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Neither did they require Verizon to refund collected fees. Since this was apparently a clear violation of the licensing agreement (i.e. it was never "correct"

Neither did they require Verizon to refund collected fees. Since this was apparently a clear violation of the licensing agreement (i.e. it was never "correct" or "permitted" under that agreement), I'd argue the FCC should have made them make the affected consumers whole. Now that might have sent a significant message with respect to ending this kind of bullshit, and to deliberately -- I'd argue, maliciously -- pushing the limits of what they can get away with. I don't know how many users actually knuckled under to these fees. But even it it didn't represent an enormous amount of revenue, refunding it would have been a nice exercise for their management and administration to undergo. (I don't care how much of a "hassle" it might cause them.)

thetabyte 14y ago
This is an excellent point, and a possible opportunity for class action lawsuit?
- zecho 14y ago
  This is a certainty, I'm sure.
- ipsin 14y ago
  Sorry, class action lawsuits don't exist any more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T_Mobility_v._Concepcion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T_Mobility_v._Concepcion (That is, if your contract includes an arbitration clause)
MichaelApproved 14y ago
"Neither did they require Verizon to refund collected fees.[...] Now that might have sent a significant message with respect to ending this kind of bullshit, and to deliberately -- I'd argue, maliciously -- pushing the limits of what they can get away with." Your suggestion doesn't go far enough. If I were Verizon playing with these rules, I'd still try to collect fees. If were caught, I'd refund those fees and go about my business. No harm, no foul. My point is that it's not really a penalty to just refund the money you took illegally. There must be punitive damages to make the risk of breaking the law more than just a profit or break even proposition. It should be a profit or lose more money than the risk is worth proposition for companies.

thetabyte 14y ago

This is an excellent point, and a possible opportunity for class action lawsuit?

zecho 14y ago
This is a certainty, I'm sure.
ipsin 14y ago
Sorry, class action lawsuits don't exist any more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T_Mobility_v._Concepcion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T_Mobility_v._Concepcion (That is, if your contract includes an arbitration clause)

MichaelApproved 14y ago

"Neither did they require Verizon to refund collected fees.[...] Now that might have sent a significant message with respect to ending this kind of bullshit, and to deliberately -- I'd argue, maliciously -- pushing the limits of what they can get away with." Your suggestion doesn't go far enough. If I were Verizon playing with these rules, I'd still try to collect fees. If were caught, I'd refund those fees and go about my business. No harm, no foul. My point is that it's not really a penalty to just refund the money you took illegally. There must be punitive damages to make the risk of breaking the law more than just a profit or break even proposition. It should be a profit or lose more money than the risk is worth proposition for companies.