Anti-Bureaucracy Measure Runs Into Bureaucracy

Federal Trade Commission issued a rule called “click to cancel” with that goal in mind.

The rule was challenged by just about every industry that targets potential customers with subscriptions.

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals put a stop to it, by ruling that if the FTC wanted to write a rule stopping people from having to go to the gym in person.

The Eighth Circuit threw out the FTC 's click-to-cancel rule that required a preliminary analysis.

David Gergen : The industries at issue had more than five years to issue comments, participate in hearings, offer alternatives, and make their position known.

Gergen says the rule should have been issued with a cost-benefit analysis showing the benefits to consumers to be seven times greater than even the highest assessment of the costs.

In the short term, the FTC could simply reissue the rule, and take the arduous steps to finalize it.

But in the longer term, if you care about government working in the interests of the public, the Administrative Procedure Act has to be a target.

We need click-to-cancel, only, in this case, for government.