The Ericsson subsidiary, which provides Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to folks and small businesses, automatically bills customers for these services every month, according to a US Federal Trade Commission complaint.For example, Vongage requires customers that want to cancel their phone bill to speak to a live "retention" agent during limited hours and "obscured contact information" to reach an operator, the FTC said.Vonage, for its part, has agreed to settle the court order [PDF] that will require it to pay $100 million to refund customers, and take a number of steps to make it easier for individuals and businesses to cancel their phone services.Vonage must also have express, informed consent before it can charge customers and must stop using dark patterns on its website.- Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm leaves Alibaba board to focus on his main job- Google burns few hours of profit to disappear location privacy lawsuit- Education tech giant gets an F for security after sensitive info on 40 million users stolen- Google fined $42.5m over misleading Android location settings in AustraliaThe SEC enforcement makes Vonage the latest big tech firm to come under fire by regulators and the courts for using dark patterns."