Wireless and the Law: March 2008 Archives

Verizon Wireless saidit has filed a lawsuit to stop unknown telemarketers from calling its customers and employees with an offer of an extended car warranty. The lawsuit, filed in New Jersey Superior Court, alleges the telemarketers illegally used an autodialer to reach Verizon Wireless customers and used “spoofing” techniques to mask the origin of the calls.

The lawsuit alleges that Caller ID showed calls were made from a variety of numbers with 281, 614, 801, and 562 area codes. But, when Verizon Wireless customers and employees attempted to call the numbers found on Caller ID, they generally heard a fast busy signal, indicating a non-working number.

“Telemarketers are using increasingly sophisticated methods, such as illegal autodialing, to harass our customers,” said Steven E. Zipperstein, vice president and general counsel of Verizon Wireless. “Whatever the method, these unlawful telemarketing calls are an annoyance to our customers and invade their privacy, and we will continue to use every weapon in our legal arsenal to stop this activity and protect our customers.”

To avoid problems of cell towers not having power during a disaster, which happened during Katrina, when cell phone uses could call because there was no power.  The FCC passed regulation to require carriers to have at least 8 hours of backup power available to cell towers.

A federal judge is looking at the matter and granted a stay to the regulation brought by Sprint Nextel. Arguments will be heard in the matter in May, the carrier don't want to pay for the cost increase.

New Jersey residents starting March 1, can be fined $100  and surcharged $250 for texting or talking on a cell phone without a hands-free device while driving.

The law allows police officers to cite motorists solely for talking on hand-held cellphones or sending text messages.