Senate Considers Striking Down 'Common Carrier' Exception

Seeking to bring more transparency and consumer-friendliness to the U.S. mobile and wireless industry, Sens Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND) have introduced a bill that would for the first time bring wireless carriers under the authority of the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC Reauthorization Act of 2008 would repeal the "common carrier exception," which has been in force since the 1930s and exempts big telecommunications providers from the requirements of the FTC Act. The Dorgan/Inouye bill "repeals this exemption, allowing the Commission to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive acts or practices by telecommunications common carriers, particularly in the areas of advertising, marketing, and billing," according to a joint statement outlining the bill's provisions.
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