Federal regulators. You can't live with them. You can't live without them.
Or at least that's what Microsoft Corp. might tell you. Already under the watchful eye of one rather large and powerful executive agency - the Justice Department - the software superpower is courting the attention of another Washington behemoth, the Federal Communications Commission.
Microsoft has entered the bidding for next week's FCC auction for 493 local multipoint distribution service licenses. The licenses will give the winners rights to offer microwave telephony and other telecom services in the 28 GHz microwave spectrum. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the company has registered to bid on all available licenses. Microsoft was, and remains, mum on its intentions.
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Pyramids of spam: Consumers are sending federal regulators lots and lots of examples of potentially fraudulent email solicitations - and the government is warning the spammers that they're being watched.
The Federal Trade Commission and US Postal Service said that, together, the agencies have warned about 1,000 junk emailers that they're on thin legal ice. The legally questionable emails were among more than 60,000 sent by consumers.
"The FTC is on the Internet beat and will follow up with spam artists who don't clean up their correspondence," said Jodie Bernstein, director of the FTC's consumer protection division.
The junk email pitched a wide array of scams, from illegal pyramid investment schemes to bogus job offers and loans. Internet users who received the mail forwarded it to the FTC at a special mailbox, [email protected], set up to help track online schemes.
While the email pitches reviewed likely violated the law, the agencies lacked the resources to pursue every case, an official explained. Instead, the agencies sought the names and addresses of the senders and issued warnings.
The agencies would likely commence legal proceedings if they receive further evidence that a junk emailer had ignored the warning, the official said.
The move followed a similar warning issued in 1996 to more than 500 Web-site operators promoting pyramid schemes.
