• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, March 13, 2025

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday announced her support for a bill that would broaden the state's consumer protection law by outlawing unfair and abusive business practices.

If passed, the Fostering Affordability and Integrity through Reasonable Business Practices (FAIR Business Practices Act), sponsored by state Senator Leroy Comrie and Assemblymember Micah Lasher, could give state officials new authority to tackle a range of “scams,” James said.

New York's current consumer protection law only prohibits deceptive acts and practices.

The proposed law could make it easier for state officials to investigate a host of activity -- including data breaches and certain predatory lending practices, James said. She also said the law could enable state officials to protect consumers from recurring cancellations that are difficult to cancel.

Former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, who supports the bill, suggested it could also empower New York officials to crack down on data brokers and companies that use “illegal dark patterns.”

Khan elaborated that the proposed law would give New York officials the kinds of “tools” that the FTC relied on “to take on opaque data brokers that quietly track and harvest some of people's most sensitive data -- including what medicines someone is taking or what websites they're visiting online.”

She added that those “tools” also enabled the FTC “to take on illegal dark patterns -- when firms design their websites or apps in ways that manipulate you into signing up for a product, or making payments that you dind't really agree to.”

Last year, the FTC passed “click to cancel” regulations that aim to make it easier for people to terminate recurring subscriptions to newspapers, gyms, retailers and other businesses.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau and other business groups are challenging the rules in court, and it's not yet clear whether they will be upheld at the national level. The regulations were passed by a 3-2 vote, with both Republicans on the commission, including current chair Andrew Ferguson, voting no.