OVERNIGHT TECH: Senate panel marks up bill to televise Supreme Court

by Gautham Nagesh and Brendan Sasso - 02/08/12 10:10 PM ET

At most, the defendants sometimes tried to negotiate with credit card companies in a three-way call with the consumer. But they often did not make the calls at all, and when they did, they were unsuccessful, the FTC said.

“Instead of a reduction in interest rates, consumers, who were already in dire financial straits, found themselves saddled with an additional $995 credit card charge,” the FTC said in a statement.

{mosads}Under the settlement, the defendants were ordered to pay $159,000, and the court will sell off some of their assets for additional funds. They are also banned from future robocalling or selling debt-relief services.

Experts: Major telecom providers most secure: The major telecom providers have done a good job securing their
networks and don’t require further regulation by the government, experts told the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Communications and
Technology on Wednesday. James Lewis, the director of the Center for
Strategic and International Studies, said telecom companies have
addressed cybersecurity on a level that other sectors have not. Internet Security Alliance President Larry Clinton was adamant that cost
is the main barrier to firms bolstering their cybersecurity, not the
absence of clear security guidelines or best practices.

ON TAP THURSDAY:

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the Justice Department’s opinion of how Internet gaming could affect tribes. The Justice Department backtracked in December to announce the Wire Act doesn’t ban interstate wagers, opening the door for states to set up online gambling sites.

FCC sets agenda for February open meeting: At next Wednesday’s open meeting, the commission will consider a report and order to protect consumers from unwanted robocalls by requiring firms to obtain consent and make it easy to opt out of receiving the calls. The commission will also consider revising the licensing model for the wireless service from site-based to geographically-based and extending outage reporting to Voice over Internet Providers (VoIP).