state law

As many of you know, the American Teleservices Association is creating the first self-regulatory organization for our industry that will incorporate audits and certification. The ATA represents the call centers, trainers, consultants, and equipment suppliers that initiate, facilitate, and generate telephone, Internet, and email sales, service, and support.

Following its rivals, Sprint Nextel Corp. will soon begin trimming the fees customers face for canceling their cell phone service early.

Chief Executive Dan Hesse said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press that Sprint could start lowering the early termination fees as soon as December, once the company updates its billing software. The fee of $200 or more is charged to wireless subscribers who end their service before their two-year contract ends.

The fees that cell phone carriers charge customers who break service contracts took a big hit in a California courtroom when a judge said such charges by Sprint Nextel Corp. likely violate state law.

The judge, in a tentative ruling issued late Monday, said Sprint will have to pay $18.3 million to customers who sued over the fees and credit $54.8 million to those who were charged but did not pay the fees.

A lawyer for a man once considered one of the world's most prolific e-mail spammers urged the Virginia Supreme Court on Wednesday to strike down a state anti-spam law, arguing it violates free speech protections under the U.S. constitution.

Lawyer Thomas M. Wolf said the state law that makes bulk e-mailing a felony is unconstitutional because it fails to distinguish between commercial messages, which are not covered by the constitution, and protected political and religious speech.