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August 2016

Washington state sues Comcast, says it sold near-worthless service plans

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced a $100 million consumer protection lawsuit against Comcast, alleging that the nation's biggest cable company "engag[ed] in a pattern of deceptive practices constituting more than 1.8 million individual violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act." Comcast's conduct affected about 500,000 customers who purchased service protection plans in Washington, Ferguson said. State officials filed the lawsuit in King County Superior Court, seeking refunds for consumers.

The "lawsuit accuses Comcast of misleading 500,000 Washington consumers and deceiving them into paying at least $73 million in subscription fees over the last five years for a near-worthless 'protection plan' without disclosing its significant limitations," the state AG's announcement said. "Customers who sign up for Comcast’s Service Protection Plan pay a $4.99 monthly fee ostensibly to avoid being charged if a Comcast technician visits their home to fix an issue covered by the plan." Washington said it alleges 1.8 million violations because Comcast made false claims regarding the scope of its service protection plans to 700,000 customers, and "deceptively represented the scope of its Customer Guarantee to over 1.17 million Washington consumers." Comcast allegedly led customers to believe that they needed to buy service protection plans to get services that were actually covered for free by the "Customer Guarantee."

FCC Reaches $200,000 Settlement With TP-Link In Wi-Fi Router Investigation

The Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau has reached a $200,000 settlement with TP-Link, resolving an investigation into certain Wi-Fi routers that were not in full compliance with Commission rules pertaining to power levels. As part of the settlement, TP-Link has agreed to adopt robust compliance measures to ensure that its existing and future Wi-Fi routers are in compliance. TP-Link has also agreed to work with the open-source community and Wi-Fi chipset manufacturers to enable consumers to install third-party firmware on their Wi-Fi routers.

In its investigation, the Enforcement Bureau found that TP-Link marketed several Wi-Fi router models in the US that included a user setting that violated Section 15.15(b) of the Commission’s rules by enabling the routers to operate at power levels that exceed their approved parameters on certain restricted Wi-Fi channels. To resolve the matter, TP-Link has taken measures to halt the sale of noncompliant units and ensure that new units are in compliance. TP-Link cooperated with the Bureau’s investigation and, as part of the consent decree, has agreed to pay a $200,000 fine and implement a compliance program to ensure future compliance with the Commission’s rules and regulations.

Google Fiber stalls in Nashville in fight over utility poles

Google Fiber started examining Nashville (TN) for a possible deployment more than two and a half years ago, it confirmed plans to build in January 2015, and it started serving a few apartment and condominium buildings in the city in April of 2016. But further progress is being slowed in part by difficulties obtaining access to utility poles, and legislation designed to solve the problem is being resisted by incumbents AT&T and Comcast.

Google Fiber needs access to thousands of telephone poles and must cooperate with the area's other Internet providers to install their wires. Most of the poles are owned by Nashville Electric Service, the local utility, while AT&T is the second biggest owner of utility poles in the city. When Google notifies the owner that it needs access to a pole, the owner "will then notify each telecom company that it needs to send a crew to the pole—one after another—to move their equipment and accommodate the new party," Nashville Scene wrote. "The process can take months, even if contractually mandated time frames are followed. Google Fiber officials and operatives working on their behalf suggest that’s not always the case."

The Limits of Net Neutrality

[Commentary] Network neutrality is about attempting to limit the power of Internet access network operators (like Charter or Comcast) to choose winners and losers among the services that have to use their wires — because, remember, competition is so limited — to reach consumers. It’s a kind of synthetic attempt to keep the operators from favoring their own commercial interests when sending Internet traffic from other people to you (or vice versa). But the problem is that where network operators don’t have to compete, and use their digital pipes for multiple purposes (like providing their own TV services that feel just like over-the-top video services), it’s so easy for them to act like media distribution companies, slicing and dicing and packaging, rather than transport providers. And ultimately, that kind of behavior is designed to serve their commercial interests. It’s only rational. But it’s harmful to new competitors and ultimately to consumers.

In the US, the net neutrality issue has been forced to bear too much weight. It stands in for a larger problem that a single law or regulation can’t address. It’s like a small white bird perched on the head of a hippo. The little bird is noticeable and interesting, but really just a side-effect of the reality of the hippo himself. And the hippo in this metaphor is the lack of competition for network access services, particularly higher-capacity services, in a fundamentally unregulated market.

[Susan Crawford is the John A. Reilly Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a co-director of the Berkman Center]

T-Mobile says delay in approving LTE-U devices is stifling innovation

Citing continued frustration with the process of developing a coexistence plan for Wi-Fi and LTE-U devices, T-Mobile US executives are keeping the pressure on the Federal Communications Commission to begin approving devices that incorporate LTE-U technology no later than September. "The delay in approving LTE-U devices is stifling innovation and investment in the communications ecosystem – one of the most vibrant segments of our economy that directly affects all Americans. There is no reason, therefore, to wait beyond September 2016 to permit use of this innovative new technology," wrote Steve Sharkey, T-Mobile VP of government affairs, technology and engineering policy, in an ex parte filing.

T-Mobile also brought Nokia experts to the conversation, who said they're prepared today to test devices for coexistence based on the current version of the Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) test plan. The Wi-Fi Alliance has said it expects to finalize the test plan by late September. It was delayed after stakeholders were unable to reach consensus on certain signal level tests. T-Mobile said in its most recent filing that while the test plan is nearly complete, it has seen numerous deadlines come and go without finalization of the procedure. Therefore, it's saying that it wants the commission to move forward with a process that doesn't allow delays to extend past September 2016.

Why Smartphones Are Now Adding Iris Scanners

For those who value their privacy, Samsung might be making it a little harder for someone to break into your phone. If you’ve ever configured your smartphone to offer up that 6-digit entry code, you’ll be pleased to know that the conglomerate has its eyes set on retinal scanning technology. But as we approach the release of the Galaxy Note 7, it's fitting to wonder exactly how secure this relatively new breed of biometrics might be.

The concept of utilizing iris scanners to unlock phones is not exactly novel. In fact, it’s old news for ZTE, a China-based multinational telecommunications company that released the ZTE Grand S, which featured retinal scanning in the form of the “Eyeprint ID,” last March. Biometrics and consumer technology have long gone hand in hand. Apple has featured fingerprint scanning through “Touch ID” in its iPhone since 2013. While such technology has proven to be reliable, it is not always the safest option. If you’ve ever seen a crime show before, you will know that fingerprints can quite easily be lifted and copied. Iris scanners, along with other biometric applications, are indeed susceptible to foul play. However, this is not to say that retinal scanning is of no use. ZTE allows for various biometrics, fingerprints, Eyeprint ID, and voice recognition, to be used in conjunction with each other. The value of such security measures are best observed in layers. Of course, the more security steps the user installs, the less likely their phone’s data is to be compromised.

Verizon wants to run every part of your life

Verizon no longer wants to be your mother's Ma Bell spinoff. Sure, the company is still viewed by many as a sleepy telecommunication company. But it is trying to reshape itself into a mobile technology giant with tentacles in the worlds of media as well as connected cars. The ink is barely dry on Verizon's $4.8 billion purchase of Yahoo's core operating assets. But Verizon announced another notable acquisition with the purchase of Ireland-based vehicle tracking firm Fleetmatics for $2.4 billion. The deal will bring Verizon more than 37,000 customers and 737,000 subscribers for Fleetmatics' software, which helps track vehicle location, fuel usage, speed and mileage among other things. Verizon clearly realizes mobility isn't just about people texting, Snapchatting and watching YouTube videos on their smartphones.

Mobility is also the use of technology to make it easier for people and businesses to access information in their cars or trucks. Yahoo is a mobile bet too. The acquisition of Yahoo shows that Verizon also wants to be part of the mobile advertising and content arena. The combination of Yahoo and AOL -- which Verizon scooped up for $4.4 billion in 2015 -- has the potential to gain more ground in the battle for mobile supremacy -- a war that is currently being won by Google and Facebook.

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