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The Public Newsense

E-commerce ‘'Dark Patterns'’ - An Unfair Trade Practice

Over the past few decades, the e-commerce sector has evolved significantly. Consumers are making more online purchases than ever before. To battle growing competition,  e-commerce retailers are modifying their online platforms such that it attracts customers, grabs their attention and nudges them towards completing the purchase by well designed user interfaces that influence users’ behaviour. It is not unusual for customers to add products to an e-com shopping cart, only to abandon the cart and move on to another website.

Keerthana Thangavel, Researcher
Sumaiyah Fathima, Researcher

Understanding the different charges when obtaining a new electricity connection

Electricity is such an essential part of our everyday life that we do not consider the effort, both physical and economic, by the distribution utility to supply it to us. These include, but are not limited to, the raw materials that are used to supply electricity (such as wires),the  labour needed to install meters, place underground wires, the transportation of materials needed to undertake the work etc.  These costs are therefore levied as charges by the electricity distribution company on the consumer who wants a new electricity connection to his/her premises.

Bharath Ram, Researcher

An analysis of the e-com complaints received by CAG during 2021-22

Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (CAG), for the last 37 years, has been offering a free and voluntary consumer protection service. Consumers can write in or call with their grievances, which could be against services or goods bought by them. They will receive advice and support throughout the redressal process. 

Author
Keerthana Thangavel, Researcher

Free bus for women: a hit or miss?

In May 2021, the Tamil Nadu government launched a scheme that made public city and town buses (with certain caveats) free for women. While the rides are completely free (with no restrictions on the number of trips per day or month), the scheme is applicable only on ‘white board’ buses. The white board buses are what are known as Ordinary Bus Routes and represent the most inexpensive category of service that halts at all bus stops on a given route.

Author
Divya Arvind, Researcher

CCPA's guidelines on ‘Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022’

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) on June 9th of 2022 issued guidelines aiming to further protect consumers from claims and promises from advertisements that are misleading, baseless, unjustified, unrealistic, false, etc.

Author
Keerthana Thangavel, Researcher
S Nithin Krishna, Intern

‘Castaway clothes and plastic’

A cycle and a loudspeaker accompany Ladoo as he makes his way around Chennai’s neighborhoods, gathering old clothes. He turns off his loudspeaker around certain homes. ‘They don’t like the noise’, he explains to me, as I stop him for a chat. Laddo has been in this business for twenty five years now. ‘In all this time, people have not changed’, he tells me philosophically. ‘Only my cycle and loudspeaker have’.

Author
Afroz, Researcher
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