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Cell-phone-driving ban takes effect July 1 in Washington On July 1, the new law takes effect in Washington that bans driving while using a hand-held cell phone.   OLYMPIA, Wash. — On July 1, the new law takes effect in Washington that bans driving while using a hand-held cell phone.Drivers caught holding a mobile phone to their ear risk a $124 ticket. To talk on a phone drivers should use a handsfree headset or speaker phone. But, the law allows exceptions for people reporting an emergency or crime.The violation is a so-called secondary offense. That means an officer must...

Big Brother Britain: Government and councils to spy on ALL our phonesBy JASON LEWIS - More by this author » Last updated at 23:31pm on 29th September 2007  Officials from the top of Government to lowly council officers will be given unprecedented powers to access details of every phone call in Britain under laws coming into force tomorrow.  The new rules compel phone companies to retain information, however private, about all landline and mobile calls, and make them available to some 795 public bodies and quangos. The move, enacted by the personal decree of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, will...

 EXCLUSIVE    Taliban terrorises RAF families  Phone ban ... Our Boys in Afghanistan     By TOM NEWTON DUNN Defence EditorAugust 22, 2007      TALIBAN fanatics terrorised the wife of an RAF officer by phoning her and saying: “You’ll never see your husband alive — we have just killed him.”  Rebels in Afghanistan are targeting British forces’ families with hate calls after tapping into Our Boys’ mobile phones.The tearful wife rang the RAF fearing the worst after receiving the midnight call — and was told her husband was safe and well.But the Taliban calls are a sick new plot...

We are looking for advise on the best way to be able to call home for messages from various Asian cities: Manila, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul.

Russia is growing, and so are the shadows that are cast over the business proceedings there. The bureaucracy is still extremely burdensome and growing. And laws are a matter of convenience and seemingly circumvented at will -- or at least when you have the right connections. Corruption and middlemen are a matter of course, and bribes are expected and given. Confiscation of private goods -- i.e., Motorola's ongoing fiasco -- and resale for profit is old news. Legitimate dealings are called smuggling. And smuggling is called smuggling. Russian law allows confiscated material in criminal investigations to be sold or destroyed...

www.motorola.com and www.nokia.com are going head-to-head in the southern city of Madras, India. But, Nokia is throwing the bigger punches. Nokia announced plans to build a $150-million plant near Madras. Motorola countered with a plan to invest $100 million in a plant of its own. Where do these companies get all of this money? $150 mill, $100 mil, and yesterday Yahoo put up $60 mil to invest in South Korea. Could someone please drop a million near me, or invest in me? India is one of the fastest growing handset markets. Gee, I wonder what country is number one. Nokia...

A flood of complaints over aggressive and questionable tactics used by telephone solicitors has prompted the government to consider banning such sales in Norway.Government minister Karita Bekkemellem says she's shocked over the methods used by some salespeople on the phone, also known as telemarketers. Never before has Norway's consumer advocate handled more complaints."We have to do something," Bekkemellem told newspaper Aftenposten on Friday.Bekkemellem also threatened to ban telephone sales several years ago, when she was a minister in a previous government. She admits that industry pressure and the fact that telemarketing creates many jobs ended up quashing her plan to...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - April 10, 2006 - Think your phone bill is high? A Malaysian man says he nearly fainted when he got $218 trillion phone bill, and yes, that's in U.S. The man, Yahaya Wahab, says he's been ordered to pay up within ten days or face prosecution. The New Straits Times reports the bill was for a line that was supposed to have been disconnected in January. The unhappy phone customer says he can't wait to face Telekom Malaysia in court, if the company follows through with its threat.

A new government could spell the end of many telephone sales approaches, but humanitarian organizations will in any event be allowed to try to raise funds.The Socialist Left Party (SV) has proposed strict regulation of telemarketing, and potential coalition partner Labor is willing to consider tougher measures, newspaper Bergens Tidende reports.Current Minister of Children and Family Affairs Laila Dåvøy, a Christian Democrat, agrees that something should be done."I see that this has become a big problem for many people and this is particularly because the right to deny approaches has not worked properly. Even if the telephone subscriber has registered...

Oslo, Norway--More cellphones are ringing in Norway than there are people to answer them, as subscriptions soar, officials figures showed on Monday.And the Norwegians are not the only cellphone enthusiasts.On the same day, Lithuania also reported that the number of cellphone subscribers surpassed the population of the Baltic country.In Norway, which boasts one of the world's highest mobile penetration rates, there were 4,7-million registered cellphone subscriptions in 2004, indicating that 102% of the country's population has become portable, the Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority said in its annual report.The large number of cellphone subscriptions has taken its toll on fixed...

Jane Murray was fuming as she answered the phone, and, hearing her husband's voice, let it rip: their teenagers had once again left the bathroom littered with empty shampoo bottles despite repeated lectures on tidying up. It was a routine parental exchange, but not one Ms. Murray would have indulged in had she taken a moment to collect herself. The problem was one of context. Ms. Murray's husband, Col. John M. Murray, was calling from Baghdad, where he commands 6,000 soldiers of the First Cavalry Division out of Fort Hood, Tex. Over nine time zones and many months of separation,...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

In a victory for Verizon Communications, a measure in a new Pennsylvania law will make it harder for cities to build high-speed Internet networks that compete with major telecommunications providers. The measure, part of a broad telecommunications law that was signed late Tuesday by Gov. Edward G. Rendell, has been watched closely by telephone companies and cities across the country. The industry and municipal governments have increasingly found themselves at odds, as cities try to spur the growth of high-speed Internet access by building their own networks - often in competition with the dominant local phone company. Under the new...

HOW IT WORKS HIGH-speed Internet access usually comes to homes through one of two wires: a telephone line for D.S.L. subscribers, or a coaxial cable for cable modem users. But an emerging technology known as broadband over power lines, or B.P.L., may soon offer a third wire into homes, channeling high-speed data through a somewhat improbable conduit: an ordinary electrical outlet. B.P.L. is the ultimate in plug-and-play. Users plug a small power line modem into any wall outlet and then connect the modem to a computer with a U.S.B. or Ethernet cable, or through a wireless Wi-Fi connection. The appeal...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) avoided telephones, had a special laboratory test his food and went on a palace-building binge, all in a bid to shore up his personal security, a new U.S. report said on Wednesday. The comprehensive report by the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq (news - web sites) portrayed the deposed Iraqi leader as a typical dictator who ruled by fear, but who became increasingly paranoid and isolated in the years before his 2003 capture. "By Saddam's own account, he had only used a telephone twice since 1990, for fear of being...

At first glance, it might seem like the simple extension of a standard tool in the fight against the bad guys. But in fact, wiretapping Internet phones to monitor criminals and terrorists is costly and complex, and potentially a big burden on new businesses trying to sell the phone service. Earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously to move forward with rules that would compel the businesses to make it possible for law enforcement agencies to eavesdrop on Internet calls. But developing systems to wiretap calls that travel over high-speed data networks - a task that the companies...

How do you like this new Bell Canada 411 Dial-And-Win 75¢ instant lotto game? It’s great fun. You simply dial 411, pay your 75¢ fee, name the person you want and then see if it’s one of the lucky numbers they have listed. “Celine Dion’s personal line? I’m sorry, we have no such listing. Better luck next time!” On the other hand, for 75¢, you could get my number. I asked Bell Canada for an unlisted one and they said sure, no problem. But, with that waspish sense of humour for which they’re renowned, they then stuck it in the...

Vonage said Thursday it intends to fight the first-ever decision by a U.S. state to regulate companies that provide Internet-based phone services. Minnesota's Public Utilities Commission unanimously decided two weeks ago that the New Jersey-based voice over IP (VoIP) provider is subject to the rules and regulations that cover traditional phone companies. The state has ordered Vonage to get the proper telephone company business licenses and to immediately pay fees to the state's Department of Administration to support 911 services, according to a representative for the Minnesota PUC. Bill Wilhelm, an attorney for Vonage, called the decision into question Thursday,...