Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison contends the state’s consumer protection laws must be updated in the wake of lawsuit settlements with two major telecommunications providers, Comcast and CenturyLink. Ellison says Minnesotans have lived for 40 to 50 years under the ideology that business is self-regulating, but “it’s not. We’ve got to make sure that there is a watchdog, a regulator, somebody minding the store, a cop walking the beat, to make sure that everybody does what they’re supposed to do.”
Ellison says Minnesota has “pretty good” consumer protection laws, but he’s in constant conversation with lawmakers to make sure the state is addressing “the latest trick, the latest scam, the latest slick thing.”