The concept of bill shock may become a thing of the past. The FCC and the CTIA have come to an agreement that requires mobile providers to send alerts to customers who are close to, or have gone over their monthly allotment of voice, text and data services. There had been hundreds of customer complaints within the last year from customers that were hit with bills they couldn’t possibly afford. In about 18 months, all carriers will have adopted this new alert system.

Accessing a Wi-Fi access point in public places in China is not as personal as it once was. Users who want to use public Wi-Fi in locations such as cafes, restaurants, bookstores and other locations will have their identities and web activities monitored when they sign in. Businesses that provide Wi-Fi are obligated to comply or they will face the consequences.

Ofcom, a communications regulator in the United Kingdom, has announced a number of changes that will affect wireless customers. One of the biggest changes deals with mobile and broadband contracts. It is now UK law to only offer mobile phone or broadband internet plans for a maximum of 24 months. The service providers are also required to offer 12-month contracts as an alternative option for customers and businesses.

There has been a lot of talk in legal circles since the creation of the Internet about how the Internet should be regulated, and if it should be regulated at all. The most vocal section of the echo-chamber that is the Internet is dead set against any sort of regulation. I imagine that British Minister of Culture Andy Burnham isn’t one of those people.

Burnham is hoping to negotiate with President-Elect Barack Obama’s administration to try and bring about some sort of “international rules” regarding English language websites. One idea given is to give websites movie-esque ratings which would presumably have porn sites or sites with an immense amount of violence as the highest possible ratings. Another possible idea is forcing ISPs to offer connections where only child-friendly websites would be available. That could open up a lot of new and old issues regarding net neutrality in a way, as well as what’s deemed suitable for children.