Recently in Wireless and the Law Category

According to Telecommunications Industry News the Federal Trade Commission will put into effect rules, that put an end to  those nasty, annoying, aggravating, prerecorded sales calls.

Starting September 1, 2009  telemarketers can make recorded calls only to people who have agreed in writing to receive them.

The FTC also will require all telemarketers to provide an opt-out feature on all prerecorded messages that allow customers to  add themselves to the company's do-not-call list.

Comment from Wireless and Mobile News
IImmediately after the last earthquake in SoCal, we received pre-recorded telemarketing calls that tied up our lines while relatives were trying to call to find out if we were still alive!

Just imagine how many lines can be tied-up in a major emergency.

Please note telemarketers are banned from calling cell phone numbers. If you do receive a telemarketing call on a cell phone, you can file a complaint with the FCC.

A settlement has been reached with Mobile Messenger in class action litigation involving claims that unauthorized charges for "mobile content" were placed on the cell phone bills of consumers throughout the country. The settlement, which was preliminarily approved by the U.S. District Court in Miami last week, entitles wireless customers across the country to receive refunds for unauthorized mobile content charges. Mobile Messenger has denied any wrongful conduct.

Mobile Messenger acts as an intermediary, between content providers, marketers and mobile operators, providing clients with advice on consumer protection, billing and payment, and direct customer support for users purchasing mobile content through its system.

The lawsuit alleged that there were not adequate safeguards in place to ensure that customers are only billed for services they agreed to purchase. This settlement is the first nationwide settlement with a company of this kind and follows a similar settlement reached with AT&T Mobility, LLC over similar issues.

T-Mobile USA has obtained two final judgments and permanent injunctions as part of the company's ongoing efforts to combat the unauthorized bulk purchase and resale of T-Mobile prepaid mobile phones.  One judgment was entered against defendant Rafiq Wazir Ali, individually and doing business as Fone Xchange, in a federal lawsuit filed in Houston. The other judgment was entered against ASPAC Inc., its principals and affiliates, by a federal court in Dallas, and awards T-Mobile $6.5 million in damages in addition to a permanent injunction against the defendants.

T-Mobile subsidizes its prepaid wireless phones making them more accessible to consumers who want to become T-Mobile customers. Traffickers such as Ali, Fone Xchange and ASPAC profit by pocketing those subsidies, preventing consumers from receiving the benefit of the subsidies and depriving T-Mobile and other wireless providers of new customers. Traffickers typically buy, or solicit others to buy, prepaid mobile phones in bulk from retail stores, remove the phones from their original packaging, discard warranties and manuals, hack into the phones' software, and resell the phones and accessories to unsuspecting customers at a substantial profit.

Chicago attorney Myles McGuire on behave of Nikolay Antonov has filed a class action complaint in Cook County, against Thumbplay Inc. a mobile content provider that claims that the billing methods used have no “checks and safeguards.” to protect consumers’ from unathorized charges on their wireless bills.

“Cell phones are morphing into credit cards, but the same security procedures don’t apply to phone numbers, which are public information,” said Myles McGuire whose firm successfully reach a third-party agreement with AT&T.

The suit implicates players on all levels of the industry: aggregators,  copyright licensors, and affiliate marketers, Internet advertising networks who fail to clearly display the “service’s price, subscription period and cancellation procedures,” the suit states.

A Thumplay PR representative sent Wireless and Mobile News a rebuttal at 11:11 am which we posted at 11:19.

Qualcomm will receive royalties from Nokia for licensing Qualcomm technology for 15 years to settle the patent dispute. An analyst estimated that the settlement could mean $400 million to Qualcomm and save $200 million in legal fees.

The technology Nokia is licensing from Qualcomm, improves phone performance, battery life and keeps phone size small.

New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo has recruited AT&T, and AOL to help stop child pornography. Both companies have agreed to eliminate access to related Newsgroups, a major supplier of these illegal images.  They will also purge their servers of child pornography websites.  Similar agreements were made with Verizon, Sprint, and Time Warner Cable announced by Cuomo last month.

Cuomo also unveiled a new website, www.nystopchildporn.com, dedicated to fighting online child pornography.  The website provides details on which Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have signed agreements with the Attorney General's office to eradicate access to child porn on their servers.  It also provides consumers with information on how to contact ISPs that have failed to make the same commitment to stop child porn. Cuomo urged consumers across the state to check whether their Internet Service Providers have signed the code of conduct and to demand that they do so if they have not.

 Cuomo continued, "I commend AT&T and AOL for working with my office to aggressively purge child pornography from the Internet, and I encourage consumers across New York State and the nation to visit my website www.nystopchildporn.com to make sure their Internet Service Providers are also taking every step they can to eradicate this appalling trade."

Verizon has settled class action suits regarding Early Termination Fees to the tune of $21 million dollars to pay off plaintiffs and attorney's fees.

The settlement comes after the start of a trial last week in California.  Verizon has not admitted to any wrong doing.

News reports say that Verizon spokesman, Jim Gerace said, " "This suit was a distraction. This was a quick way to resolve it."

Remember what happens on July 1 in California.

1. Drivers under the age of 18 may not use a wireless telephone, pager, laptop or any other electronic communication or mobile services device to speak or text while driving in any manner, even "hands-free." EXCEPTION: Permitted in emergency situations to call police, fire or medical authorities (VC §23124).
2. Drivers 18 and over will be allowed to use a "hands-free" device to talk on their wireless telephone while driving.
3. The new law does not prohibit dialing, but drivers are strongly urged not to dial while driving. You can use a Bluetooth earpiece however you cannot have BOTH ears covered.
4. The law does not specifically prohibit texting by adults,  but an officer can pull over and issue a citation to a driver of any age if, in the officer's opinion, the driver was distracted and not operating the vehicle safely. Sending text messages while driving is unsafe at any speed and is strongly discouraged.
5. The base fine for the FIRST offense is $20 and $50 for subsequent convictions. With the addition of penalty assessments, the fines can be more than triple the base fine amount.
6. The violation is a reportable offense, however, DMV will not assign a violation point.

For more information go to the CA Department of Motor Vehicles.

Your hands free device doesn't have to be Bluetooth, you can buy a cheap headset or get one for free. Until you get your hands free device just turn off the phone for now.

If you are worried about the impending enforcement of hands free laws starting July 1, you can get a free compatible headset and just pay for shipping charges form FreeHeadset.org, offering free headsets to California drivers.

The FreeHeadset.org organization is a nationwide safe driving campaign which was founded in 2003. Since inception, the organization has distributed over 200,000 headsets to drivers across North America, and continues to ship thousands of headsets per month. The program provides motorists with a free hands-free headset for their cell phone. Participants only pay $3.94 to cover shipping costs.

"Many states have passed various laws that require the use of a hands-free device while driving, however these laws fail to provide any sort of assistance program to distribute the headsets required for compliance", said Matt MacAdams, Founder of FreeHeadset.org, . "Using a headset is an important safety issue that often gets overlooked. Our goal is to encourage people to use headsets by making it simple, affordable and convenient to obtain them. We would like to welcome all California motorists to visit our website to obtain a free headset for their cell phone."

Verizon Wireless reminds customers who choose to talk on a wireless phone while driving to do so responsibly and safely when travelling over the holidays:

Drive Responsibly Drivers should use common sense and obey all vehicular laws if they choose to talk on a wireless phone while driving, whether across town or across the country. Verizon Wireless offers the following reminders for using a wireless phone or service responsibly while driving:

When behind the wheel, safe and responsible driving is always your first priority.

• Using a wireless phone while driving may increase your risk of distraction, whether or not you use a hands-free device. To eliminate this risk, consider turning your phone off and allowing calls to go to voice mail. If you choose to talk and drive, always use a hands-free device. Make sure your hands-free device is on and working before you begin driving.
• Turn your phone to speakerphone or use a headset. Many phones have speakerphone capability. Headset models available from Verizon Wireless range from Bluetooth(R) devices for individual use to hands-free ear buds compatible with devices from many wireless providers.
  
• Do not manually dial or look up phone numbers when driving. Pre-program important and frequently dialed numbers and use the voice-activated and speed-dialing features of your phone.
• Never view or send text or multi-media messages or video downloads while driving.
• If you're taking advantage of any navigation service, including VZ Navigator(SM), program the address into your phone -- either directly to the handset or online -- before you leave the curb; then you'll need only to listen to the directions.
• Do not engage in complex, stressful or emotional calls while driving.The risk of using a wireless phone while driving may be increased during hazardous traffic or weather conditions. When driving in these conditions, consider turning your phone off and allowing calls to go to voice mail.
  

Verizon Wireless is committed to educating the public on the safe and responsible use of wireless phones while driving. For more information on hands-free options and responsible driving, customers can visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store or http://www.verizonwireless.com.

The head of the FCC said  he wants to regulate fees charged to cell phone users who cancel their wireless contracts early, reports the Associated Press.

At a news conference, FCC chief Kevin Martin said he supports regulating the fees at a federal level, even if it affects a series of class-action lawsuits against carriers in state courts.

Dovel & Luner LLP today announced that a Los Angeles jury has found Sprint Nextel  liable for infringing two patents owned by California company Enovsys LLC. The jury returned its verdict late Friday, May 16, 2008, and awarded Enovsys past damages of $2.78 million.

The patents relate to a privacy system used to protect and manage the disclosure of the precise location of a user’s cell phone (e.g., the phone’s GPS position). Enovsys had alleged that Sprint Nextel’s wireless networks use the patents in managing location-based services provided by the nation’s third largest wireless carrier. Testimony at trial showed that Sprint Nextel is the market leader in the growing field of location services and saw a 50% increase in related revenues in 2007 over the prior year.

Inventors Mundi Fomukong and Denzil Chesney applied for the first of the patents in 1997, several years before location services were first offered for cell phones. Enovsys is an intellectual property holding company privately held by inventor Fomukong.

During The Federal Trade Commission's Town Hall meeting on May 6-7, 2008, FTC commissioner Jonathan Leibowitz announced that the FTC intends to take enforcement action against deceptive or unfair content offers from cellphone content providers who should do a better job of showing costs consumers pay for downloading services for their mobile pone at

Leibowitz noted that messaging, games and video services marketed to children and teens are a great concern.

The Center for Digital Democracy and the U.S. Public Interest Group announced, they will  petition the FTC to probe privacy issues in the mobile space

A webcast with transcripts of the event is available at at the FTC website.

The Center for Digital Democracy and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (USPIRG) announced today that they intend to amend their 2006 complaint on interactive marketing techniques and threats to consumer privacy to include newly emerging mobile marketing practices.

The announcement was made as part of the testimony given today by Jeff Chester, executive director, Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), at the Federal Trade Commission’s “Beyond Voice: Mapping the Mobile Marketplace,” a two-day “Town Hall” meeting. Chester spoke on the “Mobile Advertising and Marketing” panel. CDD and USPIRG’s November 2006 complaint directly led to the FTC’s current inquiry into online advertising and privacy, contributing to the release of proposed consumer protection principles for online marketing issued last December.

In the upcoming amended complaint, the marketing-oriented technologies that are helping shape the mobile platform will be addressed. It will discuss, for example, the implications of the so-called “Personalization Engine” from Enpocket, which describes it as a system of analytical models that scores mobile users based on their past behavior. It enables us to predict which products and services a customer might purchase next. That way, we can provide the right message, advertisement or promotion to the right person at the right time. It can also forecast events, such as customer churn and will recommend effective customer engagements to preempt attrition. When integrated with the Marketing Engine, the result is highly relevant marketing messages, personalized recommendations, less churn, and higher sales of mobile consumables.

PhonepayPlus, a regulating watchdog agency in the UK announced it will  review of the U.K.'s mobile premium services due to consumer complaints. That included:

• In the first three months of this year, PhonepayPlus received more than 4,500 complaints related to mobile. This equates to 80% of all complaints received, a 40% increase on mobile related complaints over a similar period last year;
• In 2007, PhonepayPlus adjudicated on 33 mobile services with total fines in excess of £360,000;
• By March 2008, PhonepayPlus had already adjudicated on 15 mobile services, resulting in fines of £223,500. Today, PhonepayPlus published adjudications on four more cases, resulting in fines of £68,000; and
• 45% of premium-rate numbers and short codes checked by consumers on PhonepayPlus' website this year related to mobile services, as comparedto 24% this time last year.

PhonepayPlus aims to publish a review in July to  provide an overview of mobile phone-paid services, and
identify issues affecting UK consumers. Of particular interest to PhonepayPlus at this early stage are:

• Unsolicited promotions, especially text messages;
• Price transparency and the use of words that indicate content is 'free'; and
• Subscription services (e.g. ringtones) and the 'STOP' command
  

Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee resigned after indictment for tax evasion and breach of fiduciary trust. He publicly apologized on TV.  It is suspected that Lee hid about $4.5 billion worth of Samsung stock in accounts with borrowed names.  He is charged with evading about $120 million in taxes.