Conn. native Ralph Nader remains a voice for consumers, justice

Ralph Nader at a 2008 Presidential campaign event in Waterbury. Ralph Nader at a 2008 Presidential campaign event in Waterbury. Photo: George Ruhe / Associated Press Photo: George Ruhe / Associated Press Image 1 of / 24 Caption Close Conn. native Ralph Nader remains a voice for consumers, justice 1 / 24 Back to Gallery

Today’s self-driving cars are likely the equivalent of Corvairs of yesteryear, according to Winsted native and consumer advocate Ralph Nader .

The self-driving vehicles “are totally vulnerable to hacking. Auto dealers and manufacturers are nefarious,” for “making their databases private,” he said. “They don’t share” information on safety issues.

The alleged lack of oversight that Nader notes harkens back to the book he wrote in 1965, called “Unsafe at Any Speed,” which focused on the safety and design Chevrolet Corvair. In it, he wrote that “manufacturers of the time put style ahead of safety in the design of their cars.”

Nader’s consumer advocacy for driver’s safety led the way for the adoption of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act in 1966.

Now, “There is a measure of arrogance of algorithms,” Nader said, in believing that software systems will safely drive cars.

“Hacking is a driverless car industry’s nightmare and American motorists can see why. They like to remain in control and not have their engine stop, accelerate or be turned in disastrous directions by remote interventions,” Nader wrote on his website, nader.org.

Nader is not alone in his concern: Ars Technica, an online publisher, recently wrote that Waymo, a spinoff from a Google project, is “poised to launch driverless service with minimal federal oversight.”

“Waymo has chosen to put safety drivers behind the wheel of its cars for the commercial rollout,” Ars Technica wrote. “That suggests Waymo still has doubts about whether its technology is ready for fully driverless operation”

Remaining a raider

Nader’s continuing outspoken stance on consumer safety issues has earned the 84-year-old the title of “the nation's nag.” Whether nagging or cajoling, supporters note that his tireless advocacy continues to shift awareness and mobilize generations of citizen action groups. The Harvard Law School graduate and one-time presidential candidate was named one of the “100 Most Influential Figures in American History,” by The Atlantic in 2006.

The public advocates organized by Nader came to be known as Nader’s Raiders. He continues to encourage activism and remains outspoken about regulatory, consumer, environmental, constitutional and political issues.

“The blasphemy of today is the triumph of tomorrow,” Nader said during a fall book tour for one of his two books published this year.

His book tour for the August release of “To the Ramparts” included a stop at the Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C. In his presentation, Nader said that many of the health and safety laws that were changed through citizen initiatives, such as banning cigarette smoking in public places, were successful with “less than 1,000 people... who were public health advocates.”

During the talk he expressed concerns about the power of corporations over society, social media, use of military force, manipulation of consent in contractual situations, among many others. After expressing his concern about the results of U.S. military interventions and delegation of soveriegn power, that, in fact, the constitution “starts with ‘we the people’ it doesn’t start with ‘we the Congress,’ it doesn’t start with ‘we the the corporations,’ it doesn’t start with ‘we the Pentagon.’”

He encouraged audience members to get involved.

“If we don’t have time for democracy we don’t have time for ourselves...,” he said.

He said he continues to hear from people about their grievances and loss of loved ones due to preventale problems. “They are not just statistics,” he said. He noted there is nothing special about him and others like him, other than the “thirst for justice.”

Members of the original Raiders were interviewed in the 2006 film “An Uneasonable Man,” which aired on PBS. Robert Fellmeth, now the Price Professor of Public Interest Law at the University of San Diego, was one of the original members who volunteered to champion Nader’s advocacy.

In 1968, Fellmeth was assigned by Nader to research workings of the Federal Trade Commission. Felmeth said in the PBS interview that “ we tried to figure out what it (the FTC) was doing... and looked at it kind of from the outside, at these deceptive ads going on.”

That summer, Fellmeth and two other graduate students, recruited by Nader, wrote what became known as “The Nader Report on the Federal Trade Commission.”

In a 1969 review of the report in the New York Times it was noted that in less than a year, the information in the report had “substantial impact for stimulating proposals for reform.”

Another original Raider was David Zwick, who went on to found the Clean Water Action organization. In Zwick’s February obituary in the Washington Post , Nader said “If you drink water today, you are feeling the effects of David Zwick.”

Nader’s second book of the year, “How the Rats Re-Formed the Congress,” was published in October. It contains detailed instructions on how to “become a professional “ratwatcher.” Topics include “Coalition Building, Interest, Enthusiasm, Novelty, Consistency and Online Advocacy.”

Part of his instructions include using “email and social media in a number of ways to mobilize potential activists,”

Interestingly, his advice to others is one Nader declines to utilize. He said he doesn’t use the internet, have an email account, or store credit files online, to protect his privacy.

Nader’s staff, however, does maintain a website and sends to subscribers links to his blogs and weekly columns, which are published in the Register Citizen and other Hearst Connecticut Media newspapers. On his website, he maintsains, “I still type on an Underwood typewriter, not a computer. Moreover, I still read print newspapers and keep files of clippings from them to glance through when I’m thinking of past events.”

Supporters, or detractors, who would like to hear Nader voice his opinion, can listen online to his “Ralph Nader’s Radio Hour.” The weekly program is also broadcast on WPKN in Bridgeport at 89.5 FM at 6 p.m. on Sundays or on WESU in Middletown at 88.1 FM on Fridays at 9 a.m.

In a promotional message about his radio show on WPKN, Nader notes that the station is in Connecticut, “my home state.”

He still visits his home state, specifically Winsted, where Nader is so well known, Town Manager Robert Geiger said “The town is so used to seeing Ralph,” he isn’t stared at by the locals.

Despite spending quite a bit of time in Washington, D.C., the native son’s fondness for the town is clear. Nader chose to build his American Museum of Tort Law in Winsted in 2015. Housed in the former Northwest Community Bank (also formerly Winsted Savings Bank) at 654 Main St., the classical facade reflects the quiet fortitude of a lasting landmark.

The museum is the only one of its kind in the United States. It was founded, according to its website, “to educate, inform and inspire Americans... Tort law is the law of wrongful injuries.. and environmental disasters,” such as the famous lawsuit that was depicted in the “Erin Brockovich” film.

Asked why he built the museum in Winsted, rather in the nation’s capital, Nader simply said, “it’s my hometown.” He added, “I would also have had to add a number of zeroes to the cost.”

When they visit, Geiger usually heads over to meet with Nader at the Office of the Community Lawyer, at 97 Main St. The organization, supported by Nader, provides resources for residents for a number of legal issues. Nader’s personal attorney, Charlene LaVoie, directs the organization.

“One of his biggest concerns is to maintain newspapers,” Geiger said. “He believes small newspapers are vital.” The closing of of the Winsted Journal, disturbed him, Geiger said.

“He’s very tuned in intellectually,” Geiger added.

Richard L. Newman, executive director of the American Museum of Tort Law, said of Nader, “I’m a great admirer of the work he’s done as a consumer advocate.”

“He is high energy and creative and brilliant,” Newman said. “He has never given up the fight to protect people’s rights.”

That important voice

Being tuned in leads Nader to take on some of the country’s most vexing issues. One is the breakdown of cybersecurity, which Nader calls “a huge problem.”

“No one would have predicted... that consumers would be so willing to give their personal information to corporations,” he said.

“Companies sell lists of names for profit. That mode of exploitation can’t be done without consumers being complicit,” in the process, Nader said.

In an example of how companies are using consumer’s private data, a recent New York Times article that looked at the issue found “At least 75 companies receive anonymous, precise location data from apps whose users enable location services... Several of those businesses claim to track up to 200 million mobile devices in the United States — about half those in use last year.”

In his blog, Nader wrote that a recent meeting of the Federal Trade Commission about privacy did not include the public’s voice. “No one asked consumer representative to describe the current challenges American consumers face in the online marketplace,” he wrote.

Companies “now know so much about the person, it’s more than (the person) can recollect,” Nader said. “They know your credit score, where you’re located, where you go.”

Further, hacking of systems isn’t just done by international companies, Nader said.

“Everyone is doing it to everybody. The U.S. does it. It’s nothing new. Hackers are “using our own tools, made by the NSA (National Security Administration) and Silicone Valley,” he said.

The solution to the privacy breaches is an international treaty, Nader said. “It’s like cyber warfare. The White House has faltered, if the U.N. did it, you’d have to get 195 countries to agree,” he said.

“All of our electrical grids are embedded with other countries. We need collaboration to stop,” the hacking, he said. “The only way to hold parties responsible is a treaty.”

If a treaty were signed it would create a “If you do this, we’ll do that,” scenario, Nader said. In that case, “It would be like the nuclear (Non-Proliferation) treaty of mutually assured destruction,” he said.

Just miles from Nader’s hometown, the recent corporate merger of CVS Health and Aetna has caught his attention.

CVS completed the $70 billion purchase of AETNA last month. A story by CTmirror.org reported that CVS Health President Larry J. Merlo said in a November statement announcing the completion of the deal, that “By delivering the combined capabilities of our two leading organizations, we will transform the consumer health experience and build healthier communities through a new innovative health care model that is local, easier to use, less expensive and puts consumers at the center of their care.”

But Nader said, “It will raise prices and restrict choices.” “There are now just four major insurance companies,” in the country, Nader said. He pointed to a bill proposed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., which calls for the federal government to launch a pharmaceutical manufacturing system to produce affordable generic drugs.

Nader suggested that consumers learn more about health care choices from Health Research Inc. which was founded more than 50 years ago to support public health goals.