Friday, January 24, 2014, Bob Fernandez, Inquirer Staff Writer

The nation’s largest wireless phone company, which also has millions of FiOS Internet and land-line phone customers, had 321,545 requests for customer information from federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies in 2013, Verizon Communications Inc. said this week in its first “transparency report.”

Verizon did not say how much actual information it turned over to law enforcement for police investigations, only the requests.

The 2013 number was 24 percent higher than the 260,000 requests in 2011, which Verizon previously disclosed in a letter to then-Rep. Edward J. Markey (D., Mass.) in May 2012.

The majority of people have no idea that their information had been requested from Verizon, experts said.

Verizon, facing customer concerns over secret government data collection, has said it will regularly disclose law-enforcement requests for customer information in reports similar to those by Internet companies Google, Facebook and Yahoo.

Verizon’s report said that law-enforcement agencies requested 1,496 wiretaps in 2013 and 50,000 emergency requests for information – both part of the overall 321,545 in requests.

About half the requests were subpoenas in which a law-enforcement agency could request from Verizon a customer name, address, telephone or subscriber number, length of time as a customer, calling records and payment records.

Verizon also said it processed about 36,000 warrants, signed by judges, that could allow police officers access to stored digital content.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/technology/20140124_Verizon__321_545_requests_for_customer_info.html#X62jcmv920FoYhPt.99

Jim Probasco, Benzinga Staff Writer

Verizon (NYSE: VZ [FREE Stock Trend Analysis]) hopes to pull off what Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) could not – streaming live and delayed television, along with DVR, all in one service.

Verizon bought out Intel’s internal Media team and its On Cue pay-tv service, which it said it initially planned to integrate with its in-house FiOS broadband pay television service.

According to Wired, Intel was handing over a product that represented something Apple, Google, and Microsoft had failed to create – traditional network television programming, streaming services, and a full bundle of DVR options – all in a single box.

All this from a company better known for servers and computer chips. It was quite a stunt, orchestrated by Intel’s former CEO, Paul Otellini, who tagged Intel Media manager, Erik Huggers, in 2012 to come up with an innovative pay-tv service for the Intel brand. Huggers and his team came through. On Cue was born and it worked.

Instead of launching it, Intel decided to sell – to Verizon for $200 to $300 million. It was all part of an Intel decision to focus on its “core business.”

Related: Verizon and AT&T Unveiling Plans to Compete with T-Mobile ‘Jump’ Plan

Now Verizon has the goods and, more importantly, the means to deliver. First through its existing network of FiOS customers and eventually via its 100 million mobile customer base – something Intel would have had to build from scratch.

Intel’s plan, revealed at All Things D’s Dive Into Media last February, was to offer pay television services through broadband provided by Intel. Customers would choose from a variety of “smart bundles” including one for movie lovers, another for sports fans, and so forth.

Read more: http://www.benzinga.com/news/14/01/4245955/how-verizon-might-utilize-intels-on-cue#ixzz2rK4klIMu

Source: http://d-hex.blogspot.com/

Voting for Proposed By-Laws Changes is Underway

Ballots were mailed by the American Arbitration Association on January 2, and are due back January 29.
Check Your Mail – and Vote!

Since taking office the Executive Board has worked hard to find ways to cut costs at the Local. President Keith Purce worked with the by-lawscommittee, members Anthony Hall, Nancy Branham, and War­ren Donofrio, to figure out how best to reduce costs.

The Executive Board is recommending three changes to the Local’s by-laws. One is a restructuring of the Retirement Trust Fund to give every current 1101 member a disbursement of $1101. Two are to save money on lost time wages and officers’ salaries.

You should be receiving a ballot in the next few days for the proposed by-laws changes. If you don’t receive a ballot by January 9th, see the information at the bottom of this email to request a duplicate.

The Local has contracted with the American Arbitration Association (AAA) to conduct the vote. The proposed by-laws changes are detailed below.

1. Revise the Local Retirement Trust Fund to allow for the disbursement of $1101 to each Local 1101 member (Article XXI)

The Local Retirement Trust Fund currently has a balance of more than $9 million dollars, which is more than is necessary to fund the current disbursement of $2000 at each member’s retirement. The Executive Board pledged to disburse some of this money to the Local’s membership now, while making sure to keep the Fund solvent.

The money in the Retirement Trust Fund can only be used to make direct payments to members, and there are strict rules about how the money can be disbursed. Local 1101 Secretary-Treasurer, Kevin Condy, has been working with the lawyers and ac­countants to determine how best to restructure the Local Retirement Trust Fund in compliance with all laws and tax regulations.

The by-laws change proposes that every member who has been in continual good standing for five years preceding 10/25/2013 shall receive a benefit of $1101 now and $1101 when they retire. Members can choose to defer the first payment of $1101 and receive a total of $2202 when they retire, as long as they have been a member of Local 1101 in continuous good standing for the five years prior to their retirement.

In addition, if deferring the initial benefit of $1101 please be aware of the following. According to federal law and IRS regulations, if a member de­fers the first payment of $1101 until retirement, that $1101 will still be taxed in the year it could have been received (in this case 2014). This is called “construc­tive receipt” (26 C.F.R. Sec 1.451-2), which means the benefit is taxable as income in the year when the option can be exercised, regardless of whether or not the benefit is actually received in that year.

If a member has not paid $1101 in dues at the time of the disbursement, he/she will receive an amount commensurate with what he/she has paid in dues so far.

2. Compensation for Union Business (Article XXII)

All members and officers of Local 1101 who have to be pulled off for union business will be reimbursed for any lost time, paid at the same rate of pay they receive from their respective titles for a combined total of 40 hours a week. The hours that the Local pays for union business are considered “lost time wages”, since they are wages not paid by the employer.

Under the Local’s current by-laws, compensation for lost time wages is paid at top craft pay. Not every member or officer works for Verizon, however, and not every Verizon employee is at top craft pay. Paying members and officers at the actual rate of pay they would be paid by their respective employer will save the Local tens of thousands of dollars a year.

3. A 5% pay cut for the Executive Board (Article XXII C)

Executive Board members currently receive offi­cers’ pay as detailed in Article XXII (C) of the current by-laws. This by-laws change would cut the Executive Board members’ pay by 5%.

Make sure You Vote!

We encourage every member to read the materials carefully and to vote. If you have any questions please call the Local at 212-633-2666.

If You Haven’t Received a Ballot by January 9th

If you haven’t received a ballot by January 9th, call AAA at 1-800-529-5218 Monday through Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm. Members can also request a duplicate by emailing Sacha Ulerio at ulerios@adr.org. Please do not call prior to January 9, 2014 to allow sufficient time for delivery of all ballots.

Ballots are due back at AAA offices by Wednesday, January 29, 2014 at 5pm. The count will be held at the AAA offices on Thursday, January 30th.

The ballot includes the proposed language as well as the old language, and shows all of the proposed changes. Current By-Laws here.

CWA Local 1101
275 Seventh Avenue, 17th Floor
New York, NY 10001
212-633-2666

Source: local1101.org

The battle over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and millions of jobs
will start in the New Year, for real. While we successfully delayed
introduction of fast track legislation to this point, all signs point to
bill introduction on January 7th or 8th.

The Obama administration is likely to come hard to pass this legislation.
Passing the TPP involves a legislative two-step: first ram through
fast-track authorization, then once Congress has surrendered its authority
to vote on amendments to the deal, ram through the deal. *It’s crucial to
defeat fast-track, and the best way to defeat the TPP is to prevent a vote
in the first place. *Without fast-track, the deal will never get a vote.
*First, we need to get a large number of phone calls in to our
representatives. That starts January 6th and 7th. Please get ready to
pound in calls.

We need to hold every one of our representatives who signed the
DeLauro/Miller letter as a no vote on fast-track for the TPP. (Most
congressional Democrats appear to be inclined to vote against fast-track,
at this time. We also need to win Republican votes.) We don’t know yet what
will be in the TPP or in the fast-track legislation, since it’s still a
secret deal, but we are certain that if fast-track is introduced, it will
be bad and we will be opposed.

*There will be a nationwide day of action on January 22nd where we will
target swing votes, strengthen our supporters, and protest our opponents.
*The politics on these insane trade agreements, which are really about moving
money around the globe much more easily to cut wages and regulatory
protections, are tangled.

The Obama administration is pushing for a trade agreement that benefits the
global elite over the rest of us. The U.S. Senate, historically no friend
of working people, will pass fast-track and the TPP. We can stop this
agreement in the House of Representatives, even though it’s controlled by
Republicans, and the large majority of Republicans will vote for fast-track
and the TPP. We will need almost all Democrats and some Republicans.
(there is conservative tea-party opposition to this deal and anything the
Obama admin does, which helps here).

While we’ve done really well in recent elections, particularly in New York
City with DeBlasio’s election, on a federal level things are still very
rough We’ve done also very strong work nationally on the TPP along with
our allies, enough to delay into the new year.

It’s very unlikely a floor vote would come before February. We want to make
this so hot, they won’t want to vote it. Any vote on fast-track is likely
to be extremely close: every vote in Congress will count. There will (most
likely) be enormous pressure from Republican leadership and the Obama
administration to vote for fast-track. We defeated fast-track legislation
under both Bush and Clinton. We can do it again. More information about our
mobilization to come soon, please get ready for beginning large numbers of
phone calls on January 6th and 7th.