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FCC Commissioner Clyburn demands 'further explanation' from Verizon

Federal Communications Commissioner (FCC) Mignon Clyburn said in a statement Monday that the Verizon's mystery fees on customer bills, which the company revealed Sunday and plans to refund, "require further explanation."

"The fifteen million overcharged consumers, identified by Verizon Wireless, deserve more than refunds," Clyburn said. "They deserve answers and steps to assure that such errors will not happen again.  We cannot and should not let them down."

Phoenix Center paper: Communications regs kill jobs

The Phoenix Center will unveil a paper on Tuesday stressing that communications sector regulations could have an adverse impact on employment. The paper "shows that job losses could exceed 300,000 at the upper end for a 10 percent decline in capital expenditures," it says.

“At a time when unemployment is high and the economy is faltering, anti-investment telecom and broadband policies are ill-advised,” said Phoenix Center President Lawrence Spiwak in a statement.

Hill notes

Verizon to issue $50 million in refunds. Verizon acknowledged Monday it will be repaying 15 million wireless customers that were mistakenly overcharged over the past two years. Federal Communications Commission enforcement bureau chief Michele Ellison said the "mystery fees" date back over two years and total more than $50 million. Verizon said the customers were mistakenly charged data fees for downloads they didn't initiate. Verizon will be mailing checks for between two and six dollars to most customers, though some will get larger refunds. http://bit.ly/anF8Zl

Consumers Union endorses 'bill shock' legislation. Consumers Union wrote to Sen. Tom Udall (D-N. Mex.) on Thursday to endorse legislation he introduced forcing telecom companies to simplify phone bills so consumers are not "shocked" when they open the monthly envelope. http://bit.ly/bUbB6x

Guide arms Tea Party members with anti-net-neutrality talking points. Net-neutrality rules are "most surely not" needed, according to a guide released Monday for conservative activists who want to impact policy decisions. The manual from the Heartland Institute, titled “The Patriots Toolbox,” is targeted at politicians and “patriot-activists” in the Tea Party movement. Each chapter in the book addresses a major policy area, and one is devoted to telecommunications. http://bit.ly/cdLOar

A computer that teaches itself. A team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University — supported by grants from the DARPA and Google, has been fine-tuning a computer system that is trying to master semantics by learning more like a human. The computer was primed by the researchers with some basic knowledge in various categories and set loose on the Web with a mission to teach itself. http://nyti.ms/coHokn

Industry notes

Twitter names new CEO. Twitter co-founder and chief executive Evan Williams announced Monday that he's stepping down to focus on product strategy and will be replaced by chief operating officer Dick Costolo. The move comes as the micro-blogging service prepares for an initial public offering and completes its first major redesign since the 2006 launch. http://bit.ly/aL58Nj

2 E-Books Cost More Than Amazon Hardcovers. "Readers of e-books may not be able to turn paper pages, lend their copies to friends or file them away on living room bookshelves. But they do have the comfort of knowing that they paid less for them than for hardcovers," the New York Times reports. In two instances, no such comfort exists. Thats for readers of “Fall of Giants” by Ken Follett, or "Don't Blink" by James Patterson and Howard Roughan, which are priced higher digitally than they are in hardcover. http://nyti.ms/au5FQ1

BITAG opens its doors to all. The technical advisory group BITAG has decided to open its door to "any person or entity interested in furthering its mission and able to bring the requisite technical expertise," according to a blog post from Dale Hatfield, a professor who serves executive director on the project. http://bit.ly/cN4duv

Apple fights $625 million verdict in patent suit. Apple is challenging a jury verdict that could force it to pay as much as $625.5 million to a company founded by David Gelernter, a Yale computer science professor, for infringing three patents related to how files are displayed on the iPod, the iPhone and Macintosh computers. http://nyti.ms/cVWm8q

Study shows iPhone apps transmit phone ID numbers. A new study shows that 68% of the most popular free iPhone applications are transmitting data that uniquely identifies the phone being used, and some applications even send information such as the user’s name. http://bit.ly/cvSDGM

Tweeted

Mousetraps set. My love for animals only goes so far.

-@KatieS, Katie Jacobs Stanton, the head of international strategy at Twitter. She used to work at the State Department. http://bit.ly/9L8OB2

Schedule

9:30 a.m. ITIF hosts a discussion on politics and the Internet, featuring Juliana Gruenwald of Tech Daily Dose and Rob Atkinson, the association's president.

10 a.m. Future of Music Coalition's policy forum features a speech by Victoria Espinal, the administration's IP czar.

4 p.m. New America Foundation hosts a discussion on "Public Media in the Digital Age: Broadcast, Broadband, and Beyond," featuring Free Press president Josh Silver and BBC director general Mark Thompson.

Said.

"I want to see a female Steve Jobs or Bill Gates."

-Gloria Feldt, the former president of Planned Parenthood, on the possibility that women's progress has stalled. http://nyti.ms/buNy6W