E-Commerce Blog

Federal regulators have rejected proposed changes by the Federal Communications Commission that would require all U.S. cell phone towers to have at least eight hours of backup power. The White House Office of Management and Budget said late Friday that the FCC failed to get public comment before passing the regulations last year and didn’t show that the information required from wireless companies would actually be useful. A federal appeals court put the rules on hold this summer pending a review by the OMB, which is tasked with overseeing federal regulations.

Excerpt from:
OMB Puts Kibosh on FCC’s Cell Tower Backup Rules

Sprint Nextel has successfully rolled out Xohm in Baltimore. The new 4G wireless WiMax network runs on 2.5 GHz and delivers downloads at 2 to 4 Mbps — but it is clear the telecom service provider is still carefully negotiating the industry land mine that has become network management. On the same day the company introduced its service, it was also confronted with pointed questions about how it will manage its network — a hot-button subject since Comcast’s run-in with Internet consumer advocates and the FCC earlier this year.

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Xohm Rollout Troubled by Comcast’s Shadow

Sprint Nextel sustained a harsh legal blow this week that could have wide-ranging effects across the entire mobile telephone industry. A judge in California ruled that it is illegal for Sprint to charge so-called early termination fees when customers discontinue their wireless phone service before their contracts with the carrier end. Sprint must now reimburse its customers in California $18.2 million it collected in early termination fees. It must also discontinue its efforts to collect another $54.7 million in early termination fees from Californians.

Read the original here:
California Judge Terminates Sprint’s Reviled Cancellation Fees

Virtually no one objects to the concept of adopting laws and policies to stem the tide of child pornography proliferating on the Internet. So, the announcement on Tuesday that Verizon, Time Warner Cable and Sprint Nextel have agreed to block access to Web sites that harbor such content was uniformly welcomed — even if the end result will be to keep just a small percentage of child pornography offline. The Internet service providers will confront daunting technical and legal issues as they attempt to execute on their commitment.

Continued here:
Do ISPs Stand a Chance Against Child Pornographers?

Three Internet service providers have agreed to be more proactive in policing the dissemination of child pornography across their networks. In response to some prodding by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Verizon, Time Warner Cable and Sprint Nextel have agreed to block access to Web sites, bulletin boards and newsgroups engaged in the promotion of child pornography. The ISPs have agreed to reference a list provided by the Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the course of monitoring their traffic for offenders.

The rest is here:
ISPs Aim to Choke Child Porn Traffic