Roy Mark

U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is considering bypassing House members bickering over competing anti-spam bills by introducing for a full floor vote the Can Spam Act passed by the Senate last week. The vote could come as soon as Wednesday, according to sources contacted by internetnews.com. A spokesman for Hastert’s office said “no […]

The U.S. Senate has yet to schedule a vote on the Internet Tax Moratorium, which expires Saturday, although staff members predict there will be some action on the legislation by the end of the week. The U.S. House of Representatives on Sept. 17 passed a bill to make the current moratorium permanent. Similar legislation was […]

XM Satellite Radio said Monday it has surpassed one million subscribers, reaching the milestone in less than two years since its national debut in Nov. of 2001. According to the Washington-based XM, it reached one million subscribers in less time than cable television or online subscription services. The satellite radio service also claimed consumers have […]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has settled with an Internet scammer who used auction sites to “sell” computers and musical equipment that he never delivered. The settlement bars for life Morgan Engle of Atlanta from selling goods or services through Internet auction sites. Engle also agreed to pay $5,820 for consumer redress and to post […]

The National Governors Association (NGA) Thursday called on Congress to extend the existing moratorium on Internet access taxes that expires on Nov. 1, but cautioned lawmakers from broadening the ban to include telecommunications servicces. The U.S. House of Representatives on Sept. 17 passed a bill to make the current moratorium permanent, and similar legislation in […]

The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday approved a bill mandating federal agencies to develop and implement security plans to protect their network systems from the risks posed by peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing. Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the same legislation. Both the House and the Senate have already implemented security measures […]

With Wednesday night’s historic Senate vote to approve the first ever federal anti-spam legislation, the focus now turns to the House of Representatives in Congressional efforts to have a bill on President Bush’s desk by the end of the year. Competing bills in the House containing many of the same provisions of the Burns-Wyden legislation […]

U.S. Sen. John McCain (R.-AZ) wants more information about the financial interests of those involved with Northpoint Technology, a controversial, well-heeled and powerfully-connected Texas-based telecommunications company heavily lobbying Congress for a free spectrum license. The company is seeking to force the Federal Trade Commission (FCC) to give it a license, instead of having to bid […]

U.S. House and Senate members said Tuesday they are forming a Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus, a bipartisan group looking to deal with the problem of piracy and the Bush administration’s efforts to obtain strong intellectual property protections in the context of international trade agreements. The caucus plans to provide briefings for Congressional delegations traveling to […]

The chairman of the U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee has sent a letter of inquiry to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld seeking to determine if the Dept. of Defense complied with Privacy Act requirements when an information-mining contractor working for the U.S. Army acquired the names, addresses, phone numbers, and itineraries of more than one million […]

Five years ago, Congress enacted the Government Paperwork Elimination Act requiring federal agencies to provide the public with the option of submitting, maintaining and disclosing information electronically by Oct. 21, 2003. The E-Government Act of 2002 further requires that public comments should be accepted “by electronic means.” Tuesday, the General Accounting Office (GAO) said the […]

The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia has upheld a ruling by the U.S. Copyright Office requiring radio stations that stream broadcasts over the Internet must pay royalties to recording companies and artists as well as to composers. Traditional over-the-air radio stations only pay royalties to songwriters. While AM and FM stations have […]