Month: October 2016

The FCC announced a $2.3 million fine against Comcast on Tuesday after confirming that the company had been billing customers for products and services they had never ordered. After calling the fine "the largest civil penalty assessed from a cable operator by the FCC," the federal agency's announcement detailed exactly how Comcast bilked customers—and new company practices that must be put into place as a result.

According to the FCC's Office of Media Relations, the agency had received "numerous complaints from consumers" about the issue of "negative option billing"—meaning, receiving charges for items that the customers had never affirmatively requested. (The FCC reminds readers that in the telecom world, this practice is known as "cramming.") The listed complaints revolve specifically around items related to cable TV service, including "premium channels, set-top boxes, and DVRs."

“Despite specifically declining service or equipment upgrades”

Though the FCC's statement didn't quote particular complaints or state how many the agency received, it described a range of unsavory reports from customers, including "being billed despite specifically declining service or equipment upgrades offered by Comcast," "having no knowledge of unauthorized charges until they received unordered equipment in the mail," and "expending significant time and energy to attempt to remove unauthorized charges from their bills and obtain refunds." (Ars has reached out to the FCC with questions about specific complaints and the number received; we will update this report if we receive a response.)

Enlarge (credit: USFS Gila National Forest)

Wildfires in the American West can make for apocalyptic images, but they’re also routine, as the heat of the dry season can turn large areas of forest into fires-in-waiting. One lightning strike—or one careless human—can set off a blaze that consumes tens of thousands of acres.

Several factors contribute to the extent of these wildfires. We've made efforts to put them out as soon as possible—it's well intentioned and sometimes necessary to protect ever-expanding human communities. But in many places, putting out the fires has disrupted a natural process of forest housekeeping. With small bits of fuel allowed to accumulate on the forest floor for longer, fires become less frequent but much more intense.

Climate also plays a role. Year-to-year variability leaves some summers noticeably drier and hotter than others. And then there's climate change. What can we say about its influence on fires in the West?

Enlarge (credit: Jordan Tempro via Getty Images)

A federal appeals court says Uber and taxis are not the same type of service, and, hence, it's OK to regulate them differently. In a blow to taxi drivers, the decision means cities like Chicago can have separate regulations for Uber and taxis—with the more onerous ones targeting cabbies.

The US 7th Circuit Court of Appeals said drivers like Lyft and Uber don't have to have their fares regulated or their drivers licensed. In a federal lawsuit, cabbies said the different treatment is an illegal double standard, discriminatory, anti-competitive, and is forcing them out of business.

"The plaintiffs continue to receive some insulation from competition, because they alone are permitted to operate taxicabs in Chicago. Taxicabs are preferred to Uber and other TNPs (transportation network providers) by many riders, because you don’t have to use an app to summon them—you just wave at one that drives toward you on the street—and also because the fares are fixed by the City," the court ruled.

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft is facing more delays. (credit: Boeing)

After an initial delay from late 2017 into early 2018, Boeing has acknowledged a second slippage of its schedule for the first commercial crew flights of its Starliner spacecraft. According to a report in Aviation Week, the company now says it will not be ready to begin operational flights until December 2018, a full year after NASA had originally hoped its commercial crew providers would be ready.

The admission by Boeing confirms a report by NASA's Inspector General, which found significant delays with both the Boeing and SpaceX efforts to develop private spacecraft to ferry US astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The delay also explains why, as Ars has previously reported, senior managers with the International Space Station program are likely to press ahead with the politically painful decision to purchase Soyuz seats for the calendar year 2019.

Boeing's second delay appears to have been caused by supply chain issues and other factors, which Boeing Program Manager for Commercial Crew John Mulholland said have been largely resolved. "When we were faced with these issues it was time for us to step back and say: ‘Hey listen, we have to readdress [this] and say what’s real and lay in where we are going forward,'” he told Aviation Week.