fine
Latest
FCC puts the smack down on LocateCell
We know we give a lot of props to the FCC for outing unreleased products for us, but it turns out that's not the only honorable activity they engage in. It seems LocateCell, a little operation selling wireless customers' data (call logs and the like) against FCC regs, was issued a subpoena not too long ago inquiring into exactly how they were doing their evil deeds. They failed to respond in a timely fashion, earning the FCC's wrath in the form of a $97,500 fine, the maximum amount that can be levied for this type of buffoonery. Of course, $97,500 ain't that much for a lot of companies, and FCC chairman Kevin Martin is painfully aware, calling it "merely a cost of doing business" and looking to Congress to get that max fine bumped up a notch or two. Fortunately for anyone who values their privacy, LocateCell appears to have gone under anyway -- their website's now dead -- but let's just see these guys try to do business when they're staring down the barrel of a million-dollar fine, eh?
WA fines Apple $100k
How did Apple Legal miss this? Under a 1999 law, any company who sells service contracts (think AppleCare) in the state of Washington must register with the Office of the Insurance Commissioner. Apparently, Apple somehow neglected to do this between 2000 and 2004, incurring a fine of $100,000. First France, then Norway and Sweden, and now Washington?According to sources, this is not the first time Apple has neglected to follow the rules. It is widely known in the valley that Apple never tuned in its homework when it was in school, as it was too busy flirting with NeXT.[via MacNN]
