TechdirtTrump FCC Makes It Easier For Prison Phone Monopolies To Rip Off Inmate Families
The USA PotatoPhone Calls Are a Lifeline in Prison. Trump Is Set on Keeping Them Exorbitant.
New federal regulations were set to reel in steep costs for calling loved ones in prison. Then Trump returned.
Steven Saus [he/him](01 Jul) FCC chair decides inmates and their families must keep paying high phone prices
Chairman Carr waives new price caps until 2027, may raise them before then.
https://s.faithcollapsing.com/55f04
Archive: ais: https://archive.md/wip/xeIbS ia: https://s.faithcollapsing.com/hk1xi
Ars Technica NewsFCC chair decides inmates and their families must keep paying high phone prices https://arstechni.ca/KXK5 #prisonphoneprices #securus #Policy
Rob PegoraroThis week starts with the wireless trade group CTIA’s 5G Summit on Monday but otherwise doesn’t have too much in the way of appointments or deadlines–which after the end-of-the-month crush last week feels like a real treat.
(Speaking of stories written in the last hours of April, I wrote a post for Patreon readers Tuesday about the unpredictable nature of WordAds income here.)
4/29/2024: FCC Fines Wireless Carriers Almost $200 Million for Careless Sale of Location Data, PCMag
That number in the headline requires the context of the billions of dollars in profit each of the big three carriers reported for the first quarter of 2024, so I made sure to include that. We then updated the post after publication with a statement from AT&T decrying the FCC’s action; Jon Brodkin’s post at Ars Technica includes comparable responses from T-Mobile and Verizon.
4/30/2024: Congress Votes to Strengthen Measures Against Online Child Sexual Exploitation, PCMag
Congress passing any substantive bill ranks as news these days, but a bill addressing a tech-policy problem from hell is even more newsworthy–even if this bill doesn’t include added funding to help attack this problem.
5/1/2024: Your Home Internet Bill Can Be Deceptively Confusing. Now It’s (Slightly) Easier to Understand., Wirecutter
Wirecutter asked me to write an explainer of the broadband-facts labels that the Federal Communications Commission now requires Internet providers to post, and I said I’d be delighted to help after covering this issue multiple times over the last two years. Then after I asked Comcast about criticisms of its implementation of the label, the company added a modem-rental fee that it had left out in some situations. (You’re welcome.)
5/1/2024: T-Mobile Completes Mint Mobile Deal, Promises New Perks for Mint Users, PCMag
Shout out to my editor for spotting the Wall Street Journal’s report that actor and part owner of Mint Mobile Ryan Reynolds should make about $300 million from this completed transaction, then adding a link to the WSJ story in this piece.
5/2/2024: Congress Makes Last-Ditch Effort to Save Low-Cost Broadband Program, PCMag
I wrote about two bills that seem like they might have better-than-usual odds of reviving the Affordable Connectivity Program: one that would restore the FCC spectrum-auction authority that Congress inexplicably let lapse last March and devote some of the resulting proceeds to the ACP, another that would expand the FCC’s Universal Service Fund by requiring broadband providers and large online platforms to contribute (an idea that I’ve seen both Democrats and Republicans endorse) and plow that new revenue into the ACP.
#ACP #AffordableConnectivityProgram #broadbandLabels #Cantwell #cellSiteLocationInformation #CSAM #FCCFines #Fetterman #KaEna #locationData #MintMobile #REPORTAct #Securus #TMobile
MI Abolitionright on time: https://theappeal.org/securus-bankruptcy-prison-telecom-industry/
not trying to make a claim of causality (two lawsuits in #michigan leading to Securus delcaring bankruptcy) bc if you read the article you see that this has been in the cards for a long time
"In May 2023, Platinum Equity announced a plan to go to the public debt market to refinance Securus’ debt with new bonds. As a show of confidence for investors, Platinum promised to inject another $400 million of equity into Securus.
The corporation’s debt value improved after the announcement, but investor excitement fizzled after #Securus failed to secure a refinancing deal even with the sweetener. Banks and lenders, it turned out, were not eager to jump on a toxic prison industry asset that had become the focus of so much negative attention and pressure...
The success of the prison telecom industry depends entirely on investors, who only recently began to question the ethics of the business, and government complicity from local jails all the way up to Congress. When correctional agencies—rather than incarcerated people and their families—are required to cover costs associated with these services, this predatory scheme collapses, as states finally have an incentive to demand lower prices from their prison telecom vendors. "
The Slow Death of a Prison Profiteer: How Activism Brought Securus to the Brink
On the hook to repay $1.3 billion of debt this year, the nation's largest prison telecom company, Securus, is on the verge of bankruptcy. Its failure would represent a remarkable victory for advocates—and a potential beginning of the end for the industry as we know it.
MotherboardAn incarcerated journalist in Washington reported that years of work, stored in his email drafts, were deleted by Securus Technologies.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/4a3b8n/years-of-incarcerated-journalists-reporting-deleted-by-notorious-prison-telecom-inadvertently?at_medium=Social%20media&at_campaign=Mastodon
#SecurusTechnologies #securus #Incarceration #journalism
https://www.vice.com/en/article/4a3b8n/years-of-incarcerated-journalists-reporting-deleted-by-notorious-prison-telecom-inadvertently?at_medium=Social%20media&at_campaign=Mastodon
#SecurusTechnologies #securus #Incarceration #journalism
Cory DoctorowFor corporate prison profiteers, those prisoners are a literal captive audience, easy pickings for gouging on telephone calls, books, music, and food. For years, companies like #Securus have been behind an incredibly imaginative array of sadistic tactics that strip prisoners of the contact, education and nutrition that governments normally provide to incarcerated people.
11/
Tracy Rosenberg"In short: “Happy Black History Month” from the parasites that get rich off the backs of Black people". #Securus #JPay #PhoneJustice https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgmvmx/happy-black-history-month-from-companies-that-make-prison-even-lonelier-securus-jpay
📡 RightToPrivacy & Tech TipsUS Marshal Charged w/Abusing "Securus", Co providing Inmates Phones...
Securus Also "Tracks All American Phone Locations" + Provides This Info.
Marshal Accessed To Track People + Spouses.
#News #Securus #Law #DOJ #Infosec #Cybersecurity #HumanRights #Privacy
https://www.cyberscoop.com/us-marshal-cell-phone-location-data-charged-securus/
