According to Congressional sources, Congressional documents, and press reports, the House-Senate conference that is resolving differences between the House- and Senate-passed versions of H.R. 1 (the bill to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission), has adopted an amendment that sets deadlines for the overseas scanning of U.S.-bound cargo containers (in lieu of the different scanning provisions previously passed by the House and Senate).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a notice announcing that the sixth group of land border ports to become mandatory for the Automated Commercial Environment electronic manifest: Truck for advance cargo information purposes will be those in Maine and Minnesota effective October 16, 2007.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection and surety sources indicate that CBP now has a policy of rejecting certain executed CBP Form 301 bonds if the bond amount exceeds the liability underwriting amount included on pre-printed CBP 301 forms, usually by the stamped facsimile signature.
A federal judge in Georgia threw out an AT&T wireless spamming lawsuit against a vacation timeshare broker on grounds that AT&T failed to prove the broker was the party responsible for flooding AT&T customers’ cellphones with spam text messages. AT&T told the U.S. District Court, Atlanta, that C&C Global Enterprises sent a flood of spam text messages through its wireless network to its customers, violating U.S. and Georgia anti-spam and consumer protection laws (Case 1:06-CV-2733-TWT). The defendants sought dismissal, saying AT&T sued the wrong party. They said they are not corporate residents of Georgia and bought their Georgia sales leads from third parties. They said they never knowingly accepted sales leads whose pursuit would violate anti-spam or consumer laws. The court said AT&T failed to make a substantial case against C&C’s claim that it was an unknowing recipient of unlawful sales leads provided by others.
Below is updated information regarding upcoming events for which Certified Customs Specialists can earn continuing education credits. (See ITT's Online Archives or 06/29/07 news, 07062920 for earlier BP summary.)
A federal judge in Georgia threw out an AT&T wireless spamming lawsuit against a vacation timeshare broker on grounds that AT&T failed to prove the broker was the party responsible for flooding AT&T customers’ cellphones with spam text messages. AT&T told the U.S. District Court, Atlanta, that C&C Global Enterprises sent a flood of spam text messages through its wireless network to its customers, violating U.S. and Georgia anti-spam and consumer protection laws (Case 1:06-CV-2733-TWT). The defendants sought dismissal, saying AT&T sued the wrong party. They said they are not corporate residents of Georgia and bought their Georgia sales leads from third parties. They said they never knowingly accepted sales leads whose pursuit would violate anti-spam or consumer laws. The court said AT&T failed to make a substantial case against C&C’s claim that it was an unknowing recipient of unlawful sales leads provided by others.
The FCC should revise an April order on telecom carrier use of customer proprietary network information (CPNI) and other customer information (CD April 3 p10), The United States Telecom Association (USTelecom) and CTIA said in separate petitions for reconsideration. USTelecom said the order seems to assume, in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), that carriers are at fault when a pretexter obtains protected information. CTIA took exception to a finding in the order that carriers inadequately protect CPNI.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued an ABI administrative message announcing that the deployment of ACE Entry Summary, Accounts, and Revenue A1 has been delayed until August 25, 2007.
The Department of Homeland Security has issued a news release announcing that 29 defendants in New York, New Jersey and California have been charged with conspiracy to smuggle over 950 shipments, both counterfeit and authentic, following a 19 month investigation by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Cable operators not granted last-minute waivers of a rule barring them from shipping set-top boxes with integrated conditional access features are weighing their options in the wake of the Media Bureau’s late Friday action, some said. The Bureau temporarily waived the rule, which requires set- top boxes to support separable security like CableCARDs, for pay-TV providers including Verizon, Qwest and some cable operators who operate or have pledged to operator all-digital systems before broadcasters’ DTV transition (CD June 29 Special Bulletin p1) or (CED June 29 Special Bulletin p1). It denied another batch of requests, giving some operators until September to get into compliance.