911? 9911?

On December 1, 2013, Kari Rene Hunt was murdered by her estranged husband. The murder took place in a hotel room in Marshall, Texas. One of the many tragic elements of this brutal crime was the fact that the attack on Ms. Hunt was witnessed by her young children. Seeing their mother in grave danger, the kids tried to call 9-1-1. But they had no luck reaching first responders, because the way that the hotel’s phone system was set up, an extra “9” needed to be dialed before a caller could reach an outside line.  This is something that Kari Hunt’s young kids would not have known.

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Telephony Metadata and the Fourth Amendment

The firestorm created by Edward Snowden’s release of classified information earlier this year has forced at least some of the government’s “dirty little secrets” about its monitoring of both citizens and foreigners out into the open. This note will briefly examine the legal issues confronting both the National Security Agency (NSA) and FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) Court with respect to the release of telecommunications metadata to federal agencies.

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The Mobile Wallet

Although they’re not here quite yet, the day of the mobile wallet is quickly approaching.  However, before most of us feel comfortable keeping more information than we already do on our smart phones, there are a number of hurdles—both actual and perceived—that need to be overcome.

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The Telecom/IT Impact of Dodd-Frank

At the most recent conference of the Society of Telecommunications Consultants (stcconsultants.org), I was asked about the duties that the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Pub.L. 111-203, H.R. 4173) has placed on record retention and maintenance for those entities (financial institutions and organizations) that work in the swap space. Given that the rules in the Act became effective on June 4, 2012, compliance is now law.

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Telemarketers and Crammers Beware: The FCC, FTC and the NY Legislature Are Not Only Watching, But Taking Action

Today, when I got back to the office and noticed a fourth unsolicited junk fax in a week, I was annoyed.  The fax number is on the Do-Not-Call list, and every time I receive a junk fax, I file a complaint.  Like KoKo, the Lord High Executioner in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Mikado, “I’ve Got a Little List” and it’s getting longer by the day. My feeling is that if I don’t want to receive these unwarranted solicitations, I have to do my part. And I do.  I’ve filed four complaints this week.

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