Free Republic

A new standard, called Stir/Shaken, could come to your mobile provider by the end of the year. But there are already ways around it. Anthony Marino set his mobile phone to “Do Not Disturb” before going to bed, but he sensed it flicker in the dark. The next morning, he saw he had missed roughly 30 calls: at 4:15 a.m., 4:34, 4:45, 5:08 and 5:12, and for two hours after that. Most appeared as “Lithuania” on his caller ID, although they could have come from anywhere. “I hate to say it, but I don’t pick up the phone anymore, which...

A trade group for major phone companies including Verizon and AT&T wants Congress to slap new regulations on Facebook. Walter McCormick, the president of U.S. Telecom, called on lawmakers Thursday to subject online companies that provide communications services to the same regulatory burdens as the phone industry. "It's a tale of two networks--ours, built on wireline networks, and theirs built on software," McCormick said, speaking on a Minority Media and Telecommunications Council conference. While phone companies face countless state and federal regulations, "Facebook is free of any regulation whatsoever," McCormick said. He pointed out that Facebook's user base of 750...

Ernesto "Che" Guevara's famous beret is gone. His iconic beard is filthy and matted against skeletal cheekbones. One bushy eyebrow arches over his half-open eyes. As a Bolivian country surgeon methodically saws off his lifeless hands, Che appears vaguely amused. Gustavo Villoldo, a stocky figure in green army fatigues, stands just inside the tiny laundry room where the Cuban revolutionary's corpse rests atop a sink. For five months, the CIA operative has led soldiers hunting Guevara through the rough crags and valleys of southern Bolivia. Less than 24 hours ago, his team had captured and executed him in a village...

... Williams said he attempted to use the man’s cell phone signal to locate him, but the man was behind on his phone bill and the Verizon operator refused to connect the signal unless the sheriff’s department agreed to pay the overdue bill. After some disagreement, Williams agreed to pay $20 on the phone bill in order to find the man. But deputies discovered the man just as Williams was preparing to make arrangements for the payment. ... “I was more concerned for the person’s life,” Williams said. “It would have been nice if Verizon would have turned on his...

Three chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union sued AT&T Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc. in state court Friday to block the telecommunications companies from providing phone records to the federal government. Two complaints filed in San Francisco Superior Court claim the companies violated state law by helping the National Security Agency assemble the largest database in the world. The complaints name 17 individuals as plaintiffs, including a former congressman, a nationally syndicated journalist and a psychiatrist. The allegations, which a spokesman from Verizon denied, are based on a May 11 article from USA Today, which said AT&T, Verizon and...

SAN FRANCISCO--An AT&T attorney indicated in federal court on Wednesday that the Bush administration may have provided legal authorization for the telecommunications company to open its network to the National Security Agency.Federal law may "authorize and in some cases require telecommunications companies to furnish information" to the executive branch, said Bradford Berenson, who was associate White House counsel when President Bush authorized the NSA surveillance program in late 2001 and is now a partner at the Sidley Austin law firm in Washington, D.C.Far from being complicit in an illegal spying scheme, Berenson said, "AT&T is essentially an innocent bystander."AT&T may...

Why all the 'Phone" companies offer 'free calls' to P.R.,Guam, Canada, all over USA...BUT---Not Mexico?

Federal telecommunication regulators Friday scrapped rules that phone companies say have limited their ability to compete with cable TV operators in selling high-speed Internet service. But what's good for the companies may be bad for customers, according to advocacy groups, which predicted higher prices, fewer choices and slower innovation as a result of the ruling by the Federal Communications Commission. The panel, in a 4-0 vote, ruled that Verizon Communications Inc. and other so-called Baby Bells no longer had to provide discounted access to their high-speed lines for independent Internet service providers such as EarthLink Inc. Phone lines carrying data...