Humana hired Healthhubb, a telemarketing vendor, to make incessant insurance solicitation calls to Chicago resident Antionette Woodard, though her number was listed on the national do not call registry since Sept. 25, said her class action Friday (docket 1:23-cv-00979) in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois to enforce the consumer-privacy provisions of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. “Because telemarketing calls can be made to thousands or even millions of individuals,” Woodard brings this action on behalf of a proposed nationwide class of other persons who received similar calls from Humana, said her complaint. For more than 20 years, the FCC has explained that its rules generally establish that the party on whose behalf a solicitation is made bears ultimate responsibility for any violations, said the complaint. Humana also “ratified” Healthubb’s wrongful conduct “by accepting the benefits of Healthubb’s calling activity,” it said. Woodard and members of the proposed class are “entitled to and do seek injunctive relief prohibiting Humana from making telemarketing calls (whether directly or via agents)” to numbers on the DNC registry, except for emergency purposes, said the complaint. Humana didn’t comment Friday.
Groups representing small carriers warned of timing problems and financial hardships for their members from proposed rules to more precisely route wireless 911 calls and texts to public safety answering points through location-based routing (LBR), in comments on an NPRM commissioners approved 4-0 in December (see 2212210047). But public safety groups urged the FCC to act as soon as possible. The commission proposed to require nationwide providers to deploy LBR within six months from the effective date of final rules, while smaller carriers would get 18 months.
As U.S. government regulators continue to face pressure from Congress to more quickly place export restrictions on emerging technologies, the Commerce Department and industry officials are grappling with the potential ethical consequences of controls on a technology that could have groundbreaking medical benefits.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The U.S., the EU and others can take steps to improve how they administer export controls, deliver guidance to industry and more efficiently target dangerous end users, experts said this week. One expert specifically called on the U.S. to revise the Entity List, which should better isolate the worst export control offenders.
President Joe Biden sends to Senate reappointment of Rebecca Kelly Slaughter as FTC commissioner for seven-year term, ending Sept. 26, 2029 … National Emergency Number Association names Jonathan Gilad, ex-MCI-USA, government affairs director … NAB Senior Vice President-Communications Ann Marie Cumming says she’s leaving association Feb. 21 to join Congressional Club Museum and Foundation as executive director.
World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala voiced the WTO's support of the Inclusive Forum on Carbon Mitigation Approaches, the WTO said. Speaking Feb. 9 at the forum's launch at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the DG said the global trade body is ready to aid the new initiative and ensure a wide group of stakeholders join together to address climate change.
Comcast's sports and entertainment company, Comcast Spectacor, names Daniel Hilferty CEO; he recently chaired Philadelphia’s successful bid to be a FIFA World Cup 2026 host city ... Shipt names Target’s Amy Benson chief people and community officer ... Cloud contact center platform Ujet promotes Kristin King to chief customer officer, newly created role ... Customer engagement software company EngageSmart names former Hewlett Packard Enterprise executive Mark Daoust chief customer officer-enterprise solutions ... Abridge, AI-powered medical documentation company, taps Zachary Lipton, former Amazon AI research scientist, as chief scientific officer ... Digital.ai promotes Derek Holt to CEO, succeeding Stephen Elop, who returns to the role of executive chairman ... Movado Group promotes Margot Grinberg to president-Movado brand, and senior vice president-e-commerce; former Movado Brand President Alan Chinich, will continue as Movado Group president-North American region, responsible for all Movado brands.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel sent letters to the nation’s nine largest providers of wireless emergency alerts seeking information on how alerts can start to support languages beyond English and Spanish, said an agency news release. “Today, Wireless Emergency Alerts supports messages only in English and Spanish,” said Rosenworcel, posted in Tuesday’s Daily Digest: That means “many non-English speakers in the United States continue to lack crucial information about imminent dangers and other emergencies. I believe that language should not be a barrier to getting critical information that could save lives.” Rosenworcel also sent a letter to New York State Attorney General Letitia James (D), who raised the issue. The letters to providers ask what their practices are to ensure WEAs are accessible to as many subscribers as possible. “Can machine translation technologies that are available today be used in emergency communications for translating alert messages into the most commonly spoken languages in the U.S.?” the letters ask: “If not, what steps remain to make this a reality? Are there other ways to enhance WEA’s accessibility for those who are not proficient in either English or Spanish?” The letters went to AT&T, Cellcom, C-Spire, Dish Network, Google Fi, Lively, T-Mobile, UScellular and Verizon.
World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala voiced the WTO's support of the Inclusive Forum on Carbon Mitigation Approaches, the WTO said. Speaking Feb. 9 at the forum's launch at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the DG said the global trade body is ready to aid the new initiative and ensure a wide group of stakeholders join together to address climate change.