54th Annual Consumer Assembly
May 6 & 7, 2020

Wednesday, May 6

1:30pm ET

Welcome & Introduction

Jack Gillis, Executive Director
Consumer Federation of America

1:30pm – 2:00pm ET

Keynote: Protecting America’s Food Safety and Security During the Crisis

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
United States House of Representatives

2:00pm – 3:00pm ET

Turbulent Skies

It’s no secret that consumers have a long list of complaints about air travel, from the lack of transparent pricing to family-unfriendly seating practices. And that was before the COVID-19 pandemic left some travelers stranded and others struggling to obtain a refund. Panelists will discuss whether airline passengers need stronger rights and, if so, how that would best be achieved.

Moderator

Barbara Peterson, Aviation Correspondent, Conde Nast Traveler
Contributor, The Wall Street Journal

Panelists

Senator Richard Blumenthal
United States Senate

Charles Leocha, President
Travelers United

Kevin Mitchell, Chairman
Business Travel Coalition

3:00pm – 3:30pm ET

Keynote: Protecting Consumers in a Health and Economic Crisis

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
United States Senate

Thursday, May 7

1:30pm ET

Welcome & Introduction

Jack Gillis, Executive Director
Consumer Federation of America

1:30pm – 2:00pm ET

Keynote: Stepping in and Protecting the Health, Safety, and Welfare of Consumers and the Environment When the Federal Government Fails To

Attorney General Xavier Becerra
Office of the Attorney General for the State of California

2:00pm – 3:00pm ET

Weaponizing Behavioral Psychology in the Cyber Era

For millions of Americans staying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, the internet is our lifeline for shopping, entertainment, and communications. But it comes with a dark side, in the form of so-called “dark patterns” – the behavioral science-based practices some online platforms use to manipulate us. Our panelists will discuss how online platforms use dark patterns, what we can do to protect ourselves, and what the policy response should be.

Moderator

Dan Egan, Managing Director of Behavioral Finance and Investing
Betterment

Panelists

Lena Belogolova, Founding Partner (View PowerPoint)
Intellichanges, Inc.

Arunesh Mathur, Graduate Student
Princeton University
Author, Dark Patterns at Scale: Findings from a Crawl of 11K Shopping Websites

Gro Mette Moen, Acting Head of Digital Services (View PowerPoint)
Norwegian Consumer Council

3:00pm – 3:30pm ET

Keynote: Rethinking Solutions to Consumer Challenges for a Post-COVID19 Future

Attorney General Karl Racine
Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia

Speaker Bios