Consumer protection refers to the laws designed to aid retail consumers of goods and services that have been improperly manufactured, delivered, performed, handled, or described. Such laws provide the retail consumer with additional protections and remedies not generally provided to merchants and others who engage in business transactions, on the premise that the consumers do not enjoy a sufficient bargaining position with respect to the businessmen with whom they deal and therefore should not be strictly limited by the legal rules that govern recovery for damages among businessmen. The overarching goal is to protect individuals and the interest of the public in general from unfair and misleading activity in business and commerce (such as false advertising and deceptive trade practices) and scams perpetrated by criminals (such as identity theft and pyramid schemes) that harm a substantial number of consumers.
Etna, originally named "Mill Village," is a small village within the town of Hanover, New Hampshire, in the United States. It is located in southwestern Grafton County, approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Hanover's downtown and 2.5 mi (4.0 km) south of the village of Hanover Center, on Mink Brook. Etna has a separate ZIP code (03750) from the rest of Hanover, as well as its own fire station, church, and library. Commerce revolves around the Etna General Store for the 814 residents and occasional visitor in what a small blue-and-white sign in a yard along the main road humorously calls "Metropolitan Downtown Etna. " The Appalachian Trail passes a mile or so north of the village before it turns northeast to cross Moose Mountain on its way to Lyme. Etna can be accessed from NH Rt 120 via the Greensboro Road or Great Hollow Road (Etna Road, north of the Lebanon exit from Interstate 89), or from Hanover via Trescott Road (E. Wheelock Street). The author Jodi Picoult, who wrote My Sister's Keeper, The Pact, and Nineteen Minutes, among others, lives in Etna. It is also the location of the 2001 murders of Dartmouth College professors Half and Susanne Zantop, dubbed the Dartmouth Murders. Every summer, the village holds the Etna Old Timer's fair on the Hanover Center green.