WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The deliberate disruption of mobile phone service last year by transit police in San Francisco has prompted federal communications regulators to consider rules for similar situations in the future.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Department said it cut cellphone service to aid public safety but civil liberties groups criticized the actions as a violation of free speech and argued it put people at more risk.

WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) – The deliberate jamming
of mobile phone service last year by transit police in San
Francisco has prompted federal communications regulators to
consider rules for similar situations in the future.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Department said it cut
cellphone service to aid public safety but civil liberties
groups criticized the actions as a violation of free speech and
argued it put people at more risk.

WASHINGTON, Feb 23 (Reuters) – The White House
proposed on Thursday a “privacy bill of rights” that would give
consumers more control over their data but relies heavily for
now on voluntary commitments by Internet companies like Google
Inc and Facebook.

The plan comes amid growing consumer concern about their
lack of control over the collection and trade in vast amounts of
detailed information about their online activities and real-life
identities.

WASHINGTON, Feb 23 (Reuters) – The White House on
Thursday proposed a “bill of rights” that would give consumers
greater online privacy protection and could eventually give the
government greater powers to police Internet firms such as
Google Inc and Facebook.

While the privacy bill of rights does not impose any
immediate new obligations on online companies, President Barack
Obama said it was part of a broader plan to give Americans more
control over how their personal data was used on the Internet.

WASHINGTON, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Rivals to Verizon
Wireless are urging U.S. communications regulators to block the
company’s multibillion dollar deals to buy wireless airwaves
from cable operators, saying the transactions will hurt
competition.

In letters released this week, rivals Sprint Nextel Corp
, T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS Communications Inc
expressed concerns about the spectrum transfer.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Television broadcasters are reluctant to part with airwaves that regulators want to resell to bandwidth-hungry wireless companies, casting doubt on the $25 billion estimated to be raised through auctions approved by the U.S. Congress on Friday.

The wariness also may maintain the threat of a spectrum crunch that wireless companies have warned will result in dropped calls and slower connection speeds for their customers.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Apple Inc, Google Inc and their vendors must do more to protect children using iPhones and other mobile devices to read or play games, U.S. trade regulators said, and warned they may punish software makers that secretly collect data on kids.

With the “explosive growth” in mobile applications in the past few years, “many consumer protections, including piracy and privacy disclosures, have not kept pace” and need to be monitored, the Federal Trade Commission said in a report released on Thursday.

WASHINGTON, Feb 15 (Reuters) – U.S. communications
regulators could auction off some television airwaves and
compensate broadcasters from a portion of the proceeds under a
provision tucked into a payroll tax compromise reached by
lawmakers on Wednesday.

The Federal Communications Commission has called for
repurposing TV airwaves for mobile broadband use since 2010.

WASHINGTON, Feb 15 (Reuters) – Telemarketers will have
to get written consent before placing automated calls to
consumers under new rules U.S. communications regulators voted
to adopt on Wednesday.

The Federal Communications Commission will enforce stricter
rules on so-called telemarketing “robocalls,” mandating that
these autodialed or prerecorded calls can only be placed to
consumers who have already agreed in writing to receive them.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. communications regulators dealt a severe blow on Tuesday to LightSquared’s plans to establish a high-speed wireless network, proposing to withdraw authority for the land-based portion after government experts said it would interfere with the GPS system.

The Federal Communications Commission said it proposed to suspend indefinitely the authority LightSquared was granted to transition its satellite spectrum to ground-based use.