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.
Binghamton is a city located in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. "The Parlor City" and the "Home of the Square Deal", it is the county seat of Broome County and the principal city and cultural center of the Greater Binghamton region. The population of the city, according to the 2000 census, is 47,380. A small city in upstate New York located near the New York - Pennsylvania border, approximately 60 miles south of Syracuse. Binghamton is situated in a bowl shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers, and at the crossroads of Interstates 81 and 88, as well as New York State Route 17 (also known as The Southern Tier Expressway and the future Interstate 86). It is home to Binghamton University of the State University of New York system. After a mild presence, at the turn of the 20th century, as a manufacturing center of shoes and cigar materials, Binghamton suffered a precipitous decline in fortunes beginning with the loss of its core manufacturing base in the years following the war and consummating in the closing of its high-tech industries in the late 1980's and early 1990's. From a post-war population high of about 80,000, Binghamton has now shed nearly half of its population. Binghamton was the home of Rod Serling, host of the 1960's now cult-status television series "The Twilight Zone". The city and region suffered a devastating flood in the summer of 2006. The Binghamton Metropolitan Area includes approximately 252,000 residents in all of Broome and Tioga (NY) counties. Binghamton is part of the "Triple Cities", along with Endicott and Johnson City (which are actually villages). The region is collectively referred to as Greater Binghamton. In 2007, Binghamton was named the ninth-greenest city in the U.S. by Country Home magazine. Greater Binghamton is home to Binghamton University, a driving force in the community as an academic, athletic, and arts center. Binghamton has the largest public observatory, the Kopernik Space Center, in the northeastern United States. The region is further recognized as the birthplace of the IBM Corporation, Dick's Sporting Goods, Endicott Johnson Corporation, Raymond Corporation and the Link Trainer flight simulator. The city's American Civic Association is the location of the April 3, 2009 shootings, known as the Binghamton shootings, which left 14 dead.