In what the Federal Trade Commission is calling a first-of-its-kind verdict, a jury has found that a Utah man and his three movie companies are responsible for a variety of “deceptive and unlawful” selling practices that include 117 million illegal telemarketing calls.In a case that has already dragged on since 2011, the jury ruling enforces both the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule and its enormously popular Do Not Call Registry rules. The judge has yet to access civil penalties, but since they can be as high as $16,000 per violation it’s safe to assume the total will fall somewhere south of the $1.9 trillion maximum for just those illegal calls.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The typo itself – an Associated Press story reported that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1965 instead of 1865 – was just that, a typo, as even a middle-schooler knows our 16th president never lived to hear the Beatles.However, among journalists of a certain age (mine), the distressing though not unexpected aspect of the miscue was that the erroneous date made it onto so many prestigious news sites. As a 1970s-era college friend of mine put it in an email subject line: “Copy editing was a fine profession ...”Meaning that back before the near-extinction of copy editors, it would have been unlikely that the Associated Press would have allowed such a gaffe, never mind that it would have gone unnoticed by so many AP-subscriber news organizations.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
So we live in a world where a guy can’t begin to sell vaping-related goods over the Internet without being shaken down by a patent troll claiming a legal right to the courtesy of sending USPS tracking codes via email.
From an Electronic Frontier Foundation press release:
In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, EFF is representing Jason Cugle, who last year began running a small business selling accessories for electronic cigarettes. Cugle, a Maryland resident, received a letter accusing his company and website (Triple7vaping.com) of violating Shipping & Transit’s patents, which relate to ideas for monitoring and reporting the status of delivery vehicles. Cugle simply sent customer shipments through the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and manually emailed each customer a message saying the package had been shipped and providing the USPS tracking number. Florida-based Shipping & Transit claims its patents cover a variety of methods of notifying people when a vehicle is about to reach its destination, including Cugle’s.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
So we live in a world where a guy can’t begin to sell vaping-related goods over the Internet without being shaken down by a patent troll claiming a legal right to the courtesy of sending USPS tracking codes via email.
From an Electronic Frontier Foundation press release:
In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, EFF is representing Jason Cugle, who last year began running a small business selling accessories for electronic cigarettes. Cugle, a Maryland resident, received a letter accusing his company and website (Triple7vaping.com) of violating Shipping & Transit’s patents, which relate to ideas for monitoring and reporting the status of delivery vehicles. Cugle simply sent customer shipments through the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and manually emailed each customer a message saying the package had been shipped and providing the USPS tracking number. Florida-based Shipping & Transit claims its patents cover a variety of methods of notifying people when a vehicle is about to reach its destination, including Cugle’s.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Some 40,000 striking Verizon workers are poised to resume their regular job duties next week after their unions and the company reached a tentative contract agreement today.The strike has caused widespread service and installation delays, concerns among corporate customers that their needs would be neglected, as well as violent confrontations and allegations of vandalism and sabotage.Though the details of the pact have yet to be made public, it reportedly will run for four years and for the first time cover Verizon Wireless workers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Some 40,000 striking Verizon workers are poised to resume their regular job duties next week after their unions and the company reached a tentative contract agreement today.The strike has caused widespread service and installation delays, concerns among corporate customers that their needs would be neglected, as well as violent confrontations and allegations of vandalism and sabotage.Though the details of the pact have yet to be made public, it reportedly will run for four years and for the first time cover Verizon Wireless workers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Bob Ambrogi, who writes a terrific blog about technology and the law, today has posted remarkable details of a lawsuit settlement involving the head of a legal startup and a couple who allege he scammed them out of hundreds of thousands of dollars through, among other means, falsely claiming to be a lawyer, forging legal documents, fabricating court cases and even conjuring up a non-existent judge.
The executive, Derek Bluford – CEO of California Legal Pros and QuickLegal – says in the settlement document that he “does not admit that any of the allegations set forth in the complaint are true or valid.” Ambrogi made that point twice so I will, too. Bluford did agree to pay the plaintiffs, Changming Liu and Aimei Wei, $559,330. The couple had enlisted the services of Bluford and California Legal Pros in 2014 to help them evict a tenant. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Two years ago the FCC announced its intention to fine a Chinese electronics maker $34.9 million and a Florida man $48,000 for respectively selling and using illegal cell-phone jammers.Today the agency has issued press releases telling us that those fines have finally been made official, without either of the offending parties having bothered to mount a formal defense of their actions.[MORE: For sale: The nuclear bunker of your dreams]The wheels of justice, etc. And good luck collecting the $34.9 million.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
No one has ever mistaken me for a gadget guy, but the regular author of our “iPhone 7 Rumor Rollup” is unavailable this week so into the breach I step. I do carry an iPhone 5s, but, truth be told, there is close to zero chance that I will be upgrading. Nonetheless, in addition to genuine iPhone 7 rumors I intend to offer here a few suggestions that could conceivably up my upgrade odds.Behold ‘exclusive’ renders
The language used by Apple sites to convey the fruits of their rumor farming is an art form in and of itself. Take this headline from GSM Arena: “Exclusive: Apple iPhone 7 renders appear.” Exclusive is self-explanatory, though at times less than accurate. The interesting use here is “appear,” as in out of thin air. This wasn’t the case at all.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
“It’s time to take a stand,” says Redditor Grnslv, posting at r/iiiiiiitttttttttttt, “a subreddit dedicated specifically for Information Technology rage!”The stand in this case: opposition to compensation measured in calories. His screen capture explains: Redditor Grnslv
Not everyone participating in the ensuing discussion was a hardliner.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
“It’s time to take a stand,” says Redditor Grnslv, posting at r/iiiiiiitttttttttttt, “a subreddit dedicated specifically for Information Technology rage!”The stand in this case: opposition to compensation measured in calories. His screen capture explains: Redditor Grnslv
Not everyone participating in the ensuing discussion was a hardliner.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
After meeting with U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez yesterday, Verizon and union leaders representing some 40,000 striking workers agreed to continue stalled contract negotiations with the assistance of a federal mediator who has on her resume decades of experience as general counsel for a major union. From a U.S. Department of Labor press release:“The parties involved in the Verizon labor dispute, including the senior leadership of the unions and the company and their bargaining teams, met today in Washington with Labor Secretary Tom Perez and Allison Beck, an experienced federal mediator who the parties agreed today would assist in the ongoing contract negotiations. Discussions will continue in Washington this week under the auspices of the Department of Labor.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
After meeting with U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez yesterday, Verizon and union leaders representing some 40,000 striking workers agreed to continue stalled contract negotiations with the assistance of a federal mediator who has on her resume decades of experience as general counsel for a major union. From a U.S. Department of Labor press release:“The parties involved in the Verizon labor dispute, including the senior leadership of the unions and the company and their bargaining teams, met today in Washington with Labor Secretary Tom Perez and Allison Beck, an experienced federal mediator who the parties agreed today would assist in the ongoing contract negotiations. Discussions will continue in Washington this week under the auspices of the Department of Labor.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Representing a rare hopeful sign in what is now an acrimonious month-long work stoppage, Verizon management and some 40,000 striking employees have agreed to return to the bargaining table tomorrow after the weekend intervention of U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez.
From a Department of Labor press release:
Today, Secretary Perez met at the U.S. Labor Department with Lowell McAdam, chairman and CEO of Verizon; Chris Shelton, president of the Communications Workers of America; and Lonnie Stephenson, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The parties had an open, frank and constructive dialogue about finding a comprehensive way forward to resolve disputed issues and get people back to work. The parties agreed to return to the bargaining table on Tuesday to continue their discussion.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Representing a rare hopeful sign in what is now an acrimonious month-long work stoppage, Verizon management and some 40,000 striking employees have agreed to return to the bargaining table tomorrow after the weekend intervention of U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez.
From a Department of Labor press release:
Today, Secretary Perez met at the U.S. Labor Department with Lowell McAdam, chairman and CEO of Verizon; Chris Shelton, president of the Communications Workers of America; and Lonnie Stephenson, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The parties had an open, frank and constructive dialogue about finding a comprehensive way forward to resolve disputed issues and get people back to work. The parties agreed to return to the bargaining table on Tuesday to continue their discussion.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Yesterday we noted the light sentence given a Westborough, Mass., man who entombed a Verizon worker in an underground utility shed in 2013. Today comes news that another Verizon worker picketing in that same small town was struck by a pickup truck operated by a replacement worker who police say was driving on a suspended Florida license … allegedly while intoxicated … at just past 8 o’clock Thursday morning.From an entry on the Westborough Police Department’s Facebook page:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Because no one was physically injured or worse, headline writers such as yours truly felt able to characterize the August 2013 incident thusly: “Verizon worker thankful 911 operator could hear him now.”
Today the 73-year-old Massachusetts man who perpetrated the criminal act against that Verizon worker must be equally thankful that a lenient judge has sentenced him to only a year of probation plus an apparently long-overdue anger management class.
From a story in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Because no one was physically injured or worse, headline writers such as yours truly felt able to characterize the August 2013 incident thusly: “Verizon worker thankful 911 operator could hear him now.”
Today the 73-year-old Massachusetts man who perpetrated the criminal act against that Verizon worker must be equally thankful that a lenient judge has sentenced him to only a year of probation plus an apparently long-overdue anger management class.
From a story in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
My first thought yesterday upon seeing that Cisco Partners was asking its Twitter audience to help name its new blog was, “What, have these people learned nothing from the Boaty McBoatface kerfuffle?”Alas, the Cisco social media folks weren’t born yesterday, so they had the good sense to limit those wanting to help name the blog to only three choices.
As of this morning, the third option – Weekly Rewind – was enjoying a comfortable lead.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
My first thought yesterday upon seeing that Cisco Partners was asking its Twitter audience to help name its new blog was, “What, have these people learned nothing from the Boaty McBoatface kerfuffle?”Alas, the Cisco social media folks weren’t born yesterday, so they had the good sense to limit those wanting to help name the blog to only three choices.
As of this morning, the third option – Weekly Rewind – was enjoying a comfortable lead.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Paul McNamara