Per the FTC’s request, federal courts in New York and Georgia temporarily halted three debt collection operations that allegedly violated federal law by threatening and deceiving consumers via text messages, emails and phone calls, a news release said Thursday. The defendants are known as Premier Debt Acquisitions, The Primary Group and Unified Global Group. The FTC said the defendants used text messages, emails and phone calls to falsely threaten to arrest or sue consumers, unlawfully contacted friends, family members and employers, withheld information consumers needed to confirm or dispute debts, and never identified themselves as debt collectors. The commission said it seeks to permanently end the unlawful practices and charged the defendants with violating the FTC Act and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. “Legitimate debt collectors know the rules,” said Consumer Protection Bureau Director Jessica Rich. “They can’t harass or lie to you, whether they send a text, email, or call you.” The commissioner vote approving the federal court complaints was unanimous. Unified Global Group had no immediate comment. Premier Debt Acquisitions and The Primary Group couldn't be reached for comment.
Comcast and Level 3 agreed to a multiyear interconnection accord as part of a broader "multi-faceted arrangement that will help both companies meet their customer needs into the next decade and beyond," said a joint news release Thursday. Comcast and Level 3 executives hailed the mutual benefits of the agreement. The companies said the pact will enhance their network capacity, covering their existing networks and any expansion during the term of the agreement, which wasn't specified. Level 3 and other backbone providers have been reaching interconnection agreements recently with major cable and telco ISPs, with some saying the net neutrality order with its complaint process, including for interconnection, may be spurring more cooperation (see 1505010033).
The FCC sought comment on recommended policy positions that came out of the FCC World Radiocommunication Conference Advisory Committee (WAC) Wednesday (see 1505200052). “Based upon an initial review of the draft recommendations forwarded to the Commission, the International Bureau, in coordination with other Commission Bureaus and Offices, tentatively concludes that we can generally support most of the attached WRC-15 Advisory Committee draft recommendations,” the FCC said Thursday. Comments are due on the proposals June 11.
NCTA backs FCC efforts to repurpose USF low-income money to promote broadband adoption by low-income consumers, the association said executives told Office of Strategic Planning Chief Jonathan Chambers and Wireline Bureau officials. Potential barriers are an "overly burdensome" eligible telecom carrier designation process "that could preclude broadband providers from participating in a Lifeline universal service program for broadband," said NCTA in a Wednesday filing in docket 12-23. It said cable operator programs for low-cost broadband to low-income consumers include: Bright House Networks, Cox Communications, Eagle Communications, Mediacom and Suddenlink's Connect2Compete; Comcast's Internet Essentials; and Midcontinent’s Broadband Lifeline Assistance program. Commissioners may vote on a Lifeline reform NPRM at their June 18 meeting (see 1505010051).
Former Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., said a court stay of the FCC net neutrality order that reclassified broadband under Communications Act Title II could make it more difficult for Congress to pass compromise legislation protecting net neutrality but keeping broadband under less-regulated Title I. In a Thursday teleconference held by the Internet Innovation Alliance, Boucher, chairman of the IIA, questioned the belief of some that a stay of the order would facilitate legislative efforts because it would give Democrats, who are content with the FCC's actions, more incentive to negotiate with Republicans. "It's a delicate matter," he said. Democrats and Republicans have roughly equal bargaining leverage, he said. If the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit imposes a stay, "that might motivate the Democrats" to negotiate, he said, but it could have "an equal and opposite effect" on Republicans not to act. "Republicans could say, 'Well, we're winning, so why would we want to give up anything?'" he said. Boucher said Republicans are willing to codify net neutrality protections in the law if Democrats are willing to shift broadband Internet access to Title I. He said new legislation was preferable to the status quo because the FCC order was both legally vulnerable to court challenges and politically vulnerable if the Republicans take over the White House, and thus the FCC, in 2017.
Americans want to watch TV on their smartphones and tablets, but usually don’t, because the price of data remains too high, Writers Guild of America, West said in comments posted Tuesday in FCC docket 12-268. “Unfortunately, as more spectrum has become available, wireless data has not become appreciably more affordable,” the group said. “The lack of competition in the wireless market allows the dominant carriers to keep prices high and the lack of pro-competitive safeguards has only exacerbated the problem.” One answer is setting aside at least 40 MHz of spectrum in the TV incentive auction, in each market, for competitive carriers, the group said. “Improving the pro-competitive spectrum reserve will promote a more competitive wireless market and help accelerate the growth of the online video market.”
FCC assertion of jurisdiction over interconnection agreements in its February net neutrality order was possibly the most surprising provision there and at odds with previous policies, said Free State Foundation scholar Daniel Lyons Tuesday in a paper released by the group. The order decided the FCC would develop interconnection jurisprudence “on a case-by-case basis in response to claims filed with the Commission under Section 208 alleging that broadband providers are engaged in unjust or unreasonable practices,” Lyons wrote. This is preferable to imposing prescriptive rules, yet leaves many questions unanswered, he said. “While the Commission has a role to play, it should approach any intervention with caution.” Interconnection markets are complex, competitive and evolving, and every consumer disruption isn't a market failure, said Lyons. The agency "should intervene when there is credible evidence of anticompetitive threats, but without distorting the natural evolution of interconnection markets or retarding the ability of networks to adapt to stimuli elsewhere in the Internet ecosystem,” Lyons wrote. A first step by the FCC should be developing a better understanding of interconnection markets and then it should intervene only when it needs to do so to protect consumers from “legitimate harm,” said the Boston College Law School associate professor.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a complaint and proposed consent order against PayPal in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, Tuesday, for “illegally signing up tens of thousands of consumers for its online credit product, PayPal Credit,” formerly known as Bill Me Later, CFPB Director Richard Cordray said about the complaint. CFPB alleges PayPal “lured in consumers to this product with deceptive advertising, signed up people without them knowing it, and then mishandled billing disputes when they arose,” Cordray said, which violates the Dodd-Frank Act. “This kind of conduct has no place in the consumer financial marketplace,” he said. Under the proposed consent order, PayPal would pay $15 million in consumer redress, a $10 million penalty and be required to improve disclosures and procedures, a CFPB news release said. Online shopping and the financial products that make it possible are great, but financial services providers need to ensure people are treated fairly and according to the law, Cordray said. "PayPal Credit takes consumer protection very seriously," a PayPal spokeswoman said. "We continually improve our products and enhance our communications to ensure a superior customer experience," she said. "Our focus is on ease of use, clarity and providing high-quality products that are useful to consumers and are in compliance with applicable laws."
LightSquared wants the FCC to let the L band be used for terrestrial broadband, calling it "vital" spectrum, an ex parte filing said ex-commission Chairman Reed Hundt and ex-Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg told agency Chairman Tom Wheeler and aides. Hundt, representing the satellite company, and Seidenberg, expected to chair the board of the firm exiting bankruptcy, also asked that spectrum at 1675-1680 MHz be made available for terrestrial purposes, said a filing posted Tuesday to docket 12-340. Speaking May 8 with Philip Verveer, Wheeler's senior counselor, and Wheeler wireless aide Renee Gregory, Hundt had made a similar request (see 1505140012), said a previous filing in the docket. Gregory and Verveer attended the more recent meeting as well.
Alex Nogales, president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, said Tuesday he's resigning from the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC) because he was unhappy the group had posted an article by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, which he said alleged that labor leader Cesar Chavez would not have supported NHMC’s work on net neutrality. MMTC removed the article from its website after it appeared there only briefly. Nogales announced his resignation in a blog post on the Huffington Post. MMTC had no immediate comment.