Roy Mark

The recent ricin scare on Capitol Hill exposed a potentially deadly flaw in measures to protect lawmakers and government employees from a biological terrorist attack through the mail. But it also highlighted a little-noted effort by the House Administration Committee to implement a digital mail program. In the week before the Feb. 2 discovery of […]

A congressional panel investigating Internet pharmacies has broadened the inquiry with letters to three doctors requesting information about their association with various online drug stores. The letters, released Monday, follow a January letter to a Montclair, N.J., physician who has written more than 100,000 online prescriptions. Since last summer, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee […]

While Internet telephony has become a hot topic in Washington over the last two months, the FBI has had the technology in its sights for more than a year. It doesn’t like what it sees, or more to the point, what it can’t hear. The agency’s electronic surveillance experts worry that Voice over Internet Protocol […]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is keeping its December promise to make Voice over Internet Protocol a top priority by placing two key Internet telephony issues on its Thursday public meeting agenda. The agency plans to issue its first proposed rules to determine what telecom rules should apply to VoIP and to decide on VoIP […]

WASHINGTON — The Internet-savvy crowd that drove Howard Dean’s early campaign is not made up of the “sad, mad and lonely” computer geeks often portrayed by the media, according a new study released Thursday by George Washington University’s Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet (IPDI). The study, Political Influentials Online in the 2004 Presidential […]

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) said Wednesday the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should “step back from its apparent rush” to classify the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone business as an information service. In a process that is expected to take at least a year, the FCC began proceedings in December to determine […]

U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA), one of the most influential players on Internet and technology issues in Congress, is resigning his chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee effective Feb. 16 and will not seek re-election in November. Tauzin’s office confirmed Wednesday that the 12-term Congressman hand delivered his resignation letter to Speaker of […]

A coalition of technology companies, nonprofits and housing developers is launching a two-year initiative to provide broadband connections to 12 million Americans living in government-subsidized housing. The “Bring IT Home” campaign will encourage developers to integrate high-speed technology into their housing plans by utilizing $20 million in tax credits. Primary sponsors are National Equity Fund, […]

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration’s proposed $60 billion IT spending plan for 2005 looks to deliver a “service-centered” government, said Karen Evans, chief administrator for the Office of E-Government and Information Technology. “We’re trying to make sure investment is not being driven by the technology or the bureaucracy,” Evans said Tuesday in a keynote address […]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched a new international anti-spam campaign this week by sending “tens of thousands” of letters to businesses and organizations urging them to close open relays and proxies on their servers. Known as “Operation Secure Your Server,” the effort involves more than 35 agencies in 26 countries. Open relays and open […]

Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) wants to expedite a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decision on whether access charge rules apply to long-distance calls carried over the Internet. More than a year ago, long-distance carrier AT&T challenged the fees it must pay for delivering calls using Voice over Internet Protocol technology to traditional local carriers. VoIP providers […]

If the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) gets its way, all sexually oriented e-mail will have to carry a required subject line of “Sexually-Explicit Content.” The proposal, put forth by the FTC this week, is a result of the Can Spam Act passed by Congress last year. It mandates the FTC create a label to facilitate […]