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WirelessEd brings you regular updates with headline news, press releases and Facebook/Twitter feeds. Check back often to read the latest news.

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2021

May

06

• Headlines | How to apply for a $50 discount on your broadband bill. The Emergency Broadband Benefit provides a discount of up to $50 a month toward broadband service for eligible households and up to $75 a month for households on qualifying tribal lands. You qualify for the…

03

• Headlines | How big tech got so big: Hundreds of acquisitions. Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google gobbled up their competition to become behemoths of the tech industry, which has drawn attention from Congressional leaders and critics who claim they’ve stifled innovation in the industry.

April

28

• Headlines | Tech firms like Facebook, Neurable want to link your brain to computers. Already, brain tech allows players to manipulate avatars in video games by concentrating on parts of the screen. And Facebook last month revealed plans to interpret your intent to move a finger to trigger digital…

20

• Headlines | Facebook calls for data portability; expands info users can transfer off service. Facebook announced Monday it’s expanding a tool that allows users to transfer their data to other services. The social media giant will now enable users to transfer a copy of their written posts and notes…
• Headlines | Wall Street banks brace for digital dollars as next big disruptive force. Wall Street is warming up to the idea that the next big disruptive force on the horizon is central bank digital currencies, even though the Federal Reserve likely remains a few years away from developing…
• News Video | We’ve reached a global tipping point for reining in tech. Around the world, governments are moving simultaneously to limit the power of tech companies with an urgency and breadth that no single industry had experienced before. Their motivation varies. In the United States and Europe,…

08

• Headlines | Facebook leak exposes personal data on half a billion users. Telephone numbers were just the top layer of what was stolen. Security researcher Alon Gal detailed that a person’s Facebook ID, full name, location, past location, birthdate, email address, account creation date, relationship status, and…

March

25

• Headlines | CFPB’s new team has a message for banks it regulates: We’re back. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is already sending a message that it’s getting tougher. On-site examinations are up, banking executives tell consultants. Big banks aren’t the only businesses likely to get more attention. Groshans sees…

22

• Headlines | AT&T’s new arbitration clause isn’t doing you any favors. Go ahead and agree to AT&T’s new arbitration clause if you want (or if you have no choice). But don’t think the company is doing you any favors. Arbitration is a private, nonjudicial system that…

15

• Headlines | Social Security imposters use fake badges to fool victims. The Social Security Administration warns that phone scammers are creating “fake versions” of identification badges. “The scammers will text or email photos of the fake badges to convince potential victims of their legitimacy.” The Social…

12

• Headlines | Coronavirus relief could net you $50 toward your broadband bill. A new bill, The Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act, set to be introduced Thursday in the U.S. House and Senate, devotes more than $94 billion to connect currently unserved and underserved communities with affordable high-speed…

01

• Headlines | Amazon’s new rotating, follow-you camera is useful—and invasive. The covid-19 Zoom boom has turned us into camera operators. Making sure everyone’s face can be seen in the videoconference is a daily struggle. Along comes Amazon’s new Echo Show 10, a countertop camera and computer…

February

27

• Headlines | Government agencies increasingly are accessing private information. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have tapped a private database containing hundreds of millions of phone, water, electricity and other utility records while pursuing immigration violations, according to public documents uncovered by Georgetown…

25

• Headlines | California can enforce its internet equal access law. A federal judge ruled that California can for the first time enforce its tough net neutrality law, clearing the way for the state to ban internet providers from slowing down or blocking access to websites…

18

• Headlines | Civil rights groups ask Biden to oppose facial recognition. The American Civil Liberties Union and more than 40 other groups urged President Biden in a letter to freeze federal use of facial recognition and block federal funds from being used by state and local…

17

• Headlines | How the GameStop frenzy sabotaged a bid to ‘democratize’ finance. The episode with Robinhood Financial has unearthed a growing sentiment on the left: “Fintech” is just a fancy word for everything they already hate about finance.

14

• Headlines | Lacking a Lifeline: How help to pay low-income Americans’ phone bills failed. The coronavirus has reinforced the Internet as the fabric of modern American life, a luxury-turned-necessity for a generation now forced to work, learn and communicate primarily through the Web. But it also has laid bare…

11

• Headlines | Tips on how to master the vaccine-appointment website. Starting this week, there will be even more places you need to look for appointments online. Pharmacy chains including CVS and Walgreens are beginning to distribute vaccine supply they’re getting directly from the federal government.…

08

• Headlines | Consumer protection agency investigating Venmo. The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau is investigating money transfer app Venmo over the way it handles collections, a new regulatory filing shows. First reported by The Wall Street Journal, the filing shows Venmo owner PayPal…

January

30

• Headlines | Apple’s new privacy ‘nutrition labels.’ Many were false.. You go to your iPhone’s App Store to download a game. Under a new “App Privacy” label added last month, there’s a blue check mark, signaling that the app won’t share a lick of your…

28

• Headlines | Pressure builds to revive net neutrality rules. For more than two decades, Democrats and Republicans have warred over net neutrality, the idea that Internet providers should treat all Web traffic equally. At a time when the pandemic has forced Americans to learn…

21

• Press Releases | New debt collection rule is a mixed bag for consumer rights. Bad news: New debt collection rule permits unlimited electronic access to consumers. Good news: It may eliminate "debt parking" by forcing debt collectors to reach consumers before posting debts on their credit reports. Due to…
• Headlines | Black Americans suffered the most under Trump-era CFPB, study finds. The paper, from two Boston College researchers, tracked consumer complaints, and the follow-ups recorded by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Their findings show that in January 2017 — even before President Trump  made any changes…
• Headlines | Consumer bureau director resigns at Biden’s request. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Kathy Kraninger resigned at the request of the newly sworn-in President Biden, clearing the way for his nominee to lead the powerful regulatory agency. Kraninger’s resignation gives Biden the…

18

• Headlines | Biden choices for CFPB, SEC pivot to robust enforcement. President-elect Joe Biden is set to nominate Rohit Chopra, the former student loan ombudsman for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to lead the consumer finance agency. Biden will tap Gary Gensler, the former chairman of…

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