A Mo. state court issued a temporary injunction requiring 2 data brokers to cease all trade in telephone customer call records and cease all attempts to obtain call records from wireless or wireline carriers. The defendants, First Data Solutions and First Source Information Specialists, are barred from contacting any telecom service provider about anything other than their own telephone service. The Cole County Circuit Court granted the injunction requested by Mo. Attorney Gen. Jay Nixon (D), in his suit that alleges the companies used illegal and deceptive means to obtain call records, and falsely represented to customers that phone records were obtained legally. Attorneys Gen. in Fla. and Ill., have also filed suits to stop trafficking in phone records, and at least 7 states have introduced bills to ban this trade.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced that the fourth tranche of low-duty fiscal year (FY) 2006 refined sugar tariff rate quota (TRQ) additional allocation did not oversubscribe at opening moment on January 24, 2006. As a result, all entries presented at opening have been charged and may be released. (See ITT's Online Archives or 01/25/06 news, 06012545, for BP summary of the opening of the fourth tranche.)(QBT-06-511, dated 01/25/06, available at http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/import/textiles_and_quotas/qbts/qbt2006/06_511.ctt/06_511.doc.)
The FCC proposed financial penalties against Alltel and AT&T on accusations of failure to certify they have properly protected customer proprietary network information (CPNI). Each would have to pay a $100,000 “forfeiture” unless it can show it has the required certificates. The FCC also ordered all carriers, wireless and wireline, to submit a copy of their compliance certificates to the Commission by Jan. 6. The actions come with Chmn. Martin expected to testify today (Wed.) at a House Commerce Committee hearing on why phone records aren’t safe from “pretexting.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site information on its containerized cargo sealing policy, which took effect on August 8, 2005.
Sprint Nextel Fri. filed a lawsuit in Fla. against the parent company of 4 online data brokers it alleges use “illegal and deceptive practices” to obtain and sell customer call records. The lawsuit, the first by Sprint against a data broker, means all 4 major national carriers have filed such suits. Meanwhile, Senate Commerce Committee announced Fri. it will hold a hearing Feb. 8 in the consumer subcommittee chaired by Sen. Allen (R-Va.) to look more closely at the theft of consumer cellphone records. The House Commerce Committee plans a hearing Feb. 1.
Sprint Nextel Fri. filed a lawsuit in Fla. against the parent company of 4 online data brokers it alleges use “illegal and deceptive practices” to obtain and sell customer call records. The lawsuit, the first by Sprint against a data broker, means all 4 major national carriers have filed such suits. Meanwhile, Senate Commerce Committee announced Fri. it will hold a hearing Feb. 8 in the consumer subcommittee chaired by Sen. Allen (R-Va.) to look more closely at the theft of consumer cellphone records. The House Commerce Committee plans a hearing Feb. 1.
The following are documents which U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) updates frequently (weekly, monthly, etc.). Updates are listed under "What's New" on its Web site:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a revised informed compliance publication (ICP) entitled, "What Every Member of the Trade Community Should Know About: Gaskets." According to CBP, this revised ICP is a study of the classification of gaskets of differing materials.
ChoicePoint will pay $10 million in a civil penalty and $5 million for a consumer redress fund to settle FTC charges the firm violated federal laws through careless screening and information security procedures. The firm admitted last year that financial records on 145,000 consumers -- now up to 163,000, the FTC estimates -- were compromised by “fraudsters” posing as firms with “permissible purposes” for getting the records (WID March 7 p8). The settlement, the largest in agency history, should warn data brokers and others to “guard the front door… as well as guard the back door” to protect sensitive personal information, or face harsh financial and regulatory consequences, Chmn. Deborah Majoras told a press conference Thurs.