Kenneth Corbin

Senate antitrust chair telegraphs probe of Google

2011-03-11T20:14:30Z

The chairman of the Senate subcommittee on antitrust has put Google on notice that he plans to step up oversight of the search giant's market position and potentially anticompetitive behavior this Congress. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) has historically warned of anticompetitive...

Facebook teams with White House to fight bullying

2011-03-10T22:08:50Z

President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama today convened administration officials, parent, children advocates and others for a White House summit to discuss a coordinated effort to prevent bullying. And the cyber dimension of the problem was no small part...

House Republicans blast FCC net neutrality analysis

2011-03-08T20:36:32Z

GOP leaders of a House committee who have been highly critical of the net neutrality regulations the Federal Communications Commission approved in December came out swinging again on Tuesday, blasting the response Chairman Julius Genachowski submitted to their questionnaire asking...

White House makes late push for patent reform

2011-03-07T22:09:18Z

Ahead of a key vote to end debate on landmark patent legislation in the Senate, a top White House advisor has weighed in to endorse reform efforts. Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, took to the White...

FCC expands USF-to-broadband transition

2011-03-03T22:21:36Z

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday continued its work to transition the federally administered telephone subsidy to cover broadband access. Last month, the FCC advanced reform of the Universal Service Fund by initiating a proceeding to revamp the so-called high-cost...

GOP members defer, plan net neutrality repeal hearing

2011-03-03T18:34:25Z

Granting the request of the minority committee leadership, House Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee have scheduled a hearing next Wednesday to discuss efforts to overturn the Federal Communications Commission's December net neutrality order. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee...

House subcommittee postpones net neutrality vote

2011-03-02T17:02:21Z

The House subcommittee that had planned to vote this morning to overturn the Federal Communications Commission's recent net neutrality order has postponed the proceeding. The GOP leadership of the Energy and Commerce Committee had been planning to bring a resolution...

White House IP chief: report to Congress coming soon

2011-03-01T23:18:10Z

Victoria Espinel, the nation's first IP enforcement coordinator, today told a House panel that the administration is ramping up efforts to combat intellectual property crimes, both at home and abroad, online and off, and that her office is hoping to... Espinel also explained that he office is working to expand the presence of U.S. officials who handle IP issues overseas. She said that ICE and the FBI have been working to increase the ranks of officials who focus on IP issues overseas, and her office is working actively with the DoJ to boost that department's foreign presence.

Espinel's office has also been trying to coordinate with a variety of players in the Internet sector to clamp down on online IP crimes, including domain registrars, ISPs, payment processors and ad firms.

Her small team has also been looking into the policies of government contractors regarding safeguards against pirated software and other IP issues, she said.

"We think it's enormously important that those doing business with the U.S. government respect intellectual property," she told the panel.

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House panel to vote to strike down net neutrality rules

2011-03-01T14:11:15Z

A House subcommittee on Wednesday plans to vote on a resolution of disapproval that would aim to overturn the net neutrality rules the Federal Communications Commission adopted in December. The resolution (available here in PDF format) is set to come...

Senate begins debate on patent reform

2011-02-28T22:21:23Z

The Senate on Monday began its consideration of legislation that would undertake a comprehensive reform of the nation's patent system, a long-standing priority of many members of the tech sector that has foundered in the three preceding congresses. The bill's... The bill's other key provisions would transition the patent system to a so-called "first-to-file" regime, conferring patent rights to the first inventor that submits the application for a particular innovation, ending the current "first-to-invent" approach.

The legislation would also establish a new mechanism for calculating damages assessments in patent disputes, and aim to improve the overall quality of patents awarded.

Leahy said on Monday that he is optimistic the Senate can pass a bill this week. The matter would then turn to the House, where a version likely to include significant differences is in the works, before the two chambers' final bills would be reconciled in committee.

Leahy's bill unanimously passed the Senate Judiciary Committee Feb. 3.

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Geithner pours cold water on currency repatriation

2011-02-09T15:56:33Z

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday said the administration is receptive to relaxing the tax rates on American businesses looking to bring foreign earnings back to the United States, but made it clear that the White House won't support any...

Court denies Verizon's net neutrality appeal, in part

2011-02-02T19:48:06Z

The federal appeals court that Verizon had asked to hear its challenge against the Federal Communications Commission's new open Internet rules has denied the telecom giant's request to pick the panel of judges that would hear the case. Verizon had...

Study finds 24% of all Web traffic tied to infringement

2011-02-02T19:08:43Z

Members of the software and entertainment industries frequently decry the widespread flow of pirated goods on the Internet, making their case for stricter enforcement mechanisms and penalties to anyone who will listen. But how big is the problem? A new...

FCC asks court to dismiss Verizon net neutrality suit

2011-01-28T22:58:20Z

Lawyers for the Federal Communications Commission on Friday filed a motion with the D.C. Circuit Court seeking the dismissal of Verizon's lawsuit challenging the net neutrality rules the agency adopted in December. The FCC is asking the court to throw... But more significant than the waiting period pegged to publication of the order in the Federal Register, Verizon sought to secure a sympathetic forum for its case by claiming that the net neutrality rules altered its wireless license. The statute in question dictates that the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals hears all cases where litigants challenge modifications of their FCC licenses.

That same court overturned the FCC's 2008 order punishing Comcast for secretly blocking traffic on its network, a precedent that is a key pillar of Verizon's current challenge. The telecom giant is being represented by the same lawyer who successfully argued the Comcast case, Helgi Walker, who is asking that the new challenge be heard by the same panel of judges.

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Clinton calls for Chinese Internet freedom, piracy curbs

2011-01-14T20:33:44Z

In a wide-ranging speech ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to Washington next, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Chinese leaders to improve their stance on human rights, including Internet freedom and the censorship of dissident bloggers....