July 25th 2008
We’ve previously discussed Barak Obama’s comprehensive, and somewhat idealistic, technology plan for the federal government. He proposes establishing a CIO, and I discussed what we have learned from introducing this role at the state level. He’s idealistic, and perhaps naive. But John McCain’s still-emerging approach seems to be based on near-complete disregard. There, I’ve said […]
July 14th 2008
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin says he wants to rule against Comcast for violating federal guidelines when it blocked and degraded Web traffic to peer-to-peer sites. Comcast reluctantly admitted to degrading peer-to-peer service after its efforts were documented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. When the FCC scheduled a hearing to discuss this, Comcast paid people to […]
July 7th 2008
Earlier, UsefulArts reported on the PRO-IP legislation passed in the House this past May that seeks to create an Intellectual Property czar as a direct report to the President. Corporate America is pushing for an IP Czar to coordinate among many federal agencies and departments, such as State Department, Justice Department and the Patent & […]
July 2nd 2008
Back in November, Ars Technica provided an overview of the Obama plan for technology and innovation. In it, the campaign describes a role responsible for network integrity, coordination between agency CTOs, system interoperability, and increased government transparency. As it happens, I’ve worked with several state CTOs on most of these issues. Given authority over capital […]
June 30th 2008
China’s announcement that it is not preparing to investigate Microsoft seems more like a warning shot than reassurance. Hats off to Computerworld’s Preston Gralla, who points out the strangeness of communist governments complaining about monopolies. Hypocrisy and gamesmanship are likely to be reoccuring themes in the two giants’ relationship.
April 17th 2008
Are you curious about how lawmakers spend money on their own offices? The website LegiStorm publishes publicly available financial details, including salaries and expenditures on Congressional staffers, in an attempt to keep our complex government transparent to citizens. However, even public scrutiny shold have its limits. You might want to take a look at the […]
February 29th 2008
The FCC’s recent hearing in Cambridge on broadband network management practices had a group of unusual participants. Comcast admitted to paying people from the street who did not know about the hearing to fill the auditorium’s seats. They arrived en masse some 90 minutes before the hearing began and occupied almost every available seat, upon […]
February 27th 2008
FCC Chairman, Kevin Martin, acknowledged that broadband network operators have a legitimate need to manage the data flowing over their networks. But he said that “does not mean that they can arbitrarily block access to particular applications or services.” So, what is “reasonable” and what is “arbitrary”? That was the question in Cambridge on Monday. […]
February 17th 2008
Picture this: You’re traveling from London to Boston. You go through the normal customs check at Logan, but then you’re asked to surrender your laptop, your Treo and your iPod. You ask, “For what reason? I’ve broken no laws. This is unconstitutional, You can’t just confiscate legal possessions.” The reply: “Yes, we can.” Can customs […]
November 3rd 2007
This week, two diverse publications–The Christian Science Monitor and Wired Magazine–asked the same question: “Are we going overboard in regulating adult content?” I attend at least a dozen online-industry events a year, and listen to podcasts, read blogs and pay for research from countless industry pundits. And in each case, the online adult entertainment industry, […]
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