Last week, ten state attorneys general filed a lawsuit challenging the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint in a federal district court in New York. While it might not seem unusual for state officials tasked with enforcing antitrust and consumer protection laws to seek to halt the 4-to-3 horizontal merger of two of…
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The Hill: New lawsuit poses major threat to T-Mobile, Sprint merger
The $26 billion T-Mobile–Sprint merger is facing a new and potentially devastating obstacle after 10 attorneys general from nine states and Washington, D.C., filed a federal lawsuit to block the deal. The state attorneys general in the lawsuit, filed Tuesday, argue the bid to combine two of the nation’s four…
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ZD Net: Pro net neutrality advocates take on US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
Most Americans -- Democrats and Republicans alike -- want the return of net neutrality, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell won't give the Save the Internet Act its day in the US Senate. A year ago, net neutrality died. It was murdered by big telecom and its political allies. No one…
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Washington Post: State attorneys general sue to block merger between Sprint and T-Mobile
Nine states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Tuesday to block the proposed merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, believing that the combination of the country’s third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers would threaten competition and harm consumers. The lawsuit, led by the attorneys general of New York and California, represents…
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Gigi Sohn Statement on State Attorney Generals’ Lawsuit to Block T-Mobile-Sprint Merger
Reuters is reporting that a group of at least 10 State Attorneys General will announce this afternoon that they are preparing a lawsuit to block the proposed merger of T-Mobile and Sprint. The following statement should be attributed to Gigi B. Sohn: The US Department of Justice should join the states…
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Cheddar: FCC Decision to Let Carriers Block Robocalls by Default Raises Questions
Thursday's decision by the Federal Communications Commission to encourage mobile carriers to auto-block robocalls might help mitigate the barrage of telemarketers and scammers calling consumers, but advocates warn that consumers should be critical as to how ー and which ー calls are blocked, as well as to whether they'll ultimately…
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Gigi Sohn Statement on Passage of Maine Broadband Privacy Bill
Today, Maine Governor Janet Mills signed a bill that would, among other things, ensure that broadband customers in the state have meaningful control over their personal information and a choice about how it is used. The bill is based on the broadband privacy rules adopted by the Wheeler FCC in…
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Bloomberg: Tech Under Antitrust Scrutiny
The House Judiciary Committee plans to hold hearings on a small number of dominant unregulated platforms that have extraordinary power over commerce, communication, and information online. The Government is getting serious about this issue, and this bipartisan investigation of Democrats and Republicans want to look into these digital markets, specifically…
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Maine Public Radio: Maine Lawmakers Send One of the Country’s Toughest Internet Privacy Proposals to the Governor’s Desk
Maine could soon have the toughest internet privacy law in the country. This week the Legislature sent a bill to Democratic Gov. Janet Mills that would prohibit internet service providers such as Spectrum, Verizon and AT&T from selling their customers' data without consent. The fight over the bill has been…
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The Verge: Experts are furious over the FCC’s rosy picture of broadband access
To hear the Federal Communications Commission tell it, this is a golden age for broadband access in the United States. According to a newly released report from the agency on the digital divide, the gap between rural and urban internet access has “narrowed substantially, and more Americans than ever before have access…