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      48 states sue phone company that allegedly catered to needs of robocallers

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 24 May, 2023 - 19:00

    Illustration of robots wearing phone headsets and sitting in front of laptop computers.

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    Nearly every US state yesterday sued a telecom company accused of routing billions of illegal robocalls to millions of US residents on the Do Not Call Registry.

    Avid Telecom , an Arizona-based company formed in 2000, "chose profit over running a business that conforms to state and federal law," according to a lawsuit led by Arizona AG Kris Mayes and joined by the attorneys general of 47 other states and the District of Columbia. The case involves every US state except Alaska and South Dakota.

    The lawsuit was filed in US District Court for the District of Arizona against Avid Telecom, CEO Michael Lansky, and VP of Operations and Sales Stacey Reeves. The lawsuit arises from work done by the Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force of 51 attorneys general.

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      FCC seeks $5M fine for robocalls telling Black people that voting helps “the man”

      Jon Brodkin · news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 25 August, 2021 - 22:46 · 1 minute

    Police officers surround Jacob Wohl as he uses a megaphone to taunt anti-Trump protesters.

    Enlarge / Police officers surround Jacob Wohl as he taunts protesters during a "Trump/Pence Out Now" rally at Black Lives Matter plaza August 27, 2020 in Washington, DC. (credit: Getty Images | Michael Santiago )

    The Federal Communications Commission yesterday proposed a $5.1 million fine against two right-wing political operatives accused of making over 1,100 illegal robocalls. The calls were an attempt to convince people not to vote.

    The recorded messages sent before the November 2020 election "told potential voters that if they voted by mail, their 'personal information will be part of a public database that will be used by police departments to track down old warrants and be used by credit card companies to collect outstanding debts,'" the FCC said. Those messages were apparently targeted at Black voters and told them, "don't be finessed into giving your private information to the man."

    John Burkman and Jacob Wohl were already facing felony charges in Wayne County Circuit Court for "orchestrating a robocall to suppress the vote in Detroit and other cities with significant minority populations," as Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced in November 2020. They were also indicted in Ohio , and New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking fines that would add up to $2.75 million .

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