Recently in Wireless and the Law Category

Today, CTIA-The Wireless Association® President and CEO Steve Largent issued the following statement after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to approve a "shot clock" for tower siting applications:

"On behalf of CTIA and the wireless industry, I would like to thank the Commission for moving ahead with this item. The Chairman's leadership and the efforts of the other Commissioners have given us a foundation for our continued deployment of wireless broadband.

"Tower siting is a vital piece of our industry. It enables mobile services, including voice and broadband, for consumers, public safety, and businesses. Both Congress and the Supreme Court recognized the importance of taking concrete steps to ensure that the zoning process does not become a barrier to the reasonable deployment of, and competition among, diverse wireless networks.

If you have ever been charged without your permission for mobile content, a combined lawsuit settlement, may owe you payments or free services. A Cook County, Illinois court granted preliminary approval to a global settlement agreement which combines 30 separate class action lawsuits that claims unauthorized charges for "mobile content" were placed on consumer cell phone bills. 

The deadline for filing a claim is February 22, 2010. You are a member of the Settlement Class and your rights are affected if you are a person in the United States and its territories who, at any time prior to October 10, 2009, were billed and paid for Mobile Content associated with the Defendants that was not authorized.

Each Settlement Class Member who submits a Claim Form shall have the option to choose between either a Set Cash Award of $10.00 or a Cash Refund for up to three (3) months of Mobile Content Subscriptions / Recurring Charges.

The settlement, which was preliminarily approved by the Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois on September 10, 2009, provides wireless customers across the country with either a cash award or a cash refund for unauthorized mobile content charges and requires that the defendants remain in compliance with the consumer best practices guidelines established by industry trade groups such as the Mobile Marketing Association, CTIA, and other leading industry groups.

Yesterday, we learned about the @#$%& data loss problem due to a Microsoft Danger server outage for T-Mobile SideKick customers. Customers weren't thrilled with the offer of two months of free service. Today, T-Mobile is offering $20 towards and new smartphone and release from contract.

Over 800,000 T-Mobile SideKick customers have been effected. T-Mobile has pulled the SideKick from its online store. A T-Mobile forum member who expressed his disgust was banned from T-Mobile forums.

"T-Mobile banned me from their forums because I was voicing my opinion about their outage and suggesting customers contact the Washington State Attorney General's office," said Richard Anderson in his blog about the data loss.  Anderson claims he lost years of contacts  he can't retrieve.  

He suggested SideKick owners should:

• Claim a breach of contract to T-Mobile's Legal Department.
• Complain to the state of Washington's Attorney General's Office.
• File a complaint with the FCC.

David Coursey at PC World suggests that T-Mobile SideKick customers could file a class action lawsuit.

If you have a SideKick make sure that you keep the battery charged and don't remove it, you may lose your contacts.

Google Voice doesn't call everybody in the country and the FCC wants to know why. On Friday, they sent a letter to Google's attorneys. They want know the wherefore of why Google Voice is blocking calls to rural areas, how they do it and how they inform users of the restrictions. 

AT&T is not happy with Google Voice and Apple blocked the app from iPhones. AT&T contends that Google Voice is in violation of both federal call-blocking regulations and net neutrality principles.

Here's the text of the letter:

Dear Mr. Whitt:
Recent reports indicate that Google's Google Voice service restricts calling from consumers to certain rural communities. In light of pending Commission proceedings regarding concerns about so called "access stimulation," the Commission's prohibition on call blocking by carriers, as well as the Commission's interest in ensuring that"broadband networks are widely deployed, open, affordable, and accessible to allconsumers,"we are interested in gathering facts that can provide a more complete understanding of this situation.

Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates) filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Transportation to prohibit or restrict the use of unsafe electronic devices, for talking, texting and other purposes, by operators of commercial motor vehicles, such as tractor trailers, motorcoach buses, and large vans. 

There have been many tragedies caused by cell phone use by commercial vehicles such as the one experienced by Elissa and Jamie Schee of Ocala, Florida, whose daughter Frances "Margay" Schee, age 13, was killed on September, 23, 2008, when a tractor trailer rammed into the back of her school bus that was stopped with its lights flashing. The truck driver's cell phone use was a contributing factor in the fiery fatal crash.

"One year and one day later, we want to express our strong support for this safety petition that is asking our federal government to finally do something to keep commercial vehicle drivers off the phone and to stay focused on the road in front of them," said Elissa Schee.

"What happened to our daughter Margay was not an isolated incident. These tragedies are increasingly occurring on our nation's roadways - and they are preventable."

In the petition is a video of bus driver texting while driving and then the bus crashes into a car in front of it.

It turns out it was VIA driver driving down Loop 410 in rush hour traffic in San Antonio Texas. The bus rammed right into an SUV being driven by Betty Jo Hummel.

"It was horrible," said Hummel. "It was the most horrific thing I've probably ever lived through." News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooters showed the video to her. She was surprised the accident last June didn't kill her.

AT&T issued a statement in favor of FCC Chairman Genachowski’s speech outlining a open Internet. They are concerned when it extends to mobile broadband.

“We commend Chairman Genachowski for his speech today, which begins a public process of considering very important issues that will affect the Internet, and broadband investment, for many years to come.

“AT&T has long supported the principle of an open Internet and has conducted its business accordingly. We were also early supporters of the FCC’s current four broadband principles and their case-by-case application to wired networks. To the extent that the chairman seeks to bolster the FCC’s legal authority to enforce these principles, we would support him. We have also indicated publicly that, despite any compelling evidence of abuses that need correction, AT&T could also consider endorsing a fifth principle relating to actions that are unreasonably discriminatory and that cause material harm. Finally, we have never had concerns with disclosure or transparency regarding network management decisions so long as such requirements are reasonable”

CTIA-The Wireless Association, President and CEO Steve Largent issued astatement in response to the State of Maryland’s demonstration of cell detection and managed access technology to end contraband cell phone use in prisons.

Verizon wants the world to know that the largest cybersquatting judgment, ever has been upheld by a federal court in the Northern District of California. The court denied the motion of the defendant -- OnlineNIC, an Internet domain registration company in San Francisco -- to set aside a December 2008 judgment in which Verizon was awarded $33.15 million.

The case is based on OnlineNIC's attempts to take advantage of Verizon and Verizon customers by using Internet names that are easily confused with legitimate Verizon names.

Yesterday, legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate that would ban texting and e-mailing while driving. The proposed legislation, called the ALERT Act, was introduced by U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), and Kay Hagen (D-NC). Verizon sent out a news release to support the bill.

Verizon Wireless vice president and general counsel Steven E. Zipperstein made the following statement:

"We support federal legislation to ban texting and e-mailing while driving. This approach is a logical extension of our previous breaks with other wireless companies to support state-wide legislation banning texting and e-mailing while driving. We applaud Senator Schumer and the Senate sponsors for their leadership."

Car and Driver recently did a study and found texting while driving to be worse than drinking while driving.

AT&T obtained final judgments and permanent injunctions against defendants in four federal lawsuits stopping the unauthorized bulk buying and resale of prepaid mobile

AT&T has filed 14 lawsuits against companies and individuals in Texas, Florida, California, and New York in an effort to stop the illegal activity. The lawsuits have resulted in a total of 15 permanent injunctions and final judgments totaling $51 million in damages.

AT&T says it will file additional lawsuits to aggressively investigate and combat the issue.

Prepaid wireless handset diversion is an industry-wide issue. Middlemen typically buy prepaid mobile phones in bulk, remove them from their original packaging, discard warranties and manuals, hack into the phones' software and then resell the phones and accessories to unsuspecting customers at a substantial profit.

Among judgments AT&T has recently obtained:

• On May 27, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York entered a consent judgment and permanent injunction against IA Communications, Inc. of Westbury, N.Y.; and DK Wireless Inc., d/b/a Wireless Touch and Talk 2 Me, of Baldwin, N.Y.
• On June 15, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California entered a stipulated final judgment and permanent injunction against Mohamad Farhat of Coachella, Calif. and his company, Delta Games, Inc. of Montebello, Calif.
• Also on June 15, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami entered a stipulated final judgment and permanent injunction against defendants Ibrahim El-Zaatari and Tropical Export, Inc., both of Miami.
• On June 25, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California entered a stipulated final judgment and permanent injunction against California Products International, Inc. of Downey, Calif.

In all of the above final judgments, the Court found the defendants' conduct violated numerous state and federal laws, and awarded a judgment in the amounts of $3 or $5 million in damages.

The injunctions permanently prohibit the defendants in each case from engaging in any activities in any way related to the bulk purchase and resale of AT&T prepaid phones, and from using the AT&T or GoPhone trademarks in connection with such activities without AT&T's authorization.

Yesterday, CTIA-The Wireless Association filed an ex parte with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to show the significant contributions the wireless industry is making to aid the revitalization of United States short and long-term economic health.

Some believe that the filing is to protect the major carriers who are facing antitrust and unfair competition allegations, stemming from customers of carriers other than AT&T who want to be able to buy iPhones.

A CTIA news release states that the filing highlights the wireless industry's contribution to:

General economy - nearly $100 billion in "value added" contribution to U.S. Gross Domestic Product in 2007 Job creation - more than 268,000 direct employees and more than 2.4 million American jobs that are either directly or indirectly dependent Jobb compensation - is more than 50% higher than the national average of other production workers Capital investment - invests $22.8 billion per year on average to upgrade networks

Steve Largent, CTIA President and CEO, offered the following comments in response to the filing:

"With the urgent focus from President Obama and Congress on stimulating the economy and creating jobs, CTIA has submitted a filing to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that demonstrates the substantial investment and contributions the wireless industry is making to achieve the nation's economic and infrastructure goals. In this filing, CTIA shows the leading role that wireless services, and particularly mobile broadband, can play in revitalizing the economy.

"CTIA and our member companies are looking forward to continuing to work with the Obama Administration, Congress and FCC to ensure that wireless services continue to lead the way to economic recovery and prosperity."

The Mobile Advocacy Coalition (http://www.mobileac.org) was formed in June 2009, in response to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's ruling in Satterfield v. Simon & Schuster, Inc.

They claim that the Court's decision to remand includes instructions that twist the meaning of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 in a way that imperils the entire mobile marketing industry.

According to the decision, any computer that sends texts is effectively considered an auto dialer, which puts any mobile marketing campaign on the wrong side of the law.  

MAC is comprised of mobile marketing firms, mobile software providers, and SMS aggregators, all working together to lobby the FCC.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum announced his office has reached an agreement resulting in millions of dollars in refunds to Florida Verizon Wireless and Alltel consumers for third-party charges on their cell phone bills.

Verizon Wireless, LLC has also agreed to adopt a series of “best practices” standards which will protect consumers from third-party charges, including charges for “free” ringtones and other cell phone content customers either didn’t order or didn’t realize would result in a monthly charge.

“Consumers deserve to get their money back when a company misrepresents something as free that isn’t,” said Attorney General McCollum. “I commend Verizon Wireless for providing full restitution to their Florida customers and changing the business model to better protect consumers nationwide.”

Cell phone content includes ringtones, music, wallpaper, horoscopes and other material that is often promoted by online marketers as “free,” but ultimately ends up costing up to $19.99 a month. The charges appear on a subscriber’s monthly wireless bill and are usually recurring. The bill charges often appear under the following indiscernible names: “OpenMarket,” “M-Qube” and “M-Blox.”

Media reform group, Free Press has been generating a lot press regarding wireless and phone matters. They are pleased with the FCC's actions, launched FreeMyPhone and believe that AT&T allowing video for some services but not others should be prohibited.

Acting Federal Communications Commission Chairman, Michael Copps agreed to open a proceeding on handset exclusivity and Free Press is pleased. Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press, stated, "This is an important step in the right direction. Senate hearings this week exposed the laundry list of harms caused by exclusive deals in the wireless industry. These exclusive deals back consumers into a corner -- forcing them to choose phone or service"

Free Press launched FreeMyPhone, a campaign that calls on leaders in Washington to open up wireless networks and promote consumer choice. They say recent actions by wireless carriers have sparked controversy. Apple will release the new iPhone , but consumers were outraged to learn that AT&T has delayed certain popular features that are available in other countries. AT&T also recently acknowledged playing a role in blocking Skype, the popular voice application, on its 3G network. And most major wireless companies have terms of service that prohibit the use of certain applications and services.

Timothy Karr, campaign director of Free Press, stated, "Wireless companies promise the Internet in your pocket, but deliver the walled wireless web. Through exclusive deals for phones like the iPhone and BlackBerry Storm, wireless companies have stifled innovation, crippled applications, and stuck users with the bill.

Have you ever gotten those annoying calls saying your warranty for a old battered auto is expiring?  We have even gotten them on cell phones.

Those flaky services have raked in over $10 million dollars and make more than 1.8 million calls a day. Over 30,000 do not call complaints have been filed! The calls are deceptive and the FTC is taking action. They filed a temporary restraining order and plan to shut down the operations. The FTC is also  seeking injunctions to refund ill-gotten gains. It is estimated 1 billion of the nuisance calls have been made to Americans.

The Federal Trade Commission is asking a federal court to shut down the telemarketing campaign that has been bombarding U.S. consumers with hundreds of millions of allegedly deceptive "robocalls" in an effort to sell them vehicle service contracts under the guise that they are extensions of original vehicle warranties. The FTC named Voice Touch and Transcontinental Warranty.

Editors' Note: We couldn't find a photo a robocaller, so we posted at pic of robocop.

In two related complaints filed in federal court, the Commission took action against both the promoter of the phony extended auto warranties, as well as the telemarketing company that it hired to carry out its illegal, deceptive campaign. In its complaints, the agency contends that the companies are operating a massive telemarketing scheme that uses random, pre-recorded phone calls to deceive consumers into thinking that their vehicle's warranty is about to expire. Consumers who respond to the robocalls are pressured to purchase extended service contracts for their vehicles, which the telemarketers falsely portray as an extension of the manufacturer's original warranty.

"This is one of the most aggressive telemarketing schemes the FTC has ever encountered," said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. "I'm not sure which is worse, the abusive telemarketing tactics of these companies, or the way they try to deceive people once they get them on the phone. Either way, we intend to shut them down."

Verizon Wireless has filed a lawsuit against Pennsylvania-based Money Warehouse, Inc. (doing business as All State Mortgage Lender) and other John Does alleging they sent at least 800,000 wireless spam messages promoting mortgage products to Verizon Wireless customers and employees beginning in February 2009.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Trenton, N.J., alleges these unsolicited messages were sent using an autodialer to randomly-generated numbers in violation of the Federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits the use of an autodialer to call wireless phones.

"At a time when many Americans are concerned about making their mortgage payments, these types of unwanted text messages, from unknown senders, can be upsetting," said Steven E. Zipperstein, vice president and general counsel at Verizon Wireless. "Our company will continue to work diligently to stop these people who break the law and harass our customers."

As Americans all over the country recover from filing taxes, yesterday, the national consumer advocacy coalition MyWireless.org called for a 5-year break for consumers from new, discriminatory state and local wireless taxes.

Bi-partisan legislation, entitled the ‘Cell Tax Fairness Act of 2009,’ is currently being considered in the U.S. House of Representatives, and calls for a moratorium to be placed on unfair, new wireless taxes and fees at the state and local levels for a period of five years. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ) have taken pro-consumer, anti-tax action on behalf of millions of Americans to provide much-needed relief, and in this uncertain economic climate, MyWireless.org urges the U.S. Congress to follow their leadership on this issue.

Brian Johnston, Director of Communications and Federal Advocacy for MyWireless.org, said, “American wireless consumers today pay over 15% on average in combined monthly wireless taxes, fees and surcharges. The annual national consumer tax debt for wireless consumers is now about $21 Billion dollars! More than 270 million American wireless consumers, their families and their businesses truly deserve a break from excessive taxes on an invaluable tool for daily mobile communication, particularly in these challenging economic times.”

Recent MyWireless.org polling data shows that 94% of wireless consumers are extremely satisfied with their wireless services and choices. They do not want government meddling with regulations in a highly innovative and competitive marketplace that simply works for them. Those same consumers think wireless has an excellent value, and they remain very sensitive to price - especially when it comes to taxes. 90% think the monthly tax rate for wireless should be lower or the same as taxes paid on other goods and services, which is approximately 6%. 80% of consumers polled favored Congress passing a 5-year escape from new, discriminatory state and local wireless taxes and fees.

T-Mobile USA announced it obtained a final judgment and permanent injunction  to combat the unauthorized bulk purchase and resale of T-Mobile's prepaid mobile phones and accessories.

The order, handed down by a federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y., permanently enjoining DK Wireless Inc. (which does business as "Wireless Touch" and "Talk 2 Me"), IA Communication, Inc, and the companies' principal, Ajay Mehta, from continuing to traffic in T-Mobile prepaid wireless phones. The judgment also awards T-Mobile $5 million in damages against the corporate defendants.

T-Mobile  USA subsidizes its prepaid wireless phones in order to make them more accessible to legitimate consumers who want to become T-Mobile customers. Traffickers Mehta, Wireless Touch, Talk2Me, and IA Communications profited 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 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 then resell the phones and accessories to unsuspecting customers at a substantial profit.

Currently T-Mobile has prepaid phones starting at $19.99 with minutes ranging from 10 cents a minute on the dollar a day plan or 30 minutes for $10.00 with per minute rates decreasing the more time bought.

A $2.63 million agreement with AT&T Mobility over a misleading and deceptive sales promotion involving rebate offers that were fulfilled with onerous and condition-laden rebate cards by the New York's Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo.

AT&T is required to provide more than $2.63 million to consumers who received rebate cards from AT&T in fulfillment of its rebate offers on cellular phones and other wireless equipment and services.

Since 2005, AT&T Mobility, LLC, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, has been fulfilling its rebate offers with rebate cards instead of checks. These cards were portrayed as debit cards in the amount of the rebate offer. However, the cards were not redeemable for cash, could not be used for cash withdrawals and expired 120 days from issuance. The Attorney General's Office found that AT&T failed to adequately disclose the card's conditions and limitations in its marketing materials for the promotion. AT&T also deceived consumers with offers for "free" products when, in fact, consumers had to pay the full price up-front and then submit a mail-in rebate form from which they were sent the aforementioned rebate card with its accompanying limitations.

Google is not liable for fraudulent ringtone advertisements on its AdWords platform. The ruling by District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel states that the federal Communications Decency Act clears Google from any liability for pay-per-click ads created via AdWords.

 "Providing third parties with neutral tools to create web content is considered to be squarely within the protections of [the law]," Fogel writes. "Even if a service provider knows that third parties are using such tools to create illegal content, the service provider's failure to intervene is immunized."