Mobility Policies

For the uninitiated, the acronym “BYOD” looks like a typo. But in the telecommunications context—and in the employment context, it stands for “bring your own device,” and it’s what’s happening all over as individuals opt to use their own devices rather than company-provided mobile phones or tablets.  The number of issues created when individuals bring their own devices into the enterprise is significant, particularly when the devices have at least two distinct uses/purposes/personalities—business and personal.  How should the enterprise reconcile these very different roles played by a single device?  Very, very carefully.

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Paying Attention to Third Party Telemarketers

I hate to beat a dead horse, but despite all sorts of newly enforceable regulatory hurdles, those obnoxious telemarketing calls keep coming.  The good news is that the FCC, as the lead agency enforcing the newly tightened telemarketing rules, is taking action, but the bad news is that the calls keep coming because they are effective. Not at my house, and not likely at yours, but someone’s buying what telemarketers are selling. Just like any hungry sales person knows when obstacles are placed in the path, you work around them.  Telemarketers and those who rely on their services are no different than any other industry that is quasi-regulated.  As new legal and regulatory hurdles are placed in front of them, telemarketers devise creative ways to re-interpret or completely ignore them altogether.

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A Novel Approach to Internet Regulation

When the subject of “network neutrality” or “open internet” come up, most people glaze over (or run quickly in the other direction). However, there is a case currently before the D.C. Circuit, brought by Verizon against the FCC, whose outcome could affect many beyond the original parties.

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Telephone Metadata – Hardly the Last Word

When Edward Snowden became sufficiently disillusioned with the activities of the National Security Agency to take the dramatic step of disclosing classified information about the collection of information on citizens and non-citizens alike, he opened one of the largest cans of worms ever.  The fallout from his actions will be felt for years to come as individuals, organizations and courts tackle the thorny questions that his disclosures raised.

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Combating Wireless Bill Shock

I don’t imagine that anything will ever beat the story of the call from the panicked consumer who called me several years ago after receiving a (…wait for it…) $45,000 wireless phone bill after a 5 day trip overseas.  The problem was that the device owner’s son had spent the 5 days watching videos on the wireless device.  Getting a signal wasn’t the problem. Paying for using it—and understanding the costs associated with Junior’s video streaming from overseas for 5 solid days—was!  Talk about being in the proverbial “dog house” for an extended stay….  Ultimately, the consumer still paid a whopping $9,000 bill (her abusive call to the provider’s call center did NOT help her cause—particularly since the provider’s billing was precisely in line with its published rates and contract terms).  The experience of  the client, which unfortunately is not unusual (although certainly at a much larger scale than normal), is what’s known as “bill shock.”

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