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Tech NewsFCC Curbs Price-Gouging on Phone Calls for Incarcerated People
The FCC today unanimously voted to cut cruelly overpriced prison and jail phone call rates, imposed by telecom companies that have creatively fished for every last penny from incarcerated people and their families. In an announcement, the FCC said that interstate calls will no longer exceed $0.12 per minute for prisons and $0.14 for jails: … Continued
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Tech NewsTelecoms Paid Henchmen to Flood FCC With Anti-Net Neutrality Comments From Stolen Identities
A group backed by the largest internet service providers in the U.S. secretly funded the submission of millions of fraudulent comments opposing federal net neutrality rules, according to a report published Thursday by the New York Office of the Attorney General that surprises absolutely no one. The campaigns were, the OAG said, part of an … Continued
By Andrew Couts -
Tech NewsInternetWhistleblower Alleges AT&T Overcharged Underfunded Schools for Phone and Internet Service
A former in-house lawyer for AT&T alleges the company systemically charged the nation’s most underfunded schools a higher rate for phone and internet service. In an interview with The Washington Post, Theodore Marcus said the telecom ignored federal E-Rate program rules, which offers schools and libraries in need of discounts on various telecommunications services anywhere … Continued
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Tech NewsThe Guy Who Literally Coined ‘Net Neutrality’ Now Works for Biden
The reign of telecoms shills meddling in internet regulations seems to be coming to a close, at least for now. The New York Times reports that Joe Biden has chosen Tim Wu, who’s credited with defining foundational concepts like net neutrality, to serve on the National Economic Council in a new role as a special … Continued
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Tech NewsInternetU.S. Drops Net Neutrality Lawsuit Against California
The U.S. Department of Justice has dropped its Trump-era lawsuit against California enacting its own net neutrality rules. The news, spotted by Ars Technica, means the federal government is letting the state do what it wants when it comes to net neutrality, which is in line with the Biden Administration’s promise to reinstate the laws … Continued
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Tech NewsCharter Waves the White Flag on Data Caps as Trump Leaves the Building
Mere days before Donald Trump’s helicopter shrank into the skies, we got a promising early indication that telecom companies’ hog-wild joyride under Trump’s FCC is coming to an end. Last week, Charter Communications, the company behind Spectrum, withdrew its petition to impose data caps: basically its attempt to restrict customers’ internet usage in order to … Continued
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Tech NewsFCC Chairman Quietly Abandoned Attempt to ‘Clarify’ Section 230
Approximately 5 million years ago back in October, Federal Communications Chairman Ajit Pai vowed to “move forward with a rulemaking” to “clarify” Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a key legal shield that protects online platforms from liability for certain types of content posted by users. However, apparently he quietly let the clock run … Continued
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Tech NewsSenate Votes to Appoint Unqualified Trump Ally Nathan Simington to the FCC
In another attempt to leave the mark of the Trump administration behind long after President-elect Joe Biden assumes office, the Senate today voted 49-46 along party lines to appoint Nathan Simington, who has no experience in telecom or consumer protection, to the Federal Communications Commission, Vice reports. The confirmation comes on the heels of Trump-appointed … Continued
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Tech NewsRepublican Plan to Keep the Internet Screwed Under Biden Moves Ahead
President-elect Joe Biden hasn’t even assumed office yet, and it’s already time for him to reach across the aisle and say with sincere force, “c’mon man!” Along with combating a once-in-a-generation plague and a severe economic recession, cleaning up Ajit Pai’s FCC is a necessary early step for the Biden administration to get the country … Continued
By Rhett Jones -
Tech NewsNobody’s Gonna Miss You
Cartoonish internet supervillain Ajit Pai, the Donald Trump-appointed Republican chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, announced Monday that he is leaving the agency on Jan. 20 before the incoming Biden administration shows him the door. Pai’s departure marks the end of an era at the FCC overshadowed by scandals, screw-overs, and screw-ups. Despite the list … Continued
By Andrew Couts -
Tech NewsTech PolicyAjit Pai, Who Abandoned FCC Prison Phone Rate Caps, Urges States to Clean Up His Mess
Federal Communications Commission chief Ajit Pai is urging that states impose caps on the price of intrastate prison phone calls—ones that existed on the federal level until Pai’s FCC abandoned them in court. Per Ars Technica, on Monday Pai sent a letter to the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (a group of state utility … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsTech PolicyRepublican FCC Commissioner Has ‘Deep Reservations’ on Whether Trump’s Social Media Order Is Bullshit
Donald Trump’s ridiculous and likely unenforceable executive order demanding the Federal Communications Commission begin punishing internet companies insufficiently subservient to conservatives is drawing skepticism from his own side. The GOP controls three out of five commissioner slots at the FCC, which Trump’s order in May tasked with reinterpreting Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. … Continued
By Tom McKay
