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The Federal Communications Commission issued a $5 million fine against NobelTel, claiming the prepaid calling card company deceived consumers. Officials said that NobelTel advertised a $2 card that offered 400 minutes of calls to Mexico — but in reality, the card was exhausted after one 10-minute call. The company imposed various charges, such as "daily" and "hang-up" fees, which were poorly disclosed, according to the FCC. The FCC's Enforcement Bureau has cracked down on deceptive marketing for calling cards in the past year, issuing $30 million in fines against six companies. In each of the cases, the FCC said the companies targeted immigrant populations, claiming they could call their families in their native countries for just a few dollars. But officials found that the cards, which are widely available in convenience stores and gas stations, often allowed for only a fraction of the advertised minutes.

Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) has signed a bill that limits the regulatory authority of the state's Public Utilities Commission over Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and IP-enabled services (voice, data, or video) there until 2020.

In a letter to members of the California Senate, he said that consumer safeguards remained in place, that the bill would spur the growth of "innovative services that have become a hallmark of our state." Gov Brown pointed out that VoIP providers will continue to contribute to the Universal Service Fund, provide e911 access, were still subject to consumer protection laws as well as PUC oversight of pole attachments. But the bill does prevent PUC's from regulating IP video, voice and data services on their own initiative, limiting them to actions expressly delegated by Federal law or directed by statute.

Penguin is working with digital distributor 3M to make e-books available to some libraries again — first through a previously announced pilot program with the New York and Brooklyn Public Libraries, and then through about 70 other libraries nationwide by the end of the year. 3M Cloud Library also does not work with nearly as many client libraries as competitor OverDrive, although the company is expanding. 3M Cloud Library has over 70 client libraries in the U.S., while OverDrive works with 19,000 libraries globally (I’m getting the U.S. number) — so it is less likely that a library near you offers e-books through 3M. Finally, 3M still does not support Kindle. It works with PCs, iOS, Nook and Android.

Michigan and Utah topped the 2012 Digital States Survey, a comprehensive biennial review of the technology practices of state governments conducted by the Center for Digital Government (CDG). CDG is the research and advisory division of e.Republic, the company that publishes Government Technology. Ranking slightly behind Utah and Michigan — which earned the survey’s only A grades — were California, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and West Virginia, each earning an A minus. Twenty-two states earned B or B minus grades and 18 states received a C or C minus. Florida and Idaho received the lowest grades in this year's survey, earning D grades.