WASHINGTON — When a mysterious, unauthorized fee appears on your cellphone bill, it is called “cramming,” and consumer advocates and regulators worry it is emerging as a significant problem as people increasingly ditch their landlines for wireless phones.
The cramming fee is bogus and usually small, under $10 a month. It might be listed on your bill as a “premium service” or other generic-sounding charge. Cramming had long been a problem with traditional landline phones, but after pressure from lawmakers, regulators, and others, some of the largest landline carriers said last year that they would no longer allow third-party billing — where an outside company offers and then charges the landline customer for services like third-party e-mail, faxing, or voice mail.
Now, the focus is shifting to cellphones and cramming.
“As people continue to use mobile phones as a payment option, this problem is likely to grow,” says Malini Mithal of the Federal Trade Commission. “It’s just a new opportunity for fraudsters.”
The basis of the AmeriKan economic system.
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Related:
"Many cellphone users say they have decided not to use an app on their phone because of concerns about privacy."
Good call:
"Spy agencies say they monitored US phone calls
"Spy agencies say they monitored US phone calls
WASHINGTON — US intelligence agencies have mistakenly monitored the phone calls and e-mails of citizens without warrants and will not reveal how many times it has happened, an intelligence official said Tuesday.
Yeah, it was a "mistake."
Yeah, it was a "mistake."
The incidents were not intentional and occurred as the agencies conducted surveillance of suspected foreign terrorists, Robert Litt, general counsel for National Intelligence Director James Clapper, told reporters.
And they still missed the Boston bombers!
And they still missed the Boston bombers!
‘‘The incidents that have occurred have been unintentional, accidental and not reflective of any intent to evade the statute,’’ Litt said.
You will have to excuse me if I don't believe this government spokesman and his lying ass.
You will have to excuse me if I don't believe this government spokesman and his lying ass.
The Obama administration, seeking to renew a law providing authority to conduct electronic surveillance, is facing resistance from some lawmakers over concern that the communications of Americans have been monitored. The 2008 law updated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to provide a legal framework for warrantless wiretapping the government began after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The law expires in December, and the House is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a bill that would reauthorize it until the end of 2017.
"Senate criticizes US security program" Associated Press, October 03, 2012
WASHINGTON — A multibillion-dollar information-sharing program created in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, has improperly collected information about Americans and produced little valuable intelligence on terrorism, a Senate report concludes.
What began as an attempt to put local, state, and federal officials in the same room analyzing the same intelligence has instead cost huge amounts of money for data-mining software, flat screen televisions, and, in Arizona, two fully equipped Chevrolet Tahoes now used for commuting, investigators found.
Ain't tyranny grand?
The bipartisan report is a scathing evaluation of what the Department of Homeland Security has held up as a crown jewel of its efforts. The report underscores a reality of post-Sept. 11 Washington: National security programs tend to grow, even when their money and staffing far surpass the actual danger presented by terrorism. Much of this money went for ordinary local crime-fighting.
Ain't tyranny grand?
Disagreeing with the critical conclusions of the report, Homeland Security said it is outdated and too focused on information produced by the program, ignoring benefits to local governments.
What, the militarization of the police?
Because of a convoluted grants process set up by Congress, Homeland Security officials don’t know how much they have spent in their decade-long effort to set up so-called fusion centers in every state.
That WERE NOT TOLD ANYTHING about the BOSTON BOMBERS!
Government estimates range from less than $300 million to $1.4 billion in federal money, plus much more invested by state and local governments. Federal funding is pegged at about 25 percent.
This as SOCIAL SERVICES are being CUT!
Congress is unlikely to pull the plug. That’s because, whether or not it stops terrorists, the program means politically important money for state and local governments.
Is that really a good reason to keep a self-destructive program going?
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WASHINGTON — A multibillion-dollar information-sharing program created in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, has improperly collected information about Americans and produced little valuable intelligence on terrorism, a Senate report concludes.
What began as an attempt to put local, state, and federal officials in the same room analyzing the same intelligence has instead cost huge amounts of money for data-mining software, flat screen televisions, and, in Arizona, two fully equipped Chevrolet Tahoes now used for commuting, investigators found.
Ain't tyranny grand?
The bipartisan report is a scathing evaluation of what the Department of Homeland Security has held up as a crown jewel of its efforts. The report underscores a reality of post-Sept. 11 Washington: National security programs tend to grow, even when their money and staffing far surpass the actual danger presented by terrorism. Much of this money went for ordinary local crime-fighting.
Ain't tyranny grand?
Disagreeing with the critical conclusions of the report, Homeland Security said it is outdated and too focused on information produced by the program, ignoring benefits to local governments.
What, the militarization of the police?
Because of a convoluted grants process set up by Congress, Homeland Security officials don’t know how much they have spent in their decade-long effort to set up so-called fusion centers in every state.
That WERE NOT TOLD ANYTHING about the BOSTON BOMBERS!
Government estimates range from less than $300 million to $1.4 billion in federal money, plus much more invested by state and local governments. Federal funding is pegged at about 25 percent.
This as SOCIAL SERVICES are being CUT!
Congress is unlikely to pull the plug. That’s because, whether or not it stops terrorists, the program means politically important money for state and local governments.
Is that really a good reason to keep a self-destructive program going?
--more--"
