IBM Will Pay $24.25 Million To Resolve FCC Probes (reuters.com) 13
IBM has agreed to pay $24.25 million to resolve a pair of investigations by the Federal Communications Commission(FCC) over subsidies awarded to connect schools and libraries to broadband. From a report: IBM's payment will resolve two FCC investigations that have spanned nearly 15 years over its alleged violations of "E-Rate" program rules in connection with New York City and El Paso school districts. Under the agreement, IBM agreed to return $24.25 million to the Universal Service Fund that funds the E-Rate program, but did not admit wrongdoing. The FCC said its investigations found IBM had not satisfied the competitive bidding rules in New York for 2005-2008 and provided ineligible equipment and services in El Paso for 2001. IBM said in a statement it believed it "acted appropriately in its support of the E-rate program, but in the interest of amicably resolving a longstanding matter we are pleased to have reached this settlement." IBM added it had provided internet connectivity to thousands of U.S. schools and libraries and millions of American students through the E-rate program.
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In short, bull fucking shit.
To expand on that, Trump's so-called travel bans have never actually been travel bans. They have explicitly exempted American nationals. This does not help slow the spread of the virus, because the virus doesn't know what a race is, or a nation.
An actual travel ban is unfortunate no matter who is doing it, and where they're banning travel from. What you want is to institute a two-week quarantine-and-test system. But absent sufficient facilities for same, a travel ban may be the m
Re: France shuts down travel from UK... (Score:3)
No, if Mexico had an Ebolaaids real-actual-zombie outbreak, even Biden *would* close the borders. Because under threat of death, the actual correctness of common sense still trumps all political correctness.
And here, fuck, the UK numbers are rising like crazy! Of course everyone's shutting down their borders. They are simply afraid of death! And all your bullshit partisan politics simpy don't matter anymore, so shut you mouth.
Of course it's already too late, since Denmark and the Netherlands showed the same
Hang On... (Score:5, Interesting)
If this act had been performed by a small, local company, a "mom and pop shop", or a single individual, some state DA would be involved, maybe even Main Justice - and there would be calls for fraud charges and a hefty fine. But IBM simply give back the originally loaned amount, don't admit wrong-doing, and the matter is "closed"?
So obviously this is totally and utterly corrupt, but is this agreement being announced now because this is just before Ajit Pai steps down from his FCC role, or is this "purely a coincidence"?
If ever there was a need for more evidence of the way that our system justice has been corrupted by large corporations, then here's another shining example. It isn't enough for wealthy companies to pervert the legislative process through buying off politicians with "campaign contributions" and then having laws written to favour them. No. Somehow it's also necessary to arrange things so that when wealthy companies *are* caught "in the wrong" that they also get "let off" with nothing more than a stern talking-to ("wink").
Time for a reset.
No administration should settle with a company like this. For one thing, it looks like IBM got an interest-free loan of more than $24 million over 15 years. If they had to pay interest on that, it would have cost them a significant amount of cash. At least the FCC should have charged them that. But more than that, the FCC needs to explain how they decided that IBM did nothing wrong, point to the errors in the FCC's administration of the original program that resulted in monies being handed out without suitable oversight and explain what changes they have made to ensure that this sort of error cannot possibly happen again.
There needs to be an IG investigation in to the administration of the original program that gave the funds.
There needs to be examination of the legal advice sought, received and enacted with respect to ensuring that the disbursement of public funds cannot be misused in this way.
There needs to be a clear statement from the relevant cabinet secretary to explain what safeguards are in place and how they will be policed and enforced.
There needs to be a clear commitment from the federal government [responsible for giving the money to IBM] to the People [responsible for paying the taxes that generated the fund in the first place] to demonstrate that the federal government has learned from and will not repeat this mistake.
If the government can't or won't do this, tell me again why I should pay taxes? [And yes, there's an obvious, two-part response to this question: i) because "two wrongs don't make a right"; and ii) if I don't pay my taxes I'm breaking the law. But there is a social contract between government and citizen: the citizen pays taxes to fund the government, then the government faithfully performs the duties it has been charged with delivering by the citizens who pay for those services].
At the end of the day, if the FCC did their job, the money they could have fined IBM would go in to the Federal coffers and reduce the tax burden on citizens. And yes, I'm sure the difference it would make would be pretty much invisible to us, but it isn't just the amount, it's the message. The message that says: if you break the law or breach a contract you have with the People, you will pay a penalty for that. Once companies learn that lesson, this sort of behavior will stop.
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[something something something chinatown]
Re:Hang On... (Score:4, Insightful)
Then they failed to live up to the obligations they took on
The FCC is alleging that this happened. IBM says it didn't.
Your outrage is predicated on the assumption that if the government accuses someone, then they are obviously guilty. Real life isn't like that.
The FCC could have refused the settlement and proceeded with the lawsuit. They may have won. They may have lost. Or, since it was a civil suit, the court's ruling may have been mixed.
By agreeing to a settlement, the FCC avoided the risk of losing and saved all the costs (on the taxpayers' dime) of litigating.
IBM also benefits because they avoid the cost of litigating. By not admitting guilt, they avoid opening themselves up to more lawsuits from other allegedly damaged parties, such as the school districts.
"but did not admit wrongdoing" (Score:2)
What is this bullshit? Why is that accepted?
What did they pay the $24.25 million for then??
Bribes?
No, paying *is* an admission of wrongdoing. And the law should state that!
Otherwise this is just corporations being able to commit any crime they want, by just buying it from the legal system. And then we should get those outrageously low rates too! :P
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> No, paying *is* an admission of wrongdoing. And the law should state that!
It would cost them more than that in lawyers' fees to fight it. This is a business decision.
The lawyers at the FCC are happy with the result.
The lawyers who wrote the grant framework are happy.
The lawyers who arranged the settlement on both sides agree on what the payment means - why should your objection have basis?
We have a government of the Lawyers, by the Lawyers, and for the Lawyers. Did your 7th Grade Social Studies teach
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Dude! Federal regulatory law is lousy with these kinds of agreements. Nothing new to see here, move along.
The outrage of some, as if it's some unique instance is interesting.
Admit no wrong (Score:2)
"Under the agreement, IBM agreed to return $24.25 million to the Universal Service Fund that funds the E-Rate program, but did not admit wrongdoing."
Why? Why aren't they FORCED to admit they fucked up? This is so irritating every time I see it. Fuck you, own your mistakes like an adult.