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Drivers who cause fatal accidents while on mobile phones face up to 14 years in jail Last updated at 11:09am on 15.07.08   Getting tough: The new sentencing rules target mobile phone use by drivers. Posed by model. Motorists who cause fatal accidents while texting or talking on mobiles could face up to 14 years in prison from today. Drivers involved in death crashes after drinking or taking drugs face similar penalties, as will those who were driving at greatly excessive speed over long distances. Under new sentencing guidelines sent to the courts today which come into immediate effect, there...

First off let me say that I have my own cell phone. I use it to text all of my buddies over on Dogster throughout the day. So it was with great concern I read about Andy Fanelli, a Lhasa Apso, getting hassled by Verizon for not paying his bill. SACRAMENTO, Calif. — More than 70,000 consumers complained about third-party debt collectors in 2007, but one Sacramento couple said they have good reason to bark about the bill they received. Steve Fanelli received a bill from AFNI collections claiming an Andy Fanelli owes Verizon Online $142.34. And although Steve Fanelli...

Wireless carriers give location to police without a warrant The call came in to police just after midnight April 16. Hours before, a distraught young man had phoned his mother, hinting he wanted to kill himself. When he didn't meet her as planned, she telephoned Seattle police and reported her son missing. Because of increasing advances in technology, officers were able to find the missing man's cellular phone using his wireless network. Two hours after he was reported missing, the man was found alive but unwell lying on his desk and taken to University Hospital for a psychological evaluation. The...

Radiation From Mobile Phones Changes Protein Expression In Living People, Study SuggestsA new study on effects of mobile phone radiation on human skin strengthens the results of the human cell line analyses: living tissue responds to mobile phone radiation. (Credit: iStockphoto/Luis Pedrosa) ScienceDaily (Feb. 25, 2008) — A new study completed by the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) on effects of mobile phone radiation on human skin strengthens the results of the human cell line analyses: living tissue responds to mobile phone radiation. Earlier studies have shown that mobile phone radiation (radiofrequency modulated electromagnetic fields; RF-EMF) alters protein...

Headaches linked to mobile phones By Lewis Carter Last Updated: 1:02am GMT 21/01/2008 Radiation from mobile phones damages sleep and causes headaches, according to a study by telephone makers. People using a handset before going to bed take longer to reach deeper stages of sleep and spend less time in them, researchers found. This gives their bodies less time to repair wear and tear during the day, and gives them headaches. advertisementThe findings are particularly alarming for children and teenagers, most of whom, surveys suggest, use their phones late at night. The young need plenty of sleep and failure to...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush's demand for immunity for telephone companies that participated in his warrantless domestic spying program won an initial victory on Monday in the U.S. Senate. On a vote of 76-10, far more than the 60 needed, the Democratic-led Senate cleared a procedural hurdle and began considering a bill to increase congressional and judicial oversight of electronic surveillance of suspected terrorists. It includes a provision to grant retroactive immunity to any telecommunications company that took part in Bush's spying program -- surveillance without court warrants of e-mails and telephone calls of people in the United...

WASHINGTON – Federal officials are routinely asking courts to order cellphone companies to furnish real-time tracking data so they can pinpoint the whereabouts of drug traffickers, fugitives and other criminal suspects, according to judges and industry lawyers. In some cases, judges have granted the requests without requiring the government to demonstrate that there is probable cause to believe that a crime is taking place or that the inquiry will yield evidence of a crime. Privacy advocates fear such a practice may expose average Americans to a new level of government scrutiny of their daily lives.

    Mobile phone firms plan to find out what you’re talking about . . . and tell advertisers   Elizabeth Judge   Mobile phone companies have drawn up plans to monitor text messages and voice calls and pass the information to advertisers. Companies such as Motorola have developed technology to scan messages for information about where customers are and what they are doing. They claim that the service would be used only with customers’ consent. But privacy groups had deep concerns about the technology and the potential for phone companies to abuse it. Under the Motorola plans, software...

Two new questions arise, courtesy of the latest advancement in cellphone technology: Do you want your friends, family, or colleagues to know where you are at any given time? And do you want to know where they are? Obvious benefits come to mind. Parents can take advantage of the Global Positioning System chips embedded in many cellphones to track the whereabouts of their phone-toting children. And for teenagers and 20-somethings, who are fond of sharing their comings and goings on the Internet, youth-oriented services like Loopt and Buddy Beacon are a natural next step. Sam Altman, the 22-year-old co-founder of...

Big Brother Britain: Government and councils to spy on ALL our phonesBy JASON LEWIS - More by this author » Last updated at 23:31pm on 29th September 2007  Officials from the top of Government to lowly council officers will be given unprecedented powers to access details of every phone call in Britain under laws coming into force tomorrow.  The new rules compel phone companies to retain information, however private, about all landline and mobile calls, and make them available to some 795 public bodies and quangos. The move, enacted by the personal decree of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, will...

Source: BioMed Central Date: September 9, 2007 Cell Phones Should Be Kept Away From Hospital Beds, Dutch Experts Say Science Daily — Cell phones should come no closer than one meter to hospital beds and equipment, according Dutch research published in the online open access journal, Critical Care. Scientists demonstrated that incidents of electromagnetic interference (EMI) from second and third generation mobile phones occurred even at distance of three meters. Hazardous incidents of electromagnetic interference from second and third generation mobile phones varied from a total switch off and restart of mechanical ventilator and complete stops without alarms in syringe...

Mobile phone calls on planes within months By David Millward, Transport Editor Last Updated: 12:01am BST 08/09/2007  Airline passengers could be able to use mobile phones on aircraft within months. Join our campaign for mobile-free flightsIndustry safety regulators have always banned their use on board because of fears the signal would interfere with the plane's electronic and communications equipment.But new technology has been developed which means that passengers will be able to make phone calls on mobile handsets safely while in flight.This week Ryanair started trials intended to prove phones can be used on the Boeing 737, which is used for millions...

Drivers risk two years in jail for using their mobile phonesBy JAMES SLACK - More by this author » Last updated at 22:35pm on 6th September 2007Motorists who use a hand-held mobile phone or fiddle with a satellite-navigation system while driving could be jailed for up to two years.Prosecutors have said they could be charged with dangerous driving in a dramatically tougher approach to such offences. Those caught fiddling with an MP3 music player or texting on a mobile at the wheel could also face the charge. Scroll down for more ...  Prosecutions will be brought whenever it is...

 EXCLUSIVE    Taliban terrorises RAF families  Phone ban ... Our Boys in Afghanistan     By TOM NEWTON DUNN Defence EditorAugust 22, 2007      TALIBAN fanatics terrorised the wife of an RAF officer by phoning her and saying: “You’ll never see your husband alive — we have just killed him.”  Rebels in Afghanistan are targeting British forces’ families with hate calls after tapping into Our Boys’ mobile phones.The tearful wife rang the RAF fearing the worst after receiving the midnight call — and was told her husband was safe and well.But the Taliban calls are a sick new plot...

Taliban tap into soldiers' mobile phones By Sophie Borland Last Updated: 2:20am BST 22/08/2007 Taliban insurgents are tapping into the mobile phones of British soldiers in Afghanistan and making threatening calls to their families, according to The Sun. They are thought to be downloading numbers stored in the phones and then terrorising friends and relatives of the servicemen by calling them with threats. One wife of an RAF soldier based in Afghanistan claimed to have received a phonecall in the middle of the night telling her that her husband was dead despite the fact he was alive and well. Servicemen...

<p>2 Rockets Defused at Pakistan Parliament By MUNIR AHMAD Associated Press Writer October 5, 2006, 6:43 AM EDT ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Two rockets rigged with mobile phones and primed to fire toward Pakistan's parliament were discovered by a construction worker Thursday and safely defused by bomb disposal experts, a security official said. The security scare in Islamabad came hours after a homemade bomb exploded without injury in a park in the neighboring city of Rawalpindi, not far from a residence of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.</p>

(TV5) -- It was revealed that the goal of an alleged terror plot, uncovered in Mid-Michigan, was apparently to hit the Mackinac Bridge. In response to the announcement by the Tuscola County Prosecutor the U.S. Coast Guard is increasing its patrols of the Mackinac Bridge. The bridge security had already been increased for several months due to elevated terror alert levels. Cameras on the bridge are monitored so that any suspicious packages or activity will be responded to by authorities. There is growing speculation as to why the Might Mac was the alleged target of these three Palestinian-American men. Tuscola...

The FBI, Homeland Security and police are investigating a suspicious purchase of cell phones at a Wal-Mart in Caro, Mich. Three men were arrested Friday on suspicion of buying more than 1,000 cell pones, Local 4 reported. The Nokia Tracfones cost about $20, and customers receive a phone plus 40 minutes of airtime. Also, the phones do not have to be registered to a name, the station reported. These are the same type of phones connected to terror charges against two Dearborn men arrested in Ohio, according to the station's report.

Nokia's days as the world's number one mobile phone vendor could be numbered, according to analysts. A new report from Strategy Analytics found that over the last four quarters, Motorola has averaged growth of around 52 percent, while Nokia has managed just 32 percent.

National Emergency Alerts To Ping Cell Phones, PDAs Government Updating Cold-War Era Alert System   POSTED: 11:52 am EDT July 12, 2006  WASHINGTON -- We interrupt your cell phone call with this important announcement: The government will soon be sending warnings of national emergencies on wireless phones, Web sites and hand-held computers. The new digital system will update the emergency alerts planned -- but never used -- during the Cold War in the event of a nuclear strike. More likely, these 21st-century technologies will carry warnings of natural disasters and terrorist attacks. The Homeland Security Department, through the Federal...

Improvements Coming Slowly to FallujahBy ANTONIO CASTANEDA Associated Press Writer July 11. 2006 6:21PM A US military humvee patrols a main street covered with a canopy of electircal wires at the site of the largest U.S. battle in Iraq, 65 kilometers (40 miles), west of Baghdad, Iraq, in Fallujah, in this May 1, 2006 file photo. Clean water should flow to 80 percent of Fallujah's homes this fall, and by summer's end a planned wireless network will provide phone service and Internet access to thousands, a technological leap unimaginable just months ago. (AP Photo/Jacob Silberberg, File) Clean water should flow...

WASHINGTON, July 3, 2006 – Two teens' ongoing effort to help deployed servicemembers communicate with their loved ones back home inspired the Orlando-Conway, Fla., chapter of International Moms Club to donate $4,000 to "Cell Phones for Soldiers" June 28. America Supports You members Robbie and Brittany Bergquist (second and third from left), co-founders of Cell Phones For Soldiers, receive a $4,000 check from Moms Club of Orlando-Conway, Fla., June 28. Also pictured are Moms Club representatives (left to right) Sherry Brown, Betty Tehrani, Juliet Anderson, Jacqueline Reece and Tricia Jones. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Moms...

SAN FRANCISCO, June 25 — Microsoft plans to offer a strategy on Monday describing how it intends to transform the telecommunications world in much the same way it changed the computing world in the 1980's. Its new approach centers on systems for the workplace that blend desktop computers with office and mobile phones, a combination known as "unified communications." But Microsoft, already late to the field, will not have its offerings commercially available before the second quarter of next year. "This is pretty complicated stuff to get out," said Bernard Elliot, a research vice president at Gartner Inc., a market...

Russia is growing, and so are the shadows that are cast over the business proceedings there. The bureaucracy is still extremely burdensome and growing. And laws are a matter of convenience and seemingly circumvented at will -- or at least when you have the right connections. Corruption and middlemen are a matter of course, and bribes are expected and given. Confiscation of private goods -- i.e., Motorola's ongoing fiasco -- and resale for profit is old news. Legitimate dealings are called smuggling. And smuggling is called smuggling. Russian law allows confiscated material in criminal investigations to be sold or destroyed...

[How President Hillary Clinton will use Bush policing powers. Be very affair!] by Edward Hudgins The revelation that the Bush administration has secured records of millions of phone calls from three telecom companies should shock every American who is concerned about freedom. Apparently it has not. A poll the day after the disclosure found that two- thirds of Americans have no apparent problem with this practice. Perhaps those opinions will change as more details are revealed. But in any case, for the sake our freedom, Americans would do well to do what most politicians refuse to do: to think in...

A majority of Americans initially support a controversial National Security Agency program to collect information on telephone calls made in the United States in an effort to identify and investigate potential terrorist threats, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. The new survey found that 63 percent of Americans said they found the NSA program to be an acceptable way to investigate terrorism, including 44 percent who strongly endorsed the effort. Another 35 percent said the program was unacceptable, which included 24 percent who strongly objected to it. A slightly larger majority--66 percent--said they would not be bothered if NSA...

WASHINGTON, May 10, 2006 – The police athletic leagues of Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie, Fla., have teamed with America Supports You member organization "Cell Phones for Soldiers" to help servicemembers and their families stay connected. America Supports You members Brittany Bergquist (left) and her brother, Robbie, recently spent three days aboard the USS Cape St. George at sea. They were invited by Capt. James Yohe (center) as a thank you for providing a calling card to each person aboard the ship. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The PALs create and fund programs for youngsters...

WASHINGTON, March 29, 2006 – The teenage co-founder of an "America Supports You" organization in Massachusetts that distributes prepaid phone cards to deployed troops has earned a $5,000 grant and is competing for another. Robbie Bergquist, 13, who started "Cell Phones for Soldiers" two years ago with his sister Brittany, is among nine "BRICK Award" winners competing for a second $5,000 grant from "Do Something," a national organization that encourages young people to become involved in community service. America Supports You is a Defense Department program that spotlights efforts by the Americans to support men and women in uniform. According...

AL ASAD, Iraq (March 10, 2006) -- One of the biggest challenges for service members deployed overseas is the separation from family and loved ones as well as the drawbacks of a limited communications network in a combat zone. On March 4, Marines with Marine Wing Headquarters Squadron 3, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, received the chance to not only talk to their loved ones, but to also see their faces here with the help of the Freedom Calls Foundation. The Freedom Calls Foundation is a non-profit organization designed to bring deployed service members and their families together through video teleconferencing....

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Mobile handset giant Nokia (NOK1V.HE) sees the United States market as having importance out of proportion to its size in setting industry trends, its incoming chief executive said in remarks published on Friday. Success in the United States is more important than just the resulting revenues, said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who takes over from CEO Jorma Ollila in June, in an interview with Finnish weekly magazine Suomen Kuvalehti."The United States is especially important, because world trends originate there," he said."Many things spread elsewhere from there, rarely the other way round. If something succeeds in the United States, it...

Is the cell phone scare finally over?   Jan 26, 2006 by Michael Fumento ( bio | archive )  Thirteen years ago, writing in Investor's Business Daily, I was the first reporter in the country to present evidence that cell phones have no link to brain cancer in direct contrast   to numerous television and radio shows, and hundreds of related articles in the U.S. and worldwide. Now the largest study ever on the issue has been released and it finds . . . cell phones have no link to brain cancer.Was my work of 13 years ago that of...

Cell phones prove deadly Contributor in 14 fatalities this year on Toll Road, police say By Joshua Stowe South Bend Tribune Posted on Sun, Dec. 25, 2005 ELKHART – Nick Vilders sees his cell phone as a lifesaver. The Orland man said he’s placed countless calls to stay awake while driving home after a day’s work as a building maintenance employee on the Indiana Toll Road. “I have a cell phone, I ain’t gonna lie,” Vilders said. Police and safety experts say Vilders’ attitude, while common, puts him at risk. They say it’s a mistake to think a person can...

Jakarta (dpa) - Indonesia ordered users of pre-paid cellular phone to be registered, a move aimed at aiding its efforts to combat terrorism, local media reports said Saturday. Minister of Communications and Information Sofyan Djalil said a decision to register the prepaid cellular phone users was in anticipation of electronic crimes ranging from scams to terrorism. He said the registration process would start on Saturday and be completed by early April next year. "There have been many complaints by people from housewives to state officials on electronic crimes. Therefore, the government decided to identify prepaid (phone) card users," the state-run...

MOSCOW. Sept 28 (Interfax) - Investments in information communications in Russia are expected to amount to more than $5.5 billion in 2005, Information Technology and Communications Minister Leonid Reiman said on Wednesday at a press conference as part of the Infocom-2005 exhibition. Investments in this industry totaled $4 billion in 2004, including $1.5 billion in foreign investments, he said. Thus, investments in the infocoms industry will rise 25% in 2005. Reiman said growth rates in the industry in 2005 amounted to 30%- 40%. In the first half of 2005, the number of Internet users in Russia grew by 15% to...

NEW ORLEANS — Keith Lafonta labored Monday at a squat building on Chef Menteur Highway, picking through a row of BellSouth trucks to see what equipment was worth salvaging as the company faces an unprecedented challenge restoring phone service to storm-battered New Orleans. He wore gloves to guard against a foul dust of dried mud left behind after floodwaters were pumped out. Sweat seeped through his white BellSouth polo shirt as midday temperatures crept toward the upper 90s. "All this was underwater," Lafonta said, sweeping his hand toward a bleak scene of battered vehicles that were flooded by polluted water...

Recently, I had an end-of-day conversation with my wife concerning how her day had gone. She explained that she had spent an infuriating hour on the phone with an (unnamed here) telephone company, trying to get information out of them about a new promotional rate for long-distance calling. It was like pulling teeth. My wife had initially called the (toll free for your convenience) number from the TV screen, and was first confronted with a maze of bewildering and contradictory instructions. ("Child-proof messaging," she called it.) When she finally did reach a human at the other end, the operator was...

BALAD, IRAQ, July 21, 2005 – It is always a great feeling for servicemembers to get care packages. Most of the time these packages include small “creature-comforts” that help make life seem a little more like home. However, what better way to make you feel more at home than the gift of communication. Soldiers in the 519th Movement Control Team were adopted by the town of Minden, Miss., and received telephones to help break down the communication gaps, not only between Soldiers in theater, but also Soldiers and their families back home. “These 12 telephones we received are an example...

Like most people, Jay Fields took his phone service for granted. He paid more than $100 a month - no questions asked - to Verizon Communications for a local and long-distance plan and a host of services like call forwarding and caller ID. But when he saw advertisements for a newfangled Internet-based phone service that his local cable provider, Cablevision, was offering, he had no bones about switching five months ago. His says his new connection sounds just as good as his old phone, yet he pays just $34.95 for unlimited local and long-distance calling, as well as call waiting...

World Media Digest Nokia CEO voices concern about U.S. mores , 01.24.05, 12:29 PM ET The News and Observer HELSINKI, Finland (AP) - The head of Nokia - the world's largest mobile phone maker - expressed concern Sunday about disintegrating values in society and an apparent resurgence in conservative attitudes in the United States. Nokia's chief executive, Jorma Ollila, said in a rare television interview that the world is living in "an era of selfishness" very different from his childhood days in a small town in central Finland, when family values were of prime importance. "Put in a nicer way,...

CHILDREN under the age of eight should not use mobile phones, parents were advised last night after an authoritative report linked heavy use to ear and brain tumours and concluded that the risks had been underestimated by most scientists. Professor Sir William Stewart, chairman of the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB), said that evidence of potentially harmful effects had become more persuasive over the past five years. The news prompted calls for phones to carry health warnings and panic in parts of the industry. One British manufacturer immediately suspended a model aimed at four to eight-year-olds. The number of mobiles...

Opposition to Airborne Cell Phones Floods FCC Thu Dec 16, 6:06 PM ET By Jeremy Pelofsky WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. air travelers wasted little time barraging communications regulators with hundreds of e-mails registering their opposition to ending the ban on the use of mobile phones during commercial flights. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday unanimously proposed lifting the ban if issues about safety and technical hurdles can be overcome. FCC officials said their mandate was to facilitate communications. But the potential of scores of passengers talking on mobile phones during a lengthy flight has many travelers worried that their...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

French Official Approves Decision to Let Some Places Install Mobile Phone JammersPARIS (AP) -- Watch a movie or make a mobile phone call. Soon, in France, you might not be able to do both at once. The government's industry minister has approved a decision to let cinemas, concert halls and theaters install cell phone jammers -- on condition that emergency calls can still get through, officials said Monday. Jean Labbe, president of the National Federation of French Cinemas, said the measure was a response to "a long-standing request" from cinemas of all sizes. Cinemas have invested heavily to improve comfort,...

AT&T Phone Bill Errors May 13, 2004 Mandy Grosser State officials are investigating after more than 12,000 Wisconsin telephone customers had about $5 in erroneous fees added to each of their monthly bills by AT&T earlier this year. The company says it improperly billed just under $4 in charges, plus additional fees and taxes, on the phone bills.

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- A teenage con artist using Internet auction sites tricked people into sending him money to buy cellular phones and instead mailed them bricks, police said. The 18-year-old boy was arrested this week in the central city of Ciudad Real after allegedly duping people all over Spain, including residents of Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. The suspect had his victims mail postal money orders to a house in Ciudad Real that he knew was vacant, police said. He collected them at the mailbox there, and was arrested Tuesday at a post office while trying to cash some of...

TOKYO - It may have been inevitable. Now that cell phones with little digital cameras have spread throughout Asia, so have new brands of misbehavior. Some people are secretly taking photos up women's skirts and down into bathroom stalls. Others are avoiding buying books and magazines by snapping free shots of desired pages. "The problem with a new technology is that society has yet to come up with a common understanding about appropriate behavior," said Mizuko Ito, an expert on mobile phone culture at Keio University in Tokyo. "No matter what the technology, there'll always be people who don't mind...

LONDON, June 19 — Advances in cellphone technology have spurred an insidious new threat — the use of the increasingly popular camera phones by pedophiles to photograph children. Across Britain, swimming pools and sports facilities have cracked down on their use while the YMCA in the Australian state of Victoria has also imposed a ban. Officials have yet to raise a clamor in the United States, where the devices have only recently become widely available. U.K. PARENTS AND child protection agencies say they worry that pedophiles will use the state-of-the-art camera phones to surreptitiously photograph children in changing rooms, instantly...

Australia bans mobiles from pools Say cheese ... but not in a pool or gym Mobiles are to be banned from swimming pools across Australia amid fears that camera phones are being misused. The ban will affect more than 300 gyms, pools and sports centres across the country run by the YMCAs of Australia. People using the pools and changing rooms of these places will no longer be able to take their mobile phones with them, although other areas of the building will not be affected. It comes as a proactive response to a potential problem, according to the chief...

Bill Would Ban Use of Handheld Cell Phones While Driving A state lawmaker is looking to follow New York's lead and ban the use of handheld cell phones while driving in California. If passed, Assembly Bill 45 would put the skids on driving and talking on the phone at the same time. The legislation would impose a $25 fine for the first time a driver was caught with a cell phone to his or her ear, and $50 for subsequent convictions. The move is designed to keep California roadways safer. The California Highway Patrol has released a new study...

Rouen police have seized two 'mobile phone' guns in a drugs-related raid in Elbeuf, Seine-Maritime, reports Agence-France Presse. The devices, which can fire four .22 bullets in the approximate direction of a victim, appear to be the ones of mysterious Eastern European origin which turn up every now and again. These are just about passable these days as not very attractive or state of the art handsets, as used by poor people (one really would expect drug dealers to have more of a sense of style). Except they're heavier, thanks to the four barrels and bullets. Except they've got a...