TECH NEWS – The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has passed a law that is very good for consumers.

In September, California passed a law saying that if it is easy to sign up for a service, it should be easy to cancel. Cancellation had been more complicated, and as more consumers felt trapped, the new law requires companies to simplify the cancellation process. The FTC has announced the details, bringing the process to a federal level so that the law must be followed everywhere in the US.

The law, known as “Click to Cancel,” has kicked things into high gear, and about time too, as many companies have made the steps to cancel their services more complicated than ever. Adobe, in particular, found itself in an awkward position. “Too often, companies make people jump through endless hoops just to cancel a subscription. The FTC’s rule will end these tricks and traps, saving Americans time and money. No one should be stuck paying for a service they no longer want,” said Commission Chairwoman Lina M. Khan.

Subscriptions used to renew automatically (often with a low introductory price and then many times that price deducted from the balance), but the laws now require subscriptions to comply with four things: a notice that the subscription will continue unless it is clearly canceled; all facts and information must be transparent; the process for both subscribing and unsubscribing must be simple; and there must be explicit, informed consent. There is only one negative: consumers do not receive an annual reminder of their subscriptions, but that was in the proposal, as was the fact that companies cannot persuade consumers to subscribe, but that was also left out of the FTC bill.

Such a fair law should be introduced elsewhere, because everyone would benefit.

Source: WCCFTech, FTC