Deconstructing Code

Carriers Adopt Content Rating for Cellphones - New York Times

Carriers Adopt Content Rating for Cellphones - New York Times:

The nation's major cellular phone carriers said yesterday that they had adopted a content rating system for video, music, pictures and games that they sell to cellphone users - a development that could pave the way for them to begin selling pornography and sex-oriented content on mobile devices.

The carriers said the ratings, meant to mimic content classifications for movies and video games, are voluntary.

Initially, the carriers would classify content in two categories: general interest and restricted content deemed appropriate only for people over the age of 18.

The carriers said they had agreed not to begin making restricted content available until they had developed filters and other technological tools that would enable parents to prevent children from getting access to inappropriate material.

Posted by rshah on November 09, 2005| Comments (0)

FCC clarifies WNP rules

FCC clarifies WNP rules
The FCC this week issued an order on wireless number portability rules that attempts to limit barriers some service providers were seeking.

Posted by rshah on October 20, 2003| Comments (0)

FCC Seeks Hearing-Aid-Friendly Phones

FCC Seeks Hearing-Aid-Friendly Phones
Cell phone makers must soon offer handsets that work with hearing aids, providing the growing number of people with hearing problems the benefits of wireless communication, regulators said.

Posted by rshah on October 06, 2003| Comments (0)

Think before you talk

Think before you talk
THE mobile phone is a paradoxical device. Its primary function is social: to enable its owner to communicate with other people. At the same time, though, using a mobile phone can seem profoundly anti-social, not least to people in the immediate vicinity. As part of an internal research project, the team designed five prototype “social mobiles” which modify their users' behaviour to make it less disruptive.

Posted by rshah on January 17, 2003| Comments (0)

Requiem for the Pay Phone

Requiem for the Pay Phone
In Washington, as in other parts of the country, pay phones are disappearing from the landscape. The number of them across the country has dwindled from a high of 2.7 million in the mid-1990s to about 1.9 million now, supplanted by the more personal wireless phones that fit in a pocket. The small companies that maintain them are pulling out of the business.

Posted by rshah on January 09, 2003| Comments (0)

Opposition to Portable Numbers

Opposition to Portable Numbers
If you are a cellphone user who has waited to change service providers until you can take your phone number with you — you may have to keep waiting.

Posted by rshah on March 18, 2002| Comments (0)

Unwitting Cell Calls Swamp 911 Systems

Unwitting Cell Calls Swamp 911 Systems
Auto-dial 911 functions are standard on many cell phones. If the function is not deactivated, each time a phone rolls in a purse or someone accidentally sits on the keypad, there is a chance that a 911 call will be made, emergency officials say. Dispatchers describe taking 10 calls in a row in which the only noise on the other end was a meeting in session, a stereo playing or someone's conversation.

Posted by rshah on February 23, 2002| Comments (0)

All Circuits Are Busy

All Circuits Are Busy
When disaster strikes, that assumption no longer applies. Instead, the Telecommunications Service Priority system - a federal program designed to guarantee government communications in an emergency - kicks in. Administered by the National Communications System, a little-known agency set up after the Cuban Missile Crisis, TSP calls for circuits to be held in reserve for certain key customers - police, firefighters, hospitals, government agencies, the military. Everyone else gets potluck.

Posted by rshah on February 04, 2002| Comments (0)

711 Will Permit Easy Nationwide Access to Relay Services

711 Will Permit Easy Nationwide Access to Relay Services
On October 1 of this year our country begins a new era of telephone access. That is the day that the familiar calling shortcuts of 911 and 411 will be joined by 711 - the new three digit number for access to all Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS).

Posted by rshah on September 29, 2001| Comments (0)

Is the Payphone Dead?

Is the Payphone Dead?
The debate was prompted by BellSouth's Feb. 2 announcement that it will be out of the payphone business by December 2002, see also Slashdot

Posted by rshah on April 19, 2001| Comments (0)

Canada Considers Cellphone Jammers

Canada Considers Cellphone Jammers
One person quoted in the article says, essentially, if a property owner does not want people to use cell phones on his property, then why not jam 'em?, see also Slashdot

Posted by rshah on March 07, 2001| Comments (0)

Using Mobile Phones in Aircraft

Using Mobile Phones in Aircraft
Both the airline industry and the Federal Communications Commission ban the use of cell phones aboard commercial flights. But they do it for different reasons, reasons which are contradictory and scientifically unsubstantiated, critics say.

Posted by rshah on February 15, 2001| Comments (0)

BellSouth to hang up payphone business as wireless grows

BellSouth to hang up payphone business as wireless grows
BellSouth, which sells local phone service in the southeastern United States, said it's getting out of the payphone business by the end of 2002, partly because the boom in wireless usage has sapped its sales.

Posted by rshah on February 03, 2001| Comments (0)

Phantom Phone Booth

Phantom Phone Booth
Not long ago, 25 cents bought you a phone call. But the times are a changin’–especially as people desert the pay phone for wireless versions. As the United States’ 95 million cell-phone subscribers (increasing by 46,000 a day, according to industry estimates) find less use for the 2.3 million pay phones sitting on the nation’s street corners, pay-phone providers are looking for what to do next.

Posted by rshah on November 21, 2000| Comments (0)

TextTelephone, or Teletypewriter (TTY)

TextTelephone, or Teletypewriter (TTY)
Technology that will allow people with hearing and speech impairments to make digital cellular calls using text-telephone, or teletypewriter

Posted by rshah on June 24, 2000| Comments (0)

Privacy

Privacy
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