subpoena

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?