AT&T Mobility is being fined a record $105 million by the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission for illegally adding extra, unauthorized charges on customer cell phone bills and then failing to act promptly to remove the charges when users complained.
The fine includes $80 million for direct refunds to customers as well as $25 million in penalties to be paid to the FCC, the FTC and to attorney generals across the United States. Consumers had been reporting incidents to the FCC about the so-called “bill-cramming” practices for years.
The WiFi Alliance is adding more capabilities to its Passpoint initiative, which enables users with smartphones, tablets or notebooks who have signed up for the program to automatically connect to WiFi hotspots without the hassle of having to sign onto each one.
The new capabilities in Passpoint include a streamlined process for creating new user accounts, which enables people to sign onto the program on the spot. In addition, the registration process is more secure and WiFi service providers can now distribute their subscriber policies through the hotspot.
Twitter has filed a lawsuit against the United States government, claiming that the government has placed unconstitutional restrictions on the details it can release about federal surveillance requests for some of its account holders.
Twitter argues in its 19-page lawsuit that it wants to provide more details to the public about the kinds of government surveillance requests it receives.
Microsoft has turned its attention to the customer relationship management side of its Dynamics application portfolio with the release of Sales Productivity, a bundle that includes Dynamics CRM, Office 365 and Power BI.
Paco Contreras, director of product marketing for Microsoft Business Solutions, explained that Sales Productivity helps keep all members of an organization on the same page. The offering is available now for an introductory price of $65 per user per month. Currently, Office 365 customers can upgrade for $45 per user per month.