The CFPB wants workers at big technology firms to report practices that could harm consumers, as part of the agency's push to oversee the use of artificial intelligence in lending and other financial markets. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced Wednesday that it has redesigned its whistleblower webpage with tech workers in mind, and plans to make it easier for tech workers to send encrypted emails to the bureau. The bureau is particularly interested in how mortgage lending algorithms are designed and used, amid concerns that they could further entrench discrimination, Erie Meyer, the CFPB's chief technologist, said in a ...

Federal regulators have vowed to investigate a growing trend in video games that analysts say could soon become a $50 billion industry but that has drawn fire from critics who compare the practice to gambling. Senior officials at the Federal Trade Commission, America's top consumer watchdog, said Tuesday that they will look more closely at loot boxes -- the bundles of digital goods offered to players, often for a fee, that contain random assortments of in-game clothing, abilities or other rewards. Asked by Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) to probe the issue at an agency oversight hearing, FTC Chairman Joseph Simons said he would commit to launching a probe. The four other commissioners who testified also indicated their support. Hassan said she was concerned that loot boxes have become endemic in the gaming industry and that by enticing players to spend ever increasing amounts of money rolling for random loot the practice showed a "close link to gambling."

The tech is pretty cool, but don't let new developments in partially self-driving cars distract you from your responsibilities behind the wheel. A Tesla that the driver said was in Autopilot mode struck a parked police vehicle in Laguna Beach, Calif. SAN FRANCISCO -- Tesla's innovative and controversial Autopilot software -- which powers the partially self-driving features of its electric cars -- is most often used for highway driving, according to the initial findings of an MIT study using volunteer owners. The research, shared at a conference in Cambridge, Mass. Wednesday, came a day after the latest crash of a Tesla using Autopilot, and as two consumer groups renewed criticism of the software's name and marketing, which they say dangerously misleads drivers.

Police announced that a woman has died from her injuries after being struck by a Uber self-driving vehicle in Arizona. Uber added the self-driving Volvos to its fleet in San Francisco late last year. SAN FRANCISCO -- An Uber self-driving car hit and killed a woman in Tempe, Ariz., Sunday night, an incident that might deliver a setback to the otherwise feverish development of autonomous transportation. The Uber car was in self-driving mode when the accident occurred, but had a safety driver at the wheel as is the norm when testing such vehicles, according to local police. Uber issued a statement saying that it was "fully cooperating with local authorities."

Google could be making Big Brother-style smart home technology to discipline your children so you don't have to. A dystopian patent filed by the company suggests smart homes of the future could monitor naughtier members of the household with cameras, microphones, motion sensors and thermal imaging. The Google Home system could use this real-time information to decide if the person in question is misbehaving and needs telling off. In another patent Google described a device that would give advice to parents for'areas of improvement' such as spending more time with their children at supper. Google could be making Big Brother-style smart home technology to discipline your children so you don't have to.

You would be forgiven for thinking that your private conversations were just that, but two leading voice assistants are listening to everything you say, a new report claims. Patent applications from Amazon and Google revealed how their Alexa and Voice Assistant powered smart speakers are'spying' on you. The study warns of an Orwellian future in which the gadgets eavesdrop on everything from confidential conversations to your toilet flushing habits. Future versions of gadgets like the Echo and Home will use this data to try and sell you products, it says. You would be forgiven for thinking that your private conversations were just that, but two leading voice assistants are listening to everything you say, a new report claims. Patent applications from Amazon and Google revealed their smart speakers are'spying' on you Google and Amazon appear most interested in using the data they get by snooping on your daily life to target advertising, Consumer Watchdog said.

Cars with no steering wheel, no pedals and nobody at all inside could be driving themselves on California roads by the end of the year, under proposed new state rules that would give a powerful boost to the fast-developing technology. For the past several years, tech companies and automakers have been testing self-driving cars on the open road in California. But regulators insisted that those vehicles have steering wheels, foot controls and human backup drivers who could take over in an emergency. On Friday, the state department of motor vehicles proposed regulations that would open the way for truly driverless cars. Under the rules, road-testing of such vehicles could begin by the end of 2017, and a limited number could become available to customers as early as 2018 – provided the federal government gives the necessary permission.

Cars with no steering wheel, no pedals and nobody at all inside could be driving themselves on California roads by the end of the year, under proposed new state rules that would give a powerful boost to the fast-developing technology. For the past several years, tech companies and automakers have been testing self-driving cars on the open road in California. But regulators insisted that those vehicles have steering wheels, foot controls and human backup drivers who could take over in an emergency. On Friday, the state Department of Motor Vehicles proposed regulations that would open the way for truly driverless cars. Under the rules, road-testing of such vehicles could begin by the end of 2017, and a limited number could become available to customers as early as 2018 -- provided the federal government gives the necessary permission.

Two self-driving cars are headed down the highway when the lead car decides to speed up to avoid being rear-ended by the second. That car, in turn, slows down to avoid hitting the first. Then a third car suddenly comes between the two, prompting the slower car to change lanes to avoid and accident. The problem: There are cars in the lanes on either side of it. What's an autonomous car to do?

SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog today called on Uber to release information about testing its robot cars in Arizona after pulling them out of San Francisco and to answer 10 questions about its vision for self-driving vehicles. In a letter to Uber CEO Travis Kalanick Consumer Watchdog's Privacy Project Director John M. Simpson wrote: "Consumer Watchdog believes you opted to pick up your toys and move because you wanted to keep important information about your robot car testing secret. We would welcome your proving our conclusion to be incorrect, by making public important information about your robot car activities. Using public highways as your laboratory carries the obligation of telling the public what you are doing." Consumer Watchdog noted that had Uber obtained a testing permit in California, the company would have been required to report any crashes of its robot cars to the Department of Motor Vehicles and to file annual disengagement reports, explaining when the robot car turned control over to the test driver and when the test driver felt it necessary to intervene.