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Porn Company Labels Anti-Troll Blog A “Fanatical Internet Hate Group”

The nation’s largest source of “pay us or we’ll sue and tell everyone about the porn we say you downloaded” legal threats doesn’t like being talked about on a website for those opposed to so-called copyright trolls, and has gone so far as to describe that site’s users as a “fanatical Internet hate group.”

Malibu Media, the owner of actual porn websites (as opposed to other trolls, who merely claim to represent porn content providers), is unhappy with the blog FightCopyrightTrolls, which done its fair share of stories on Malibu and its more than 1,300 lawsuits filed in just the past year.

The folks at Ars Technica recently reported on a motion [PDF] for a protective order filed by Malibu against the unnamed operator of FCT, who goes by the name of Sophisticated Jane Doe.

“[Malibu] is the target of a fanatical Internet hate group,” reads the filing. “The hate group is comprised of BitTorrent users, anti-copyright extremists, former BitTorrent copyright defendants and a few attorneys… Members of the hate group physically threaten, defame and cyber-stalk Plaintiff as well everyone associated with Plaintiff… Their psychopathy is criminal and scary.”

Jane Doe spoke to Ars about the allegations made in the filing.

“I was a little nervous in the beginning,” admits SJD. “Then, carefully reading this stuff, I see how weak and twisted their arguments are. It won’t hold any water if they try to use it in the action against me.”

The filing points to Tweets by supposed readers of the FCT site that the Malibu owners believe are threatening and abusive.

It quotes a Tweet from the FTC Twitter account to the porn company’s owner on her birthday as stating “Birthday is a natural time to think about death . . . you will be remembered as an extortionist,” though in a screengrab included in the filing you can clearly see that an important section the Tweet is omitted [bolded for emphasis to show previously omitted words]: “Birthday is a natural time to think about death and what you leave after on Earth. You will be remembered as an extortionist.”

The filing claims that SJD incites readers to violence against the Malibu owners and “describes Plaintiff’s principals as greedy scumbags” and pedophiles and child pornographers.

SJD, whose first language is Russian, takes particular issue with that allegation, telling Ars, “Years ago, I used the word ‘underage’ one time, thinking it was a synonym for ‘young.’” He says he stopped after he realized the error.

Porn studio attacks blogger for leading a “fanatical Internet hate group” [Ars Technica]

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Teen’s Driving Lesson Goes A Bit Awry When She Crashes Into Brick Wall At Popeyes

(WLWT.com)

The very first thing most of us learned about driving a car? You don’t want to hit anything. That lesson played out in an unfortunate way for one Ohio teenager whose practice driving session wound up with her car going through the brick wall of a Popeyes Louisiana Restaurant drive-thru.

Police say the teen was with her mother when she lost control of the car and slammed into the restaurant, reports WLWT.com (warning: video autoplays).

“It looks like the whole right front tire is in my building,” the 911 caller said. “”It’s totally through the wall, that’s for sure.”

No Popeyes customers will suffer a minute without access to their food, however, as a building engineer said the restaurant is structurally safe.

As for the details surrounding the accident, police says she was driving without a license or even a learner’s permit, and reportedly was “stunned” when she saw another car and hit the gas.

Cops say it’s best to get some experience in before you just take a whirl at driving, especially in busy locations like this one.

“At the minimum, have them get a learner’s permit and get the basics, and I would not pick rush hour to teach someone to drive a vehicle that does not have any experience at all,” a police sergeant said.

No one was seriously injured, but a Popeyes employee was taken to the hospital for minor injuries and the teen’s mother suffered an ankle injury. She and her daughter are possibly facing charges connected with driving without a license.

Teen’s driving lesson ends with mother, daughter crashing into Popeyes [WLWT.com]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

GM Recalls Another Half-Million Cars For Ignition Switch Problems, But Different Ones This Time

(Paul Bica)

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: General Motors has issued a recall of a half-million of its cars because if the driver’s knee hits the keys while they’re in the ignition, the key can pop out, causing the car to lose power and potentially crash.

GM issued the recall of 511,528 2010-2014 Chevy Camaros this morning. The issue, they insist, is completely unrelated to the strikingly similar-sounding issue that plagued the Chevy Malibu and other models, leading to at least 13 deaths (if not more), a recall of over 2.6 million vehicles, and several massive internal and external investigations.

The new ignition defect is linked to three crashes resulting in four mild injuries, GM said in their statement.

The company also rushed to say that this is a proactive recall, and that the issues were discovered during the investigation related to that other big recall. “Discovering and acting on this issue quickly is an example of the new norm for product safety at GM,” Jeff Boyer, vice president of GM Global Safety, said in a statement.

Given that the other ignition switch defect was basically a twelve-year-long debacle of safety and oversight failures, one would indeed hope that the “new norms for product safety at GM” are an improvement.

GM also issued three other recalls today, for Saab 9-3 convertibles, Buick LaCrosse sedans, and Chevrolet Sonic compact cars. Those recalls are for issues related to seat belt tensioning systems, transmission turbine shafts, and door chime warning systems.

Adding today’s 580,367 recalled cars onto the list, in 2014 to date GM has issued recalls on a total of 14.4 million cars sold in the U.S.

GM Proactively Announces Four New Recalls [GM press release]

by Kate Cox via Consumerist

Stevia-Sweetened “Coca-Cola Life” Will Bring Its Silly Name To U.S. Shelves This Fall

Jose Roitberg

The race to launch a mid-calorie soda that appeals to a wide audience continues, as does the trend of giving these new drinks stupid, stupid names. Following in the footsteps of Pepsi Next and Dr. Pepper TEN, the Coke folks are reportedly bring Stevia-sweetened Coca-Cola Life stateside in the coming months.

Beverage Digest Tweeted about the news yesterday, saying that Coke would introduce the not-as-calorific drink in the U.S. after months of testing in Argentina.

AJC.com says the debut for Coca-Cola Life, which we presume won out against Coca-Cola Famine, Coca-Cola Herpes, Coca-Cola Turd, and Coca-Cola Dead Dog in a name-that-cola competition, will be in September or October. That’s about the same time as it’s set to hit stores in the UK, which apparently loves life as much as we do.

While the beverage companies have been trying to come up with no- and low-calorie options for soda fans who don’t like the saccharine “diet cola” taste, none have really made a huge impression on consumers, who are leaving for beverages that have fewer calories — like unsweetened tea and coffee, or that old classic, water.

Last year, the FDA gave the the okay for a Coca-Cola-backed sweetener with the tongue-friendly name of Rebaudioside M, or Reb M. Which supposedly improves upon previous stevia formulations by having a taste that is closer to table sugar.

And again, while on the topic of stevia, we can’t help but share this spoiler-heavy clip from Breaking Bad:

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

P.F. Chang’s Confirms Some Customer Credit Card Info Was Compromised In A Security Breach

(Mark Crawley)

Seems P.F. Chang’s is ready to pipe up, after banks reported earlier this week that the restaurant chain had possibly been hit by a breach that compromised customers’ credit card information. The company confirmed last night that while it’s not sure how many customers were affected, its data has been compromised.

It’s asking the U.S. Secret Service and a third-party vendor for help getting a handle on just how big the breach is.

It says in a statement provided to Krebs On Security, which reported the reported breach earlier this week, that it it’ll be moving to a manual system of imprinting credit cards for all restaurant guests while the situation is under investigation.

There’s also a new site for customers with questions that will provide updates as well: http://ift.tt/1lfnlVn.

That feeling you’re feeling, like this isn’t even big news? We’re with you. It is important, and it is big news, but because of the ongoing attacks we’ve been seeing in the retail landscape since the Target breach of late 2013, it almost feels like we’re getting inured to the idea of our information being at risk. And that is not okay.

Remember, remember: Always keep an eye on your credit card and banking statements and report any suspicious activity, monitor your credit report and be sure to maintain strong passwords for your online accounts. It’s much better to be safe than sorry.

Here’s the full statement from P.F. Chang’s:

On Tuesday, June 10, P.F. Chang’s learned of a security compromise that involves credit and debit card data reportedly stolen from some of our restaurants. Immediately, we initiated an investigation with the United States Secret Service and a team of third-party forensics experts to understand the nature and scope of the incident, and while the investigation is still ongoing, we have concluded that data has been compromised.

At P.F. Chang’s, the safety and security of our guests’ payment information is a top priority. Therefore, we have moved to a manual credit card imprinting system for all P.F. Chang’s China Bistro branded restaurants located in the continental United States. This ensures our guests can still use their credit and debit cards safely in our restaurants as our investigation continues.

We have also established a dedicated public website, http://ift.tt/1lfnlVn, for guests to receive updates and answers to their questions.

Because we are still in the preliminary stages of our investigation, we encourage our guests to be vigilant about checking their credit card and bank statements. Any suspected fraudulent activity should be immediately reported to their card company.

We sincerely regret the inconvenience and concern this may cause for our guests.

P.F. Chang’s Confirms Credit Card Breach [Krebs On Security]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Priceline Announces It’s Buying OpenTable For $2.6 Billion

(Plankton 4:20)

Travel booking site Priceline seems to be hungry, and it it seems it’s found exactly what it wants to nosh on — restaurant reservation site OpenTable, which books tables for users in their cities. Priceline is forking over $2.6 billion in cold, hard cash to buy the company.

Priceline will pay $103 a share for OpenTable’s shares, reports the New York Times, in what Priceline is probably betting will turn into a chance for it to grow beyond its usual fare of flights and hotels.

By adding OpenTable to its roster, Priceline can cover more of a customer’s needs when they travel: You’ve got the flight covered, the rental car booked and the hotel — so what do travelers do when they’re arrived at their destination? They go somewhere to eat, and that’s where OpenTable comes in.

Priceline says it’s been eying this little gem of a site, which claims it seats more than 15 million diners every month at 31,000 restaurants.

“For us it’s a really natural extension,” said its chief executive, Darren Huston. “A lot of what we do day to day is very similar.”

OpenTable is pretty pumped about that $2.6 billion deal as well, it sounds like.

“We couldn’t be more excited to join a group of brands leading in their space, and we look forward to the next chapter of our own journey as we continue to enhance the dining experience for our customers worldwide,” added OpenTable’s top executive, Matt Roberts.

The deal is expected to close by the end of September, at which point the OpenTable team will stay in its San Francisco headquarters to continue running the business.

Priceline to Buy OpenTable for $2.6 Billion [The New York Times]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Consumerist Friday Flickr Finds

Here are nine of the best photos that readers added to the Consumerist Flickr Pool in the last week, picked for usability in a Consumerist post or for just plain neatness.

(Corey Templeton)

(juancalop)

(David Goehring)

(Kevin Cardosi“>Kevin Cardosi)

(jayRaz)

Our Flickr Pool is the place where Consumerist readers upload photos for possible use in future Consumerist posts. Want to see your pictures on our site? Just be a registered Flickr user, go here, and click “Join Group?” up on the top right. Choose your best photos, then click “send to group” on the individual images you want to add to the pool.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Ford To Reimburse 200,000 Drivers For Another Batch Of Bad MPG Ratings

Less than a year after being slapped on the wrists for posting inaccurate MPG info on its cars, Ford could be on the hook for more than $100 million in payments to around 200,000 drivers of several additional vehicle models that were sold with overstated fuel economy ratings.

The car maker is also revising those ratings to more accurately reflect the miles per gallon customers would get.

The EPA says that Ford reported the problems with MPG estimates on several vehicles — 2013-14 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid; 2014 Ford Fiesta; 2013-14 Ford Fusion Hybrid and Fusion Energi Plug-in Hybrid; 2013-14 Ford C-Max Hybrid and C-Max Energi Plug-in Hybrid — after an internal audit turned up discrepancies. The MPG estimates for these vehicles are being revised down anywhere from 1-5 miles per gallon, with the MKZ Hybrid being the outlier at 7 MPG lower than what Ford had originally stated.

The car maker has 15 days to update its window stickers on its existing inventory of cars to reflect the lower numbers.

Owners and lessees of affected vehicles will eventually receive payments ranging from $125 to $1,050, depending on the vehicle and whether it was purchased or leased. That means the total payouts will add up to somewhere between $20 million and $200 million, though Ford isn’t providing any estimates just yet.

As Detroit News points out, these revisions now shatter Ford’s recent marketing push about having eight models that get more than 40 MPG, as the reductions cut this total to only five models that can tout that level of fuel economy.

Here is a chart from Consumer Reports showing the new MPG info, along with what CR got when it tested some of these vehicles in real-world conditions:

This is the second time in less than a year that Ford has ended up with MPG egg on its bumper.

Last year, the EPA reduced the fuel economy numbers on the C-Max following real-world testing by our colleagues at Consumer Reports that cast doubt the stated MPG on the vehicle.

In that instance, Ford paid out C-Max owners $550 each while lessees of the car got $325 each. Around 32,000 drivers were affected by that goof.

The EPA says it is investigating the cause of the continued errors in Ford MPG calculations, while the car maker says it has agreed to implement “enhanced testing procedures” under EPA oversight.

“That will help ensure consumers that similar issues won’t happen in the future,” the director of EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality tells Detroit News.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist