Telecommunications

Bright Pages to refund up to $3 million to defrauded customers, reform business practices and pay $150,000 penalty

NEW YORK, N.Y. (May 12, 2008) - New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced a settlement agreement with a national online directory service for defrauding thousands of small businesses and not-for-profits across New York state and the nation.

Under the terms of the court-ordered settlement, the company will pay a $150,000 penalty and up to $3 million in restitution to defrauded customers.    » read more »

April 18, 2008 -- HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett urged consumers to be alert for scam and "spam" text messages on their personal cell phones and urged consumers to never divulge personal information in response to an unsolicited text message.

Cellphone messages: Photo by Juli (CC)

Corbett explained that the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection has been receiving a steadily increasing number of complaints about unwanted cell phone text messages - primarily involving advertisements for prescription drugs and pornography.    » read more »

April 8, 2008 -- Information technology has grown to provide both government and the private sector with an efficient and timely means of delivering essential services around the world. As a result, these critical systems remain at risk from potential attacks via the Internet. It is the policy of the United States to prevent or minimize disruptions to our critical information infrastructure in order to protect the public, the economy, government services, and the national security of the United States.

The central telephone exchange in San Francisco: Photo by optically active (CC)    » read more »

April 07, 2008 -- MONTGOMERY - Alabama Governor Bob Riley announced Monday the state has received federal approval of its advanced communications plan for first responders and a $13.5 million homeland security grant to help implement the plan.

The State Interoperable Communications Plan, designed by state and local leaders, allows for technological advancement in communications for first responders across the state. Alabama is one of only twenty states to receive federal approval so far.    » read more »

Disclosure to be Improved; Charitable Programs to Benefit

BALTIMORE, MD (April 4, 2008) - Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler today announced an agreement with all of the major United States wireless carriers as well as Asurion Protection Services, a provider of cell phone insurance protection policies to the customers of the carriers.    » read more »

$5 Million to Improve High-Speed Internet Access and Digital Literacy

March 19, 2008 -- New York Governor David A. Paterson today announced that nine public/private sector partnerships will receive funds to help promote the research, design and implementation of innovative solutions to create affordable broadband Internet access for underserved urban and rural communities throughout the state.    » read more »

March 12, 2008 -- (Washington, DC) - Today, House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and 19 members of the House Judiciary Committee issued a statement regarding telecommunications immunity, as the House prepares to consider the FISA Amendments Act of 2008.

Following a review of classified information relating to the warrantless surveillance program and immunity for telecommunications companies, the members reported their conclusion that the administration has not established a valid and credible case to justify granting blanket retroactive immunity at this time.    » read more »

March 3, 2008 -- THE PRESIDENT: General Wasden, thank you, sir; and General Lynch, thank you for having the Attorney General and me here to visit with the nation's Attorney Generals. I thank you very much for serving the country. I'm honored that you've stepped forward to say, I'm going to put my family in such a way that we're going to serve together. And I hope you have found the experience to be as enriching as I've found it -- my experience in public life to be.    » read more »

February 28, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, DC—Senator Edward M. Kennedy released the following statement in response to President Bush’s remarks on FISA this morning.

“At a time when Congress is willing to extend the Protect America Act, the President continues to use the specter of terrorism to push an agenda that has nothing to do with making America safer. If the telecommunications companies didn’t break the law, they do not need immunity. If they broke the law, the American people deserve to know the size and scope of their lawbreaking.    » read more »

National model for advertising integrity obtained through CyberFraud Task Force settlement

February 29, 2008 -- TALLAHASSEE, FL – In a significant step toward protecting consumers throughout the nation from unauthorized charges on cell phone bills, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that AT&T Mobility will be the first wireless company in the nation to police representations made in internet advertising for cell phone content to ensure fair and full disclosure.    » read more »

February 13, 2008 -- (Boise) – United Publishers of America, Inc., a telemarketer from Atlanta, Georgia, can no longer make telephone solicitations to Idahoans as part of a settlement agreement, Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden announced today. The settlement resolves allegations that the company’s telephone solicitations violated the Idaho Telephone Solicitations Act and the Idaho Consumer Protection Act.    » read more »

February 12, 2008 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Chairman of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, and Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) today introduced legislation to regulate robocalls.

The measure introduced by Feinstein and Specter would not ban robocalls, but instead places sensible restrictions on how and when the calls can be made – including limiting the hours within which calls can be made, limiting the number of calls that can be made to each household, and requiring callers to identify themselves at the beginning of the call.    » read more »

(As Entered into the Record)

February 6, 2008 -- Mr. President, the amendment that I’ve offered with Senators Kerry and Menendez addresses a serious problem with the FISA bill that we are now considering, and I am very pleased that it has been incorporated into the bill by unanimous consent.    » read more »

"I strongly oppose the blanket grant of retroactive immunity in the Intelligence Committee bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This Administration violated FISA by conducting warrantless surveillance of Americans for more than five years. They got caught, or they would probably still be doing it. When the public found out about the President’s illegal surveillance of Americans, the Administration and the telephone companies were sued by citizens who believe their privacy and their rights were violated.    » read more »

December 17, 2007 -- "The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act – FISA – is intended to protect both our national security and the privacy and civil liberties of Americans. We are considering amendments to that important Act that will provide new flexibility to our Intelligence Community. I think we all support surveillance authority and we have joined together to update FISA dozens of times since its historic passage after the intelligence abuses of earlier decades.    » read more »