(from a press release)
" A settlement has been reached with AT&T in class action litigation involving claims that third-party mobile content providers have placed unauthorized charges on the cell phone bills of customers throughout the country. The settlement, which was preliminarily approved by a Georgia court on Friday, entitles AT&T Mobility customers to receive refunds of unauthorized charges.
"Third party mobile content refers to products such as ringtones, games, graphics and news or other alerts that generally are purchased over the internet and are charged directly to customers' cell phone bills.
"Although these products were not available in the United States as recently as five years ago, they have evolved to form a large and increasingly important industry. The lawsuits alleged that there were not adequate safeguards in place to ensure that customers are only billed for services they agreed to purchase.
"This is the first nationwide settlement of its kind and promises to serve as a benchmark for the mobile content industry more generally. Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile face similar lawsuits...."
rest: