The Mo. House Rules Committee advanced a telecom privacy bill that would make it a felony to buy, sell or otherwise get landline or wireless phone call records without customer consent. HB-1632 would provide penalties ranging from a $500 fine and 2 years in prison for taking a single record, up to $10,000 and 10 years’ imprisonment for taking more than 10 call records. Exemptions would include law enforcement or corrections officers and PSC or phone company employees doing official duties, and records used to prevent death or serious injury. Besides criminal penalties, victims of phone record theft could sue perpetrators for compensatory and punitive damages in civil court. Telecom carriers would have to set “reasonable” safeguards against theft of customer data.
Customs Duty
A Customs Duty is a tariff or tax which a country imposes on goods when they are transported across international borders. Customs Duties are used to protect countries' economies, residents, jobs, and environments, by limiting the flow of imported merchandise, especially restricted and prohibited goods, into the country. The Customs Duty Rate is a percentage determined by the value of the article purchased in the foreign country and not based on quality, size, or weight.
SAN FRANCISCO -- AT&T’s proposed BellSouth takeover adds to hurdles Bells face in seeking video franchising reform, a cable industry executive said at a Practising Law Institute seminar here Mon. and Tues. That AT&T can float a $67 billion purchase but says it can’t afford universal buildout of its Project Lightspeed network “will be suspect to people,” said Jeffery Sinsheimer, Cal. Cable & Telecom Assn. vp-law & public policy. The cable law program was dominated by the views of attorneys for cable companies and cities; AT&T personnel were on hand but generally said little about the criticism.
State regulators in the BellSouth region are working out what jurisdiction, if any, they have over the AT&T-BellSouth merger, officials said in the wake of the deal announcement.
U.K. mobile operators O2 and Orange denied a report they're eyeing services aimed at children in violation of an industry conduct code. The London Times said Mon. members of the All-Party Parliamentary Mobile Communications Group and consumer groups had called for legislation to stop the providers from introducing such services. Both firms said emphatically Tues. they don’t market to under-16s.
Bills addressing E-911 funding bases, wireless services, and regulatory administration came into the state legislative spotlight as 2006 sessions entered their 2nd month. Those issues shared attention with bills on phone consumer privacy, VoIP taxation and telemarketing.
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.
PALM SPRINGS, Cal. -- Broadband consumer protection and disaster recovery issues dominated telecom discussions at the NARUC meeting here. But NARUC panels on broadband- related policy resolutions either tabled or refocused resolutions when states sparred on how or whether to voice broadband concerns.
Verizon named longtime executive John Killian pres. of a unit melding MCI’s and Verizon’s enterprise solutions groups after the firms merge, a move federal regulators likely will approve within weeks. In the interim, Killian will lead integration efforts. MCI CEO. Michael Capellas and Eduardo Menasce, who heads the Verizon enterprise group but plans to retire, will stay put for now. Killian, a major player at the carrier as CFO of Verizon Domestic Telecom, has logged 27 years with Verizon and predecessors Bell Atlantic and NYNEX. He has held a variety of jobs, including controller of the corporation and senior Vp for customer operations, as well as international duties such as group pres.-international telecommunications for Bell Atlantic. Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg said the enterprise unit “will be one of our most important, core business units.”
Mass. regulators ordered generic changes to Verizon’s interconnection agreements with CLECs to implement network unbundling rule changes from the FCC’s Triennial Review Order and Remand Order. The Dept. of Telecom & Energy concluded a consolidated arbitration case affecting Verizon and most CLECs in the state. The DTE in its final order (Case 04-33) said Verizon need not continue providing delisted UNEs at cost-based rates, except for those affected by the FCC transition program for preexisting customers. It said Verizon’s main duty is to coordinate termination of delisted UNEs and installation of any replacement services a CLEC chooses to buy. The DTE said no negotiation or amendment of individual interconnection agreements is required to implement the FCC rule changes. If a particular CLEC disputes the manner by which Verizon implements the rule change, that dispute is to be handled under the contract’s dispute- resolution procedures and not as a state arbitration. Verizon sought unilaterally to terminate unbundled network elements (UNEs) delisted in the FCC orders, but CLECs sought relief from the DTE.
The FCC released its E-911 order Fri., giving more details about its decision to require VoIP providers to give customers full emergency calling capabilities within 120 days (CD May 20 p1). The agency told VoIP providers and ILECs it will “closely monitor” industry efforts to bring full E-911 capability to VoIP customers. It also called for comments on ways to bring E-911 capability to portable VoIP customers.