. >> the ftc afraid of tangling. >> no. of course not. of course not. and we have brought a number of cases against companies that appropriate information unfairly owe or deceptively. >> reporter: but the ftc could do somethings immediately like force companies to simplify the unreadable pages of terms and conditions so people would know what they are signing away. >> you can ask them to clare fight terms and conditions. >> well, i think that's what we will do in the upcoming report and we are thinking about do not track list. >> reporter: that do not track proposal is part of a larger series of proposals the ftc is fast track mate mage it harder for technology companies to track children and they know how important the issue is but part of the problem is the legislation on the issue is more than ten years old and that he eons in technoligical terms. abc news, washington. >>> it's scarry the information they can get on your kids. >> we are parents of young children my son can program the dvc -- dvr and get online and find his way and you have to look ov

the ftc said american tax relief often cashed the checks but never even approached the irs.y directors lived large in a beverly hills mansion and drove luxury cars. >> i was very, very angry with american tax relief. >> the fullertons have gotten half their money back after protesting and have worked out their own arrangements to repay the irs. >> it comes down to the old phrase -- if something sounds too good to be true. >> it is too good to be true. >> now, lawyers for american tax relief did not return calls from nbc news. meanwhile, the ftc is saying, look, if you owe the irs money, contact the irs, or at least hire a tax professional who is certified. and -- >> too good to be true. >> certifiable. >> once again, like the old shell game. >> yeah. >> all right. >> tibs in our chicago bureau with the glasses look. we like it. >> very hip. >> see you on the campaign trail. >>> new details today in the story about an american couple allegedly attacked by mexican pirates while jet skiing on a lake in texas along the border. david hartley was kill in that attack. his wife, tif

. >> these regulations are driven by the ftc. it is the first time the industry has heavy-hitting regulation. if you find a problem in a new contract, violations of any regulations, you want to report to the ftc and the better business bureau. >> there is a lot more disclosure. >> absolutely. they need to tell you about the terms and conditions. this industry, or this solution, it takes all long time. you need to know that. >> they cannot charge an up- front fees. >> right. you want to do your homework and find out about the company. most importantly, have full disclosure, and know what you are getting into. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> you can reach the better business bureau. do not go away. dr. kim hammond answers your pet questions when we come back. first, events going on around town. public safety is a governor's most important job. that's why governor martin o'malley has instituted new dna and fingerprinting technology that's reducing violent crime... new, stronger domestic violence and abuse legislation... and o'malley

so, in our series ""gma" gets answers," claire shipman takes a look at what's going on and why the ftcagencies and media are teaming up today to talk about it. >> reporter: these teens thought they had the internet, more or less, under control. until they started to notice their privacy being violated right in their own home. >> one of the kids actually took photos from facebook of the girls. and made it a quiz to see, can you identify who this girl is by their chest? >> reporter: a dramatic, new, common sense media poll shows that more than 90% of parents fear their children are sharing too much information online. and 75% of parents think social networks aren't protecting their privacy. >> there's no rules out there. >> reporter: and teens agree, according to the poll. >> yeah. i wouldn't want people knowing, like, where i live and stuff like that. that would kind of creep me out. >> reporter: especially when those doing the watching and following and exploiting are often the technology companies themselves. savvy sites plant cookies to get personal information about teens, even youn

do you think the ftc should have greater power? >> our legislation does that. the ftc today does not have the authority to impose mandatory requirements with regard to disclosure the way we do in our legislation and websites that collect information. it is the essence of that authority that is the primary problem we're seeking to address. as we address the problem and fully empower them to protect consumer privacy online, we are being very clear about the kinds of standards we want to apply with regard to information collection and use. it is more than one sentence bill that says they are empowered to do this. we have a clear sense of what the policy ought to be. we are delineating that and giving it enforcement authority and civil penalty authority so that it can carry out the policy where there would be given rulemaking authority to further implement our policy through appropriate legislation. >> congressman stearns mentioned that if he were to become chairman of the subcommittee, he would push for a rewrite of the 1996 telecom act. do you agree? >> there are

meanwhile the ftc, contessa, is saying if you do owe money to the irs, you should talk to ty rs or leastt a certified tax professional to work with us yo and don't just rely on television or radio ads. >> and also you should tell your wife because she can probably help you. that's the other lesson i took from that. kevin tibbles. >> as a guy, i know. it's a guy thing. >> it is a guy thing and guys should stop being so guyish and tell their wives. >> there you go. >>> a city councilman from washington state talks of his story. john lost his eye when a bear mauled him last month. he was walking his dogs outside his family's vacation home when the bear attacked. >> in a split second i saw the bear coming and she just launched right into me. we went flying down onto the road. most of what we did, i would call, was quite, frankly, wrestling. there were times when she was biting. i just vividly remember being bitten on the head and the sound that that makes as her teeth were going into my head and running along the skull. it was just a horrendous fight. >> well, his wife scared the bear away a

meanwhile the morning, the ftc is saying if you owe money to the irs, then consult the irs or hire a certified tax professional. >> kevin tibbles in chicago for us this morning. >>> coming up on a wednesday morning, a witness comes forward >>> coming up on a wednesday morning, a witness comes forward with an alleged attack on a bge's instant discounts got our homeowner to switch to energy star® cfl bulbs. these covered cfls look great and last longer- perfect for 'them hard-to-reach places. 3-way cfls really click with my style. go to participating retailers for bge's instant discounts on select cfls. learn to speak the language of energy efficiency at bgesmartenergy.com. heyhey, i go all night long and still save! >>> coming up mel gibson's exwoo opens up about their relationship. >> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am stan stovall. time to get check on the morning commute with sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. >> kind of a busy ride all of a sudden. in monkton and jarrettsville pike and manor road, watch for accident and d

a lawyer for american tax relief this morning disputes the ftc charges.said they intend to fight the allegations. >> thank you, john. >>> 6:46. the first lady of the united states leads the lives of the word's most powerful women. michelle obama is a true change maker according to forbes magazine who has given a new generation of people around the world a role model. kraft foods ceo irene rosenfeld is number 2 followed by tv star and mogul oprah winfrey. german chancellor angela merckle and secretary of state hillary clinton. >>> it is 6:46. a film festival some fantastic flying and a fall fest, f, f, f. >> anything else? >> it is all on tap for the bay area. >> liam mayclem from "eye on the bay" to tell us what's happening this hot weekend. good morning. >> it is a hot weekend, sydnie. good morning to you. good morning, folks. let me say this off the bat. a matter of size. that's the movie, this might just be the most amusing movie i have seen all year. here's the plot. there are two of the guys. two overweight israelis who are down on their luck and dow

and the ftc says the investigation is now closed. >> there is emergency officials recommend you keep a land line, however, residential rates could shoot up starting in january. >> just years ago it was unthinkable to do without a land line. but not anymore. as it is now, phone companies must get approveals from state public utilities commission to raise basic phone rates. but that ends january 1. starting next year regulateors regulations i should say expire, phone companies can raise rates to whatever they want. that includes the basic rates and lifeline rates that are set aside for low income residents. however, today, the p.u.c. 's consumer advocacy division urged the commission to keep a cap on rates beyond january 1. so far, the p.u.c. is not scheduled to take up this issue. and two biggest providers say rates go up just because the cap slifted saying competition will keep rates down. >> recession may be officially over but more folks are worried that this year about the roof over their heads. foreclosure is on the mintsdz of more americans this year than last according to a sur

now, the ftc is very concerned about these issues.e brought well over 100 cases involving privacy, spam and spy-where cases, and violations of the childrens' on-line privacy protection act. we are currently reviewing that role, which requires parental consent before intermission can be collected from children under 13. we accelerated this role by five years. we felt it was so important and we felt that technology was changing so fast, that we needed to assess the situation sooner. we will be publishing of report, probably in november, said that examines privacy broadly, including issues about how difficult it is to read -- read and understand privacy notices of that we retain the say online. as a commission, we dedicate a lot of resources and a lot fought tooth internet education initiatives -- and a lot of thought to internet education initiatives. tellingly, the common sense poll found that three-quarters of teenagers found that adults were better source of information for advice about staying safe online. children are looking to th

. -- this is the cftc and the ftc. this is the ses. i think they have been good at reaching out to us. they have the read on the derivative pieces of this. i have a lot of confidence in the regulatory process. a lot of it will depend onthe vigor with which we proceed. >> this is c-span's "newsmakers" program. our guest ischairman sheila bair of the fdic. tom braithwaite of the financial times and deborah solomon are hear as our reporters. next question. >> i just like to ask, the -- underdog-frank, the financialn -- under dodd-frank, the financial stability over sight council was created. this has you sitting aside timothy geithner, i wonder if this includes the credit union, i wonder in times of crisis how this war council will be with all these people around the table. >> right. well, not all of them are voting members. even if they were, i think, there's one lesson i learned during the crisis. people with diverse viewpoints can come together and make a decision and make it quickly. we have done it over and over again with our own pr

reporter: his electronic privacy information center has filed two complaints against facebook with the ftcptive trade practices. anthony mason, cbs news, new york. >>> this may be hard to believe but a small town in california is getting telephone service for the first time. the mountain community of iowa hill, about 58 miles northeast of sacramento, got land line service last week. a local business owner welcomed it. >> actually, that will be very nice for us because then we'll be able to take plastic. we will get a little machine so that people can do their card. >> the town's 200 residents also get by with no electricity by using solar panels, batteries and generators. >>> this morning on "the early show," tips to getting your pet into shape. i'm betty nguyen. this is the "cbs morning news." i have asthma. and when my symptoms came back i'd get this tightness in my chest. so i went back to my doctor again. we chose symbicort to help control my asthma symptoms all day and night. [ man ] symbicort improves my lung function, starting within 15 minutes. symbicort will not replace a rescue i

and i think the ftc has recognized this and targeted the industry justifiably so.host: linda sherry, thank you for spending a few minutes with us. tom in annapolis. ancaller: i started with $30,000 in debt. two years ago i tried debt management. i tried counseling. i eventually settled with every one of my creditors to shut down the accounts, drastically reduced interest rates and that have been plodding along. i am still in a situation where i may have to deal with the pay off. the one thing you have not mentioned is the fact that when you take a debt settlement reduction through one of these companies or negotiated on your own, that reduction in your debt is counted on your taxes, so then you have to pay taxes on that. i have had friends do this, and they did not realize that up front. what about putting this money in escrow when you make your monthly payments instead of -- every time i did this with an institution, they told me i would not be eligible for the program until i was delinquent. why not put that in an escrow so the company does not get an upfront fee

now, the ftc is very concerned about these issues.e brought well over 100 cases involving privacy, spam and spy-where cases, and violations of the childrens' on-line privacy protection act. we are currently reviewing that role, which requires parental consent before intermission can be collected from children under 13. we accelerated this role by five years. we felt it was so important and we felt that technology was changing so fast, that we needed to assess the situation sooner. we will be publishing of report, probably in november, said that examines privacy broadly, including issues about how difficult it is to read -- read and understand privacy notices of that we retain the say online. as a commission, we dedicate a lot of resources and a lot fought tooth internet education initiatives -- and a lot of thought to internet education initiatives. tellingly, the common sense poll found that three-quarters of teenagers found that adults were better source of information for advice about staying safe online. children are looking to th

the ftc said they never even approaed the irs.y live large in a beverly hill mansion and drove luxury cars. >> i was very, very angry with american tax relief. >> reporter: the fullertons have gotten half their money back after protesting and have worked out their o arrange. s to repay theis. >> it comes down to the old phrase, if something sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true. >> reporter: that was kevin tibbles. the fees range from $3,200 to $25,000 for the purported tax relief services. >>> a kidnapping suspect nabbed in california, thanks to the help of a good samaritan. this happened in fresno, calirnia. will an 8-year-old girl was abducted while playing outside her house monday night. statewide amber alert went out, including the description of the suspect and his vehicle. 11 hours later, a drivereard the alert, spotted the vehicle and saw a little girl's head pop up in the ndow. so he cut off the truck and forced it off the road, giving the little girl time to escape. the driverdentifiedas victor perez said

they took their claims to the ftc, the ftc investigated and realized this is a wide enough spread problem, forcing verizon to make retribution and as far as who gets the money, verizon customers are going to see a credit on october and november bills. former verizon customers are going to get a check in the mail but don't expect a big payday, the average check will be between $2, and $6. martha: starbucks, right? is this a big hit for the company? >> of course you got to worry about that, certainly with what's going on on wall street. taking a look at verizon shares ahead of the market open, the shares are down slightly but keep in mind, martha, this company made $60 billion in terms of revenue last year, so $50 million is just a little drop in the pan for them. martha: sounds like they're doing the right thing, so that's a good thing for them. shibani, thank you very much. bill: that thingon euroo on your bill, like what's that. martha: need to be diligent, look at that bill. bill: blame your husband. martha: why didn't you see it! bill: more details on this heartbreaking story along the

meanwhile the morning, the ftc is saying if you owe money to the irs, then consult the irs or hire a certified tax professional. >> kevin tibbles in chicago for us this morning. >>> coming up on a wednesd morning, a witness comes forward with an alleged att >>> coming up mel gibson's exwoo opens up about their relationship. >>> goodmorning. it's 7:26 on this wednesday, the 6th of october. i'm joe krebs. in the news, d.c. police will is have extra security on hand for the funel of 21-year-old jamal coates. he was shot and killed last week on u street. they do have a suspect for t shooting. he had been attending a funeral for another murd victim at the ti. [ female announcer ] this is wendy. wendy is a big fan of aetna mobile. because life takes wendy places. and life takes r family places. hi, mom. [ female announcer ]so kd in network doctors and pharmacies whenever or wherever she needs them direct from her mobile phone important to wendy. ♪ where to next, wendy? ♪ know more. get better. get a smarter health plan, aetna.com. just drive, we'll get there! adventure runs on dunkin', wit

. >>> verizon wireless will be issuing credits on upcoming bills after the ftc questioned the data chargesstomers of the company. verizon wireless could pay out as much as $90 million in refunds to customers who don't have data plans but accidently pressed the button on the phone and initiated data or web access. accidently. most of the 15 million customers who were affect led receive credits between 2 and 6 dollars on the upcoming bills. >>> it's a chore. many home owners dread doing this. ceiling the driveways. so if someone offered to do that dearthy work for you. you probably wealthy it over. but as abc2 news explains in this week's scam alert do your homework so you don't get rolled over in a new scam. >> reporter: it takes a lot of work to make marching rate driveway shine. >> my neighbors admire my driveway. >> reporter: but she can't take credit and use as paver she trust to do the work. >> he seals my driveway every year. and puts a nice thick coat on it. >> reporter: that was with a legitimate business but thanks to scammer somehoward county driveways are getting the once over wi

meanwhile the morning, the ftc is saying if you owe money to the irs, then consult the irs or hire a certified tax professional. >> kevin tibbles in chicago for us this morning. thanks so much. >>> coming up on a wednesday morning, a witness comes forward of an alleged attack on a couple by american pirates. we'll talk to the victim's wife. but first, this is "today" on nbc. [ bell rings ] what are you doing, friending somebody? yeah. you got time for that? you got time to earn more on your savings, online at capitalone.com. that's new school banking, baby! instead of earning squatootski... your savings will be earning three times the national average. now, let's review. capital one interestplus savings... at three times more. go to capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? are you a pisces? >>> coming up mel gibson's exwoo opens up about their relationship. >>> good morning, everybody. the time is 7:26. i'm brent cannon. we want to check in with mike and get the latest on your commute. >> we'll take you to sunol where we had an accident and big backups coming out of pleasantton the las

even if it were, the ftc, would not be up and running to do it.ility we'll flow into 2012, where there's a whole lot more money than there will be in the midterms with all kinds of groups running all kinds of ads. and if you think about presidential politics, whether it's the daisy ad from the barry goldwater campaign, when johnson ran against barry goldwater, up through dukakis, a negative ad can really define a candidate, and not to know who's paying for it or who's behind it really diminishes the ability of voters to assess that ad and understand that ad and understand the people behind that ad who are sponsoring it. >> major debate in the campaign, gentleman. appreciate your time today. we'll continue the conversation, because the debate won't end. i suspect it will carry on into the next campaign. and when we come back, we'll talk to our new 8:00 host, eliot spitzer and catholic lien parker about the president's strategy. some think it's not working. >>> but later in the program, christine o'donnell live this hour. we'll talk about that and m

now the heads of the fcc and the ftc, as well as the deputy secretary of education, unveiled a study conducted by common sense media, a nonprofit organization that focuses on children's interaction with media. this is about 55 minutes. >> we all feel this is one of the most important issues facing families in the united states, which is how to protect our privacy in this incredibly, rapidly defaulting changing digital media landscape we're living in today. privacy is a cornerstone right in our society. it is something that all of us who have grown up and gone to school and out our parents know is incredibly important our lives and in the lives of our kids. at become parents, we know it is with the extraordinary changes over the past 15 years, issues have come to the four that were never true before. we want to address those today, and we want to talk about what this means for parents and kids, for the industry, for schools across the country, and also for government leaders. across the country. at the end of the day, at common sense media, we have one very fundamental responsibility

if you, for example, go to the ftc website and look at the list of all the defense companies, they are giving practically equally to the democrats and republicans. the democrats are so homogenized and so pasteurized and they talk so often about meeting at the middle of the aisle, they are hardly any different than the republicans. >> one more question because we are running a little short on time. will keep this to 30 seconds if we could. as far as personal character, share with us -- our mothers told us to learn from our mistakes. some -- what mistakes that each of you made in your adult lives and what did you learn from them? ben mitchell? >> it is possible i may a mistake when i was asked to run for governor. i am going to be really tired tomorrow. [laughter] i have made a lot of mistakes. i think it is interesting that we are doing this personal integrity ticket and beating each other up again. i do not think we should be beating each other up over personal integrity issues. >> emily peyton? >> i made the mistake on the last debate where i did not answer the question because i want

. >> reporter: the ftc recently concluded that the -- the federal government says debt buyers are sometimessed on flimsy or even inaccurate information. i mean is that fair? >> in large part, i don't think that is what's happening. we're going to work with the court systems to make sure that we're getting them the information they need. >> reporter: all sides agree on one thing, if you get contacted by a debt collector, the worst thing you can do is ignore it. contact the collector, get documentation of what it is you allegedly owe. if you don't owe it, dispute it. if you do owe it, make some arrangement to start paying at least a little something. >> lisa myers, some horror stories. >>> coming up from getting out of debt to racking up debt. we'reng soomif some gift ideas courtesy of neiman marcus. but first these messages. if you live for performance, upgrade to castrol edge advanced synthetic oil. with eight times better wear protection than mobil 1. castrol edge. it's more than just oil. it's liquid engineering. and the life you want to live. with rheumatoid arthritis, there's the life y

if you, for example, go to the ftc website and look at the list of all the defense companies, they are giving practically equally to the democrats and republicans. the democrats are so homogenized and so pasteurized and they talk so often about meeting at the middle of the aisle, they are hardly any different than the republicans. >> one more question because we are running a little short on time. will keep this to 30 seconds if we could. as far as personal character, share with us -- our mothers told us to learn from our mistakes. some -- what mistakes that each of you made in youradult lives and what did you learn from them? ben mitchell? >> it is possible i may a mistake when i was asked to run for governor. i am going to be really tired tomorrow. [laughter] i have made a lot of mistakes. i think it is interesting that we are doing this personal integrity ticket and beating each other up again. i do not think we should be beating each other up over personal integrity issue >> emily peyton? >> i made the mistake on the last debate where i did not answer the question because i wanted