Verizon Plans Customer Refunds

NEW YORK (AP) - Verizon Wireless could pay out up to $90 million in refunds to cell phone customers who were improperly charged for inadvertent Web access or data usage over the past several years.

The FCC had asked Verizon Wireless last year about $1.99-a-megabyte data access fees that appeared on the bills of customers who didn't have data plans but who accidentally initiated data or Web access by pressing a button on their phones.

In a statement on its website Sunday, Verizon Wireless said most of the 15 million customers affected will receive credits of $2 to $6 on their October or November bills. Some will receive larger sums. Customers no longer with the New York-based carrier will get refund checks.

"Verizon Wireless values our customer relationships and we always want to do the right thing for our customers," said Mary Coyne, deputy general counsel for Verizon Wireless. "The majority of the data sessions involved minor data exchanges caused by software built into their phones; others involved accessing the Web, which should not have incurred charges. We have addressed these issues to avoid unintended data charges in the future."

Verizon has said that it stopped charging such fees when a customer started using a data service but then quickly shut it off.

The FCC confirmed Sunday that it has been investigating the charges after complaints from consumers. It said Verizon itself has reportedly put the amount of overcharges at more than $50 million, dating back two years.

"We're gratified to see Verizon agree to finally repay its customers," FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Michele Ellison said in a statement.

"But questions remain as to why it took Verizon two years to reimburse its customers and why greater disclosure and other corrective actions did not come much, much sooner."

The FCC will continue to look into those issues, including the possibility of additional penalties, Ellison said.

Verizon Wireless, the largest cell phone carrier in the U.S., is a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. and Britain's Vodafone Group PLC.

www.wtop.com

Banned by ABC and NBC

You won't see this ad on ABC and NBC. They refused to run it, because it does not advance Obamunism:

Silencing Talk Radio in the Name of Diversity

The Orwellian Fairness Doctrine is behind us for good; too many realize that stifling political dissent on the airwaves is anything but fair. But that doesn't mean our moonbat rulers have suddenly acquired respect for freedom of speech . As with many of our liberties, the First Amendment will now be attacked under the banner of diversity:

Mark Lloyd, newly appointed Chief Diversity Officer of the Federal Communications Commission, has called for making private pay licensing fees equal to their total operating costs to allow public broadcasting outlets to spend the same on their operations as the private companies do.

You don't have to re-read that, you got it right the first time, private companies WILL be paying for the (liberal) air time of public broadcasting.

Private companies need to make profits. Therefore they will carry programming people want to hear: Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, etc. In addition to economically breaking the kneecaps of these companies, Lloyd wants to funnel their money into public broadcasting, which is financed coercively and therefore couldn't care less what people want to hear.

Like all liberal bureaucrats, Lloyd is as authoritarian as he is greedy:

"Federal and regional broadcast operations and local stations should be funded at levels commensurate with or above those spending levels at which commercial operations are funded," Lloyd wrote. "This funding should come from license fees charged to commercial broadcasters. Funding should not come from congressional appropriations. Sponsorship should be prohibited at all public broadcasters."

Along with this money, Lloyd would regulate much of the programming on these stations to make sure they focused on "diverse views" and government activities.

"Diverse views" refers to the entire spectrum from left-wing propaganda to more left-wing propaganda. How many El Rushbos has NPR produced?

In addition to "diversity," tyrannical bureaucrats will also use "localism" to stifle speech that undermines their rule.

"Local public broadcasters and regional and national communications operations should be required to encourage and broadcast diverse views and programs," wrote Lloyd. "These programs should include coverage of all local, state and federal government meetings, as well as daily news and public issues programming."

Don't live in South Florida? Then Rush isn't local. You get to listen to the local water board meeting instead.

Lloyd also believes in diversity of ownership, which would mean denying broadcast licenses to Caucasians based on their race.

Once we allow government to become massively too large, it's only a matter of time before the wrong people get behind the wheel and steer our republic over the cliff into totalitarianism. This is happening before our eyes.