The Do-Not-Call Fee Extension Act of 2007 has been enacted, setting the annual fees telemarketers will pay to access the registry in fiscal year 2009 at $54 for each area code of data accessed or $14,850 for access to every area code in the registry, whichever is less. More than 157 million phone numbers are currently enrolled in the National Do Not Call Registry.

The Federal Communications Commis­sion may amend its rules on how phone and cable companies can use customer information when competing for business. It is expected to look further into whether customer retention efforts between phone service and cable providers are pro- or anti-competitive.

A US District Court judge in Northern Illinois ruled that the Communications Decency Act of 1996 protects Internet service providers from being held liable for mis­takenly blocking permission-based e-mail. Dave Linhardt, CEO of 360 Insight, lost a case, in which he accused broadband cable provider Comcast of unfairly blocking messages that he claimed were permission based. The judge ruled that Comcast had acted in good faith when it blocked e360's messages.

The US Postal Service has published its changes to Shipping Service standards in the Federal Register. They will take effect May 12. Express Mail prices will be zone-based prices, taking into account weight and distance. Priority Mail retail prices are increasing by 6%, while Parcel Select prices are increasing by 5.7% on average.

Reaching out to tense 20- and 30-something females, Johnson's launched an online campaign around its Melt Away Stress line of skin care products at www.JohnsonsForYou.com\Escape. The site features an Express Your Stress user-generated content contest, Jamaica getaway sweepstakes, Celebrity Stress Secrets videos featuring ABC's Ugly Betty actress Ana Ortiz, and an "Escape Your Stress" quiz widget.

Charles Farrugia, a defendant in a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit alleging a scam involving telemarket­ing lists and American businesses, has settled FTC charges for his role in the May 2006 Datacom Marketing case. Farrugia, who was acting as the corporate defendants' president when the case was filed, was added as a defendant in November 2006.

UPS lowered its first quarter earnings expectations to 86-87 cents per diluted share from a previously anticipated range of 94-98 cents. According to the company, lower volume trends were experienced and are expected to continue as a weak US economy causing a reduction in domestic package volume and a shift away from premium products.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau released digital video ad format guidelines for in-stream, overlay and video companion ads to simplify specs and make creative submissions more efficient. The guidelines deal with linear formats such as pre-, mid-, or post-roll ads, as well as non-linear units such as overlays or product placements. The trade group is seeking com­ment on the guidelines throughout this month.

Americans reported $240 million in online fraud losses in 2007 to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, an increase of $40 million from 2006, according to the FBI's National White Collar Crime Center. Credit-card fraud accounted for 6.3%, check fraud accounted for 6%, computer fraud accounted for 5.3%, and identity theft accounted for 2.9% of all complaints filed.

Former employees of AB&C Group, the fulfillment arm of recently shuttered BlueSky Brands Inc., have filed legal complaints against the companies for failure to compensate workers. Attorney Paul Taylor has filed a civil action suit in Jefferson County, WV against AB&C, BlueSky and the private equity firm Reli­ant Equity Investors, which owns BlueSky. Robert Pulciani, CEO of BlueSky; Thomas Darden Jr., managing director of Reliant Equity; and Philip Wax, CFO of AB&C, were also named in the suit. Neither any named parties nor any other representatives from BlueSky could be reached.