Verizon Pushes FCC to Turn Off LA Office Tower's Lights

Yesterday, I did not realize fluorescent lights could disrupt wireless communications. Ah, what a difference a day makes. A piece in today's theverge.com reported on issues Verizon has experienced with a Los Angeles office tower illuminated with the offending light bulbs. Initially, Verizon had to identify the source of the service disruption. After some sleuthing, the wireless provider determined the Ernst and Young Plaza structure was the culprit. Verizon complained to the FCC, and the Feds began to hondle with the building's owners.

Image: gelighting.com

The problem has not yet been resolved, according to theverge.com's story. What's curious about the episode is the FCC's involvement. At first blush, one would assume wireless cases would naturally fall into the Federal Communication Commission's purview. Not so fast. Sometime in the FCC's history, the agency became the regulatory agency for fluorescent light bulbs. According to theverge.com's piece, these particular lights "are regulated by the FCC since they fall under 'industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) equipment.'"

You can't make this stuff up.

Verizon Wireless Joins Web Tracking, App Usage Party

A Server Room

According to a report in today's LA Times Technology blog, Verizon Wireless has changed its privacy policy so that users have precious little privacy remaining.

The revised Verizon Wireless guidelines enable the carrier to track a customer's "Web surfing, location, app usage, and other data-consuming behaviors...." This was done, according to Verizon Wireless, with people like you in mind. Uh-huh.

The stated rationale was that the data sharing would help Verizon Wireless (and presumably other advertisers) make "'mobile ads you see more relevant.'" Subscribers are automatically included in the "all ads, all the time" scheme; it's possible to opt-out.

Clearly, that should be the other way around, with opt-out as the default choice. I don't know about you, but my principal interest in my mobile devices is not the reception of "more relevant" ads. Of course, the behavioral information Verizon Wireless gathers is pure gold. The phone carrier isn't alone in this pursuit: data-driven firms such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon are profoundly skilled at creating algorithmically-based information gathering.

It makes me appreciate a postal letter, and its still-active privacy protections.