Cybercrime & Technology

SAN FRANCISCO -- California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced a “groundbreaking settlement” with AT&T Mobility (formerly Cingular) that will prohibit the cell phone carrier from charging customers for any calls made after their phones are lost or stolen. Brown alleged that the company violated California law, including Public Utilities Code section 2890, which bars phone companies from charging customers for unauthorized services.

“No cell phone company should profit from calls made by thieves or unauthorized users,” Brown said.

The agreement, a stipulated judgment filed today with the San Francisco Superior Court, requires the company to credit a customer’s bill or immediately investigate customer reports that the calls were made after the phone was lost or stolen. The company may only charge a customer if an investigation determines that the customer actually authorized the charges.

The judgment requires AT&T Mobility to inform each of their customers of their legal rights regarding lost or stolen phones. Under the agreement, AT&T must either credit the disputed charges or inform customers of their legal rights which include:

• The right to have the case investigated within 30 days
• The right to provide information showing a customer did not authorize the calls
• The right not to pay disputed charges during the investigation
• The right to appeal the outcome of an investigation to the California Public Utilities Commission

AT&T must notify customers--in writing--of these new requirements and assist customers to obtain credit for amounts already paid on lost or stolen phones, back to year 2003. AT&T will also pay the Attorney General's Office $500,000 for costs of the investigation and for the Unfair Competition Law Fund, administered by the California District Attorneys Association.

“This groundbreaking settlement makes AT&T the first cell phone company that has agreed to protect its customers from cell phone rip-offs and other unauthorized uses,” Brown said. “It is now time for the rest of the cell phone industry to step forward and follow AT&T’s example,” Brown added.

The Attorney General’s Office began the investigation in 2006 after several consumers complained they were being charged thousands of dollars for calls made on cell phones that were stolen. In one case, calls originated from Mexico, a country the customer had never visited. Although customers could fully document that the calls were unauthorized, AT&T refused to credit the accounts.

The law for cell phones is similar to that for credit cards: customers have a right to dispute unauthorized charges and request an investigation. Customers should not be held responsible for charges until the investigation concludes.

By entering into the agreement, AT&T does not admit it violated any laws or engaged in any wrongdoing. The state’s complaint and the agreement are attached.

LOS ANGELES – California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced that the backlog of DNA samples collected from convicted felons—which stood at 295,000 in July 2006—has been eliminated.

At a news conference with Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, Brown said: “The state has the third largest DNA database in the world so eliminating the backlog is a major milestone in combating crime in California. The next phase—collecting DNA samples from all persons arrested for felonies in California—will begin January 1, 2009. I will use the full resources at my command to meet this challenging goal.”

Proposition 69, passed in November 2004, required all convicted felons to submit a DNA sample to the CAL-DNA Data Bank Program. In response, the Program immediately hired and trained new DNA analysts and started a statewide DNA sample collection training program. An executive order, requiring expedited DNA collection from all incarcerated felons and parolees resulted in a peak of 70,000 submissions in April of 2005—over twice the number received in the year prior to Proposition 69—for a total submission in 2005 alone of about 300,000 samples.

The Attorney General’s Office, in collaboration with the Governor, identified the critical need to eliminate the developing backlog. Utilizing existing personnel in a special overtime project, along with the validation and implementation of new methods, the Program boosted analytical capacity to over 40,000 DNA samples per month. Increased efforts to enhance recruitment and retention allowed CAL-DNA to find the trained analysts necessary to meet the next wave of Proposition 69 mandates—the implementation of the all-adult-felon-arrestee provision in January 2009—estimated at 390,000 submissions per year.

In 1990 CAL-DNA was established in the Division of Law Enforcement, Bureau of Forensic Services in DOJ; and in 1994 funding for sex offender collections was obtained. The expected number of offender DNA samples submitted at that time was 40,000 per year. After 10 years, the inclusion of violent felons and other qualified offenders in 2004 had expanded the database to about 300,000.

California Attorney General’s Office now has the third largest DNA Database in the world, just behind the United States as a whole and Great Britain. CAL-DNA has over 940,000 in the searchable database, known as the CAL-DNA Data Bank, as part of the National DNA Index System, which is operated and overseen by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) Unit.

CAL-DNA has to date reported over 5,000 offender hits, or linkages established by a common DNA profile between crime evidence and an offender in the database. These hits continue to solve crimes and improve public safety.

A press release with charts is attached.

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced a $3 million settlement with America Online (AOL), one of the nation’s largest Internet service providers. The prelitigation settlement, entered into by California, the District of Columbia and 47 other states, resolves complaints that AOL failed to disclose terms and conditions of paid service and made it extremely difficult for consumers to cancel their AOL pay services. Under today’s agreement AOL will make a number of improvements including: easier cancellation procedures, improved billing disclosures and commitment to refunding unauthorized charges.

Historically, AOL’s primary service has been dial-up Internet access, typically offered through a free trial offer that requires consumers to cancel their accounts to avoid a monthly membership fee. AOL announced in August 2006, that it would begin limiting its role as an Internet access provider and start allowing customers to convert to free e-mail accounts.

California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. said: “Today’s agreement will minimize the potential for consumer confusion during the transition to free e-mail accounts.”

Prior to this settlement, AOL only allowed customers to cancel their service by fax, mail or telephone. The majority of consumers called AOL directly and wound up speaking with service representatives who earned rewards, in some cases up to $3000 per month, for persuading customers not to terminate service. Consumers complained that this practice of trying to “save” customers made cancellation extremely difficult if not impossible.

Today’s settlement puts strict limitations on the practice of “saving” customers and requires recording and verification of these telephone calls. In addition, consumers are now able to easily cancel service online at: http://cancel.aol.com.

Today’s settlement also requires AOL to change confusing billing practices. AOL will clearly disclose how terminated accounts are reactivated and the customer must now resubmit any payment information before AOL can reactivate a paid service. The company will also clearly disclose the exact charge that will be placed directly on a customer’s monthly telephone bill. AOL will also revise its practice of allowing consumers to create “spin off” accounts, which are additional paid accounts for AOL service that stem from one original membership. Under the settlement, these accounts can now only be created over the telephone and customer service agents must completely disclose the exact additional cost of creating a “spin off” account.

The agreement also requires AOL to give refunds to consumers who complained of unauthorized charges for AOL service. If a consumer can show AOL billing after a cancellation attempt, AOL will refund those charges. The company will continue cooperating with the state to resolve outstanding complaints and continue refunding consumers for unauthorized charges.

The California Attorney General's Office was on the executive committee that led the negotiated agreement. Other participants in today’s settlement include: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia Wisconsin, and Wyoming, the Commonwealths of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Under the settlement, AOL must provide a proper mailing address, fax number, and e-mail address where consumer complaints may be forwarded. Consumers who believe they have been charged by AOL for unauthorized service may contact the Attorney General’s Public Inquiry Unit to make a complaint. Complaints may be made in writing to: Public Inquiry Unit, Attorney General's Office, Attn: P.O. Box 944255, Sacramento, CA 94244-2550, or by using the online consumer complaint form: http://ag.ca.gov/contact/complaint_form.php?cmplt=CL

The settlement agreement is attached.