 Technology |
Technology |
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FCC lowers rates for jail phone calls |
Rate caps on calls from incarcerated people will be lowered based on a rule the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted during a Thursday meeting. |
The rule will lower call rates for individuals at correctional facilities to help ease communication between incarcerated individuals with friends, family and others.
The new rules would lower the cost of a 15-minute phone call from as much as $11.35 to $.90 at a large jail, and from $12.10 to $1.35 at a small jail, according to the FCC.
The rules also establish for the first time a per-minute rate cap for video calls to drop the prices based on consumers' usage.
In addition to cutting the audio rate caps per-minute by more than half, the rules also simplify the pricing structure while incorporating the costs of ancillary services into the rate caps, according to the FCC.
The rules also aim to lower prices consumers pay by eliminating the ability to impose separate ancillary service charges.
The FCC's vote comes after President Biden signed a law last year that clarified that the agency has the authority to regulate call rates at correctional facilities. The FCC's previous action seeking to set such limits were blocked in court, limiting the agency from setting limits for intrastate calls.
FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel and other members of the commission praised the late Martha Wright-Reed, the namesake of the law clarifying the FCC's authority to set the limits, for her advocacy in pushing for the changes. Wright filed a petition calling for the agency take action on the high rates as she was trying to maintain communication with her grandson, who was incarcerated. Read more in a report at TheHill.com. |
Welcome to The Hill's Technology newsletter, we're Rebecca Klar and Julia Shapero — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. |
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How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future: |
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Amazon has added a health warning to the season finale of "The Boys" in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on former President Trump. A statement posted to Instagram by "The Boys" account and Sony Pictures TV said that any similarities between the season finale and the shooting during Trump's rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend were coincidental. "The season finale of The Boys contains scenes of fictional … |
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Housing and high finance are the two sectors of the economy where government regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) is most needed, a House Financial Services Committee working group has concluded after a series of meetings with industry players. The working group said the committee should "play a leading role in overseeing the adoption of A.I. in the financial services and housing industries" in a new report. The report … |
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President Biden appeared to make light of testing positive for COVID-19 in a fundraising pitch aimed at technology billionaire Elon Musk. "I'm sick," the president said in a post on the social platform X Wednesday after the White House said Wednesday evening that the president had tested positive for COVID-19. "Of Elon Musk and his rich buddies trying to buy this election," Biden said in a reply to his post after a two-minute … |
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News we've flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics: |
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Meta suspends generative AI features in Brazil |
Meta has suspended the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) features in Brazil, after the country's National Data Protection Authority barred the tech giant from training its AI models on Brazilians' personal data, TechCrunch reported. |
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OpenAI launches smaller, cheaper model |
OpenAI, the startup behind the popular ChatGPT tool, has launched a new, more affordable model called GPT-4o mini, as it seeks to make it easier for developers to build on its models, Reuters reported. |
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Branch out with other reads on The Hill: |
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The oil painting depicts a woman standing on a podium, her arm aloft as she grasps a laurel crown in her hand. A scarlet cloak drapes across her chest as she stares at the viewer. To the naked eye, the painting looks like a normal piece in an online portfolio. But the version of … |
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Two key stories on The Hill right now: |
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As the pressure mounted on President Biden about whether to continue his presidential bid, Democrats saw only one person who could help bring the conversation … Read more |
| MILWAUKEE — Republicans find themselves in a somewhat unusual position: fully in sync, while Democrats hash out a major internal disagreement in public. … Read more |
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You're all caught up. See you tomorrow! |
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