private property rights” started with entering your credit card information on the phone, and it is more than reasonable to be concerned about what a few companies do with that information.