AT&T and Verizon aren’t doing enough to protect their customers from being harassed by unwanted robocalls, Consumers Union said Tuesday. When CU launched its End Robocalls campaign in February, AT&T and Verizon responded with letters outlining their efforts, but CU said those efforts have failed to put a dent in the unwanted calls targeting customers. CenturyLink hasn't responded to CU’s campaign, it said. In response to the campaign, both AT&T and Verizon highlighted their work with government, industry and engineering groups to address robocalls and touted existing technologies in the marketplace, CU said. But no effective tools are currently available for free to most consumers, it said. Requests for comment from both AT&T and Verizon were not responded to immediately Tuesday. AT&T and Verizon have argued that call-blocking tools would prevent customers from receiving legitimate robocalls, CU said. It said customers deserve the right to decide for themselves whether the benefits of using call-blocking tools outweigh any potential downside and added that customers could provide carriers with a “white list” to let trusted numbers go through.

The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) said the FCC proposal, in a November NPRM, to establish a new class of 911 network operations center (NOC) providers is unworkable. Under the proposal, these NOCs would be “responsible for monitoring their networks to detect disruptions or degradations in 911 service, and for affirmatively communicating relevant information, as appropriate, to other stakeholders.” ATIS said other commenters have already opposed the plan. “ATIS shares the view of many commenters that the proposed 911 NOC role is unworkable and should not be implemented,” its Monday comments said. “As an alternative to regulatory mandates, ATIS supports an industry-driven, consensus-based approach and would be willing to help support this approach through its industry committees,” including its Network Reliability Steering Committee. The ATIS comments were posted in docket 14-193.

Microsoft filed its reply brief in its “ongoing legal challenge to the U.S. government’s attempt to force us to turn over a customer’s email stored in our Irish data center,” Executive Vice President-Legal and Corporate Affairs Brad Smith said in a blog post Thursday. “As we stated in our brief, we believe the law is on the side of privacy in this case,” Smith said. “This case is about how we best protect privacy, ensure that governments keep people safe, and respect national sovereignty while preserving the global nature of the Internet.” Microsoft doesn’t completely agree with the government, but “outdated electronic privacy laws need to be modernized,” he said. “Law enforcement needs to be able to do its job, but it needs to do it in a way that respects fundamental rights, including the personal privacy of people around the world and the sovereignty of other nations,” Smith said. “Until U.S. law is rewritten, we believe that the court in our case should honor well-established precedents that limit the government’s reach from extending beyond U.S. borders.”

TechFreedom and a “coalition of privacy advocates” announced the launch of Fight215.org Wednesday. The development was expected (see 1504080043). Fight215 “lets Americans urge their representatives in Congress to end the NSA’s unconstitutional mass surveillance based on Section 215 of the Patriot Act,” a TechFreedom news release said. President Barack Obama "has the power to end bulk collection of our records at any time, but has -- thus far -- chosen not to," said TechFreedom President Berin Szoka. "Where the White House has failed to protect our Constitutional rights, Congress must step into the void. We cannot afford to rubber-stamp the Patriot Act -- yet again -- without significant reforms.”

Uber said it's introducing "phone anonymization" software to mask the phone numbers of Uber users and drivers when a user requests a ride. "Drivers will ALWAYS see the same number," Uber Marketing Manager Ross Fitzgerald said in a Wednesday blog post. Uber technology will connect riders and drivers as normal without displaying real numbers, Uber said. Riders and drivers won't be able to send text messages and a driver won't be able to call a rider "shortly" after a trip ends, Uber said. "This way, both riders and drivers will be unable to store personal cell phone numbers," Fitzgerald said.

President Barack Obama touted his TechHire initiative (see 1503090029) Thursday during a stop in Louisville. “Right now, America has more open jobs than at any point since 2001,” Obama said. “And more than half a million openings are in tech -- nearly 2,000 here in Louisville alone. Tech jobs pay one-and-a-half times the average private sector wage.” He said the jobs are part of the road to the middle class and crucial for global competitiveness. TechHire “brings employers and local governments together to support innovative job training programs -- like online classes, coding boot camps, community college courses designed by local employers,” Obama said. He praised the participation in the initiative from eastern Kentucky and Louisville, with upwards of 20 employers involved.

The International Trade Commission began two Section 337 investigations into patent infringement by iPhones and iPads imported by Apple, it said in news releases (here) and (here) March 30. Ericsson requested the investigations in February, alleging Apple is infringing its patents for 2G and 4G/LTE standards, as well as design of semiconductor components, user interface software, location services and applications and the iOS operating system. Ericsson asked the ITC to issue limited exclusion orders and cease and desist orders banning import and sale of infringing products by Apple.

The FCC is seeking comment on some issues on Part 4 outage reporting rules in a consolidated NPRM and two orders released Monday. Among the questions on which the agency is seeking comment is whether service degradation that affects thousands, but not all calls to public safety answering points, should be required to be reported. Some providers may be interpreting current rules as requiring reporting only if a PSAP can't receive any 911 calls for a period of time, the NPRM said. Comments are due 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, and replies 45 days after publication. In one order, the agency declined to add outage reporting requirements adopted for primary, commercial service and reliever airports to include general aviation airports. The other order disposed of seven pending petitions for reconsideration to the 2004 order that established the Part 4 rules.

The FTC “halted two Canada-based schemes that defrauded small businesses and nonprofits” in the U.S. by billing them for “unwanted listings in online ‘yellow pages’ business directories,” said a commission news release Thursday. Commissioners unanimously voted in favor of a proposed stipulated order for permanent injunction and monetary judgment against Oni Nathifa Julien and several of her companies, which contacted organizations “under the guise of confirming contact information in a directory” and then billing the organization $479.95 or more. If the invoice was disputed, the defendants would use deceptive collection tactics such as “playing altered or incomplete audio recordings to give the false impression that an employee of the organization had authorized a directory listing,” the FTC said. Julien is prohibited from misrepresenting any good or service and from collecting money from past customers or profiting from or keeping their personal information. The $3 million judgment against Julien was suspended due to her inability to pay. Julien could not be reached for comment. The commission also unanimously voted in favor of authorizing staff to file a complaint against American Yellow Browser; American Yellow Group; Distribution H.E.P., also doing business as American Yellow Distribution and Medical Yellow Directories; Official Yellow Guide; Publication A.A.P., also d/b/a All American Pages and Official Yellow Guide; Publication A.Y.B., also d/b/a American Yellow Browser, American Yellow Group and All American Pages; Publications A.Y.D.; Ivan Chernev, also d/b/a American Yellow Corp., General Credit Protection and Credit Bureau Recovery; and German Lebedev, also d/b/a American Yellow Directories, for sending unsolicited invoices for $480.95 or more for a one-year directory listing. The invoice named someone from the targeted organization and showed the listing as it was to appear in a directory, and suggested someone had previously agreed to buy the listing, the FTC said. “Those who ignored the invoices received more of them with statements such as ‘COLLECTION WARNING’ and ‘LAST CHANCE TO PROTECT YOUR CREDIT SCORE IN GOOD STANDING!!!’” and were asked to pay larger amounts such as $2,385.95. Those who refused to pay were sent dunning notices from the defendants, who posed as third-party debt collector General Credit Protection.

ABI Research said smartphones will be a primary driver for a forecast $3.1 billion in global revenue in 2015 for the biometrics industry’s consumer and enterprise sectors. Rapid advances in biometrics will drive further smartphone hardware upgrades, ABI said Wednesday. “Biometry is moving rapidly into the security ecosystem and its adoption by CE devices will jumpstart this phenomenon,” said ABI analyst Dimitrios Pavlakis in a news release. “Smartphone biometrics provide not only a secure alternative for authentication, mobile payments, and [bring your own device] initiatives but also enhance user experience, navigation, mobility, and versatility.”