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Advocates say consumers would lose control over unwanted calls

Consumer advocates warn FCC proposal would gut key robocall protections
Rule changes would erase company-specific do-not-call lists and opt-out tools
Groups say move would make it harder for consumers and small businesses to stop intrusive calls

A coalition of national consumer organizations is urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to abandon plans that would roll back key safeguards against unwanted robocalls. In a letter to the agency, the groups warned that the proposal would strip consumers and small business owners of two core protections under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

The FCC is considering repealing rules that require companies to maintain internal do-not-call listsrecords of people who have specifically asked not to be contactedand to provide an automated opt-out option in all prerecorded robocalls. The consumer coalition said both rules are essential for giving individuals a direct way to stop unwanted marketing calls.

Consumers would face 'unstoppable telemarketing robocalls'

Instead of removing effective protection against robocalls, the FCC should address the increasing number of unwanted and illegal robocalls plaguing telephone subscribers, said Patrick Crotty, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC). Consumers and small business owners should never be subjected to unstoppable telemarketing and other robocalls.

If the company-specific do-not-call requirement is scrapped, consumers who arent on the National Do Not Call Registry would have no recourse to stop telemarketers. Even those who are on the national list would lose the right to block calls from businesses theyve patronized within the past 18 monthsan exemption that advocates say could lead to months of relentless calls.

Simply buying something from a business should not subject consumers to 18 months of unstoppable telemarketing robocalls, the groups wrote.

Opt-out removal seen as a threat to small businesses

Advocates also objected to the FCCs plan to remove the requirement that prerecorded calls include an automated opt-out mechanism. Without that, they said, both consumers and small business owners would find it harder to stop intrusive marketing calls that disrupt daily operations.

Deleting the opt-out rule will make it more difficult for consumers and small businesses to stop calls that disrupt their lives and impact their livelihood, the coalition said.

Groups say FCC proposal undermines congressional mandate

Margot Saunders, another senior attorney at NCLC, said the FCCs proposal falls woefully short of its legal duty to curb unwanted robocalls. The FCC is obligated by Congress, and the American people, to reduce unwanted robocalls and telemarketing, she said. Instead of helping, the FCCs proposal will eradicate the best method for telephone service subscribers to tell robocallers that their calls must stop.

The letter was sent ahead of the FCCs planned October Open Commission meeting, where the proposals are expected to be considered.

What you can do if robocalls wont stop

1. Use the National Do Not Call Registry
Register your number at donotcall.gov or by calling 1-888-382-1222. Telemarketers must stop calling registered numbers within 31 days, though and political calls are often exempt.

2. Revoke permission directly
If youve done business with a company, you can tell themverbally or in writingto stop calling. Keep a record of the request, including date and time.

3. Use your carriers blocking tools
Most wireless carriers offer free or low-cost services to block suspected spam calls. Check your providers website or app settings under call protection or spam filter.

4. Dont engage with robocallers
Pressing buttons or responding can confirm your number is active and invite more calls. Hang up immediately if a recording answers.

5. Report persistent offenders
File a complaint with the FCC at fcc.gov/complaints or the Federal Trade Commission at reportfraud.ftc.gov.

6. Consider a call-blocking app
Third-party apps such as Hiya, RoboKiller, and YouMail can identify and filter suspected robocalls, though results vary.

Affordable toys, trusted brands, and convenient shopping options make holiday gifting easier than ever

• Grab big-brand toys for under $20 and save an extra 25 % when you spend $75+ on toys in one transaction.

• Discover exclusive toy finds, trusted educational brands, gift cards and imaginative playsets all at budget-friendly prices.

• Shop conveniently in store or online (including delivery options) at DollarGeneral and make your holiday shopping easier and more affordable.

This holiday season, Dollar General is turning up the value with its Jolly Good Deals campaign designed to help families celebrate without breaking the bank.

With most toys priced at $20 or less, and an extra 25 % off when you spend $75 or more on toys in a single purchase, its all about stretching your gift budget while still picking up the fun, recognized brands that kids love. Shopping is made easier too, whether you visit a store or shop online for delivery.

At Dollar General, we know how important it is for families to find joy during the holidays, Steve OBrien, vice president, division merchandise manager of toys, stationery, lawn and garden, sundries and hardware, said in a news release.

Our Jolly Good Deals and wide selection of toys from trusted brands to exclusive finds make it easy for customers to check off every wish list while staying within budget. Whether shopping in-store or online, were proud to be a convenient and affordable destination for holiday gifting.

What the Deals Look Like

Heres what youll find when you browse Dollar Generals holiday offerings:

• Toys for less. Look for favorite characters from Disneys Stitch, Bluey, and the Princess lineup, plus Marvels Spidey & Friends, Star Wars figures, and Barbie all offered at wallet-friendly prices.

• Trusted educational brands. Learning toys from Fisher-Price (like Little People, Laugh & Learn, Thomas & Friends), Melissa & Doug (with DG exclusive items like a magnetic fishing set, stacking towers, emergency vehicles) and vtech (LeapFrog electronic-learning toys) are part of the mix.

• Big names, big fun. Youll also spot promotions on brands like Pokmon, Hot Wheels, LEGO, Baby Alive, Play-Doh, and Squishmallows.

• Stocking stuffers and gift cards. Slim down last-minute gifting stress with items like gift cards for Apple, Meta Quest, Pokmon, Fortnite, Nintendo and Xbox perfect for the spontaneous or tough-to-shop-for people on your list.

• Convenient shopping. Whether youre dropping into a store, shopping online at dollargeneral.com, or getting things delivered through DG Delivery, Uber Eats, or DoorDash, Dollar General has made it easy to fit holiday shopping around your schedule.

A new online tool helps users compare real-world costs of brand-name and compounded GLP-1 medications no spreadsheets required

• A new interactive budget tool from Levity helps users see whether GLP-1 medications fit into their real-world finances.

• Personalized results compare out-of-pocket costs for brand-name and compounded GLP-1 options in just minutes.

• Easy, no-spreadsheet experience gives users financial clarity before speaking with a health care provider.

With demand for GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy at an all-time high, one big question remains for many consumers: Can I actually afford it?

To help answer that, medical communications company Levity has launched an interactive budget builder that helps users see how different GLP-1 options might fit their real-world finances.

By entering a few basic details such as income, rent, food, and transportation costs users receive a personalized snapshot of whether brand-name or compounded versions of GLP-1 medications align with their monthly budget.

Dr. Zoe Lees, Medical Writer at Levity, spoke with ConsumerAffairs to share the ins and outs of this new resource.

Taking the guesswork out of GLP-1s

Dr. Lees explained that the GLP-1 Budget Calculator was created to solve a common problem: helping people figure out what they will actually pay for medications like Ozempic, Wegovy, or Mounjaro.

With the mix of insurance coverage, deductibles, copays, and out-of-pocket costs, most patients struggle to understand the true cost. Levity addressed this gap by creating an easy-to-navigate instrument that can help clarify these costs, providing people with a personalized snapshot of whether GLP-1 medications could actually fit into their lives. The goal was to make starting treatment less scary and easier on the wallet.

How does it work?

Dr. Lees broke down exactly how consumers can get started with the budget calculator.

After entering simple information like age, monthly income, basic living costs, and insurance coverage information, the device works out how much money is left for health spending. This budget is then compared with average list costs for brand-name GLP-1s and less expensive compounded medications, including Compounded Liraglutide with B12.

The results are shown in easy to understand visuals, so users can quickly see what they can afford. They can also click "Learn More" to get more details on costs and treatments that fit their budget, helping them make informed medical choices.

Anyone can use the calculator for free on the Levity site, Dr. Lees said. In just a few minutes, you can enter your information and see an easy snapshot of what you can afford. It's a simple and accessible tool for anyone exploring GLP-1 therapy, whether insured or paying out of pocket.

The calculator is designed to meet a growing need, helping people compare brand-name or compounded treatment options as they consider their choices.

Smart tips to snag deals while prices climb

• New tariffs (25% upholstered; 10% wood) kicked in Oct. 14, nudging up select IKEA prices (e.g., UPPLAND now $899).
• Only ~15% of IKEAs U.S. stock is made here (kitchen cabinets are the exception), so sofas/chairs/wood sets get hit first.
• Quick savings: raid the As-Is section Sun/Mon or weekday mornings; use Click & Collect to skip delivery fees.

IKEA says the era of across-the-board price cuts just hit a speed bump. With new tariffs kicking inabout 25% on upholstered furniture and 10% on wood/timbersome big-ticket price tags are climbing.

The main factor for this jump is because only 15% of what IKEA sells in the U.S. is actually made here. That leaves them exposed. Interestingly, the most notable exception is kitchen cabinets which IKEA sources here in the U.S.

The company says affordability remains the goal, but in the near term, its forced to pass along part of the cost to shoppers while it works to build more U.S. supply.

Executives say theyll keep pushing affordability, but with only ~15% of U.S. inventory made domestically and the 25% upholstered/10% wood tariffs that started Tuesday (Oct. 14)and are set to ratchet higher next yearselect categories (sofas, chairs, wood-heavy sets) will feel it first.

A couple examples include the UPPLAND sofa which jumped to $899 (from $849) and a 3-piece oak bedroom set that recently went to $1,049 (from $959).

IKEAs answer is more U.S. sourcing (cabinets already are) and sharper promotions, while big-box peers like Walmart and Target have also warned of targeted price bumps tied to the same policy backdrop.

5 best ways to beat the price hikes

Raid the As-Is section (timed right). This is where IKEA sells assembled returned items, as well as discontinued models and floor displays. This section serves as a great hedge against tariffs as you can expect to save 30-60% off the original price.

Hit it weekday mornings and late Sunday/Monday after returns and floor swaps. Also, if you notice a box on the floor is scuffed or ripped, dont be afraid to ask if it can be marked down to an As-Is price.

Steer into the less-tariffed stuff. Need a kitchen? Youll want to focus on SEKTION (U.S.-sourced cabinets/parts) as those wont be hit by tariffs. If your budgets tight, scale back on upgrades (where tariffs bite hardest) and instead spend on storage, shelving, and cabinet components.

Buy modular with replaceable covers. Pick sofas and chairs with removable slipcovers so you can refresh the look later for a fraction of a new couch. Third-party cover makers can undercut IKEAs price and stretch the life of the frame.

Work IKEA Family + Last Chance. Join for free, add target items to your app list, and wait for member-only promos to pop on the exact line/color you want. Check the sites Last Chance section where youll find end-of-run colors and sizes at a big discount.

Cut out delivery fees and avoid do-over costs. Use Click & Collect, which is IKEAs version of curbside pickup, and skip delivery fees altogether. Grab free replacement hardware at the returns/hardware desk before buying new. And always measure twice and buy once to avoid return trips altogether.

Many major websites, including Amazon, went dark

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• A widespread Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025, knocked dozens of major sites and apps offline worldwide, from Amazon and Prime Video to Snapchat, Roblox, and financial platforms.

• AWS said the incident centered on its US East (Northern Virginia) region, with core services showing significant signs of recovery by early morning U.S. time.

• The disruption reignited concerns about the worlds dependence on a handful of cloud providers as ripple effects hit banks, telecoms, airlines, and government portals.

A major outage at Amazon Web Services (AWS) early Monday spilled across the internet, temporarily breaking access to Amazons own storefront and Prime Video, along with widely used apps including Snapchat, Signal, Roblox, Fortnite, Zoom, and Slack.

Impact spilled into finance (Coinbase, Robinhood, Venmo), transportation and telecom (major U.S. carriers; some airline systems), and connected-home tools such as Alexa and Ring.

AWS status communications and outside monitoring pointed to problems concentrated in the companys U.S. East Coast hub, commonly known as US-EAST-1 in Northern Virginia. The Guardian reported DynamoDB, AWSs managed NoSQL database, was among services experiencing degraded performance, a pattern that can ripple across any customer application relying on it.

How the outage unfolded

Reports began rolling in around the start of the U.K. workday (about 8 a.m. BST), with spikes in error rates and latency noted by AWS and third-party trackers. By 5:27 a.m. ET AWS said it was observing significant signs of recovery, and by shortly after 6:00 a.m. ET most affected services were reporting improvementthough some customers continued working through backlogs.

The number of impacted services spanned consumer, enterprise, and public-sector platforms. Games including Fortnite and Roblox, social and messaging apps like Snapchat and Signal, and Amazons own Alexa and Prime Video were among the most visible outages.

Financial services, major U.K. institutions (HMRC), and even market-data providers saw disruption, underscoring AWSs central role in the digital economy.

Why this matters

Cybersecurity and internet-governance experts emphasized that Mondays incident, while apparently an IT failure rather than an attack, highlights systemic risk from concentration in a few hyperscale clouds.

When a core database or identity service hiccups in a dominant region, the blast radius can leap continents and sectors within minutes. Calls for diversified architectures, multi-region resilience, and contingency plans are likely to intensify following this event.

Mondays outage is one of the broadest internet disruptions since the 2024 CrowdStrike incident that crippled systems worldwide. It will add pressure on cloud customers and regulators alike to stress-test failover strategies, decouple critical functions where feasible, and improve transparency around dependencies many end users never see until everything stops.

"Incidents like this show how much of our daily life now depends on a few big tech providers. When one of them has a problem, it can bring down internet access for millions. The problem is centralisation," saidRobJardin, chief digital officer atcybersecurityexpertsNymVPN,"Outages of this scaleexpose our over-reliance on centralized infrastructures. The internet was originally designed to be decentralised and resilient, yet today so much of our online ecosystem is concentrated in a small number of cloud regions. When one of those regions experiences a fault, the impact is immediate and widespread.

The same centralization of internet service provisions in private hands is what enables governments to command internet shutdowns for political reasons, blocking access to information for entire countries. And for ordinary internet users, it means vulnerable points of failure for hackers, data leaks, and impacting technical breakdowns like we are seeing today," Jardin said in an email to ConsumerAffairs.

Financial toll

The financial toll of the widespread outage is huge, with damage estimates hovering around $75 million per hour. Tenscope, a system design agency, provided this breakdown of the estimated hourly losses:

* Amazon: $72,831,050 per hour
* Snapchat: $611,986 per hour
* Zoom: $532,580 per hour
* Roblox: $411,187 per hour
* Fortnite: $399,543 per hour
* Canva: $342,466 per hour
* Slack: $194,064 per hour
* Reddit: $148,402 per hour

"These financial losses are staggering, but they're only half the story," said Jovan Babovic, co-founder of Tenscope. "From a user experience perspective, an outage is the ultimate trust-killer. It instantly erodes all the goodwill your brand, design, and marketing have worked to build."

"Users who hit a dead page don't just patiently wait," Babovic explains. "They get frustrated and often turn to competitors. This isn't just an infrastructure failure; it's a user experience failure. It shows that resilience planning, designing for what happens when things go wrong, matters just as much as getting the interface right when everything works."

The financial estimates provided in this analysis were calculated by Tenscope based on last year's publicly available revenue data for the affected companies, divided by 8,760 to determine hourly revenue loss during the AWS outage.