Roy Mark

The troubled Electronic Government Act (E-Gov), an initiative passed amid much fanfare by Congress last November touting a new era of government services, received another blow Tuesday with the resignation of Mark Forman, the administrator of e-government and IT at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Forman will be replaced by OMB chief technology […]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has curbed two companies for fraudulently marketing purportedly authentic International Driver’s Permits (IDPs) on the Internet. Under the terms of the proposed settlement the defendants are prohibited from future marketing of any IDPs or identification documents. In January, the FTC filed a complaint against Jaguar Business Concepts (d.b.a. Libertymall.com), its […]

Before adjourning for its annual August recess, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation to empower states to prosecute vendors who are selling cigarettes over the Internet without paying required taxes. Introduced by Orrin G. Hatch (R.-Utah) and Herb Kohl (D.-Wisc.), the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act, the bill strengthens the reporting requirements for interstate […]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said Tuesday it would provide free wireless Internet access to visitors at its Washington office. The system uses the 802.11a and 802.11b protocols and visitors can use the service on the 12th Street, Courtyard and eighth floor levels. The FCC will not provide technical support, and all transactions using the […]

America Online is launching a stand-alone communications product for its members that combines e-mail, instant messaging and an address book into one integrated suite. Targeting its broadband subscribers, the AOL Communicator integrates AOL’s radio services and My AOL Today, an interactive screen saver and news ticker. The Communicator can also consolidate e-mail from multiple screen […]

Electronic Arts (EA) will provide America Online (AOL) members with free access to five games from EA’s Club Pogo, a new subscription service offering exclusive games and a variety of services that non-AOL members pay $4.99 a month ($29.99 annually) to access. AOL members who want access to the community services available through Pogo will […]

America Online (AOL) and Careerbuilder.com, the jobs site owned by three of the nation’s largest newspaper chains, announced a four-year deal Monday for the career site to replace Monster.com as AOL’s principal provider of employment content. The deal, beginning in mid-December, involves a combination of performance-based elements and guaranteed payments and is valued at up […]

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R.-Alaska) introduced legislation Friday designed to rollback certain provisions of the Patriot Act, including requiring a court order for U.S. law enforcement agencies to conduct electronic surveillance. According to Murkowski, her bill would not repeal any portion of the Patriot Act, but would curb some the police powers granted under the […]

Concerned over potential legal abuses, Sen. Norm Coleman (R.-Minn.) wants to see all copies of the more than 900 subpoenas issued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in its ongoing war against online file swapping. Coleman said the music industry trade group may be inadvertently targeting thousands of Americans. In a letter to […]

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), one of Congress’ leading critics of the Pentagon’s controversial data mining project known as the Terrorist Information Awareness (TIA), has introduced legislation that would hold government agencies accountable for the use of private and personal information. Currently, there are no comprehensive privacy laws regulating the federal government’s access to, or […]

Dr. John M. Poindexter, director of the Dept. of Defense’s Information Awareness Office (IAO), is expected to resign within the next few weeks according to senior Pentagon officials. Since joining the IAO in January of 2002, Poindexter has been an ongoing source of controversy. The IAO is an agency of the Defense Advanced Research Projects […]

A Senate committee Thursday approved legislation to permanently extend the existing temporary ban on Internet access taxes that expires on Nov. 1. The bill amends the Internet Tax Freedom Act (IFTA), which imposes a federal moratorium on state and local taxes on Internet access services and certain Internet-based sales transactions. A similar version of the […]