Roy Mark

Qwest Communications International has agreed to pay a $6.5 million fine for violating a federal ban on providing long distance services in its local service region prior to receiving Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorization. Qwest also admitted that it violated provisions of the Qwest/US West Merger Order prohibiting Qwest from providing certain services prior to […]

The U.S. House of Representatives passed its first major technology legislation Wednesday, authorizing $2.36 billion over three years for nanotechnology research and development programs. The bill, the Nanotechnology Research and Development Act of 2002 (HR 766), provides a formal structure for coordination of research across a number of federal agencies. Nanotechnology refers to the ability […]

President Bush’s Tuesday signing of a free trade agreement (FTA) with Singapore is drawing praise from the IT industry, including the U.S. High-Tech Trade Coalition and the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI). The deal, the first FTA between the U.S. and an Asian nation, removes tariffs on trade between the countries. With two-way trade totaling […]

WASHINGTON — A House Judiciary subcommittee approved on a seemingly close voice vote Tuesday legislation prohibiting U.S.-based banks, credit card companies and other Internet payment systems from making payments to gambling sites. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition Act (H.R. 21) now moves to the full committee where opponents have promised a fight to defeat […]

Two former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) officials have blasted AOL Time Warner’s request to offer instant messaging-based services such as the IM videoconferencing like those available through rivals Microsoft and Yahoo! . As part of the FCC’s 2001 merger conditions, AOL TW agreed to hold off high-speed IM services until its IM service was interoperable […]

The U.S. Treasury is offering a paperless version of its popular Series EE bonds through the government portal Treasury Direct. Until now, only the inflation-indexed Series I bond has been available in electronic form. The paperless EE bond will differ slightly from the paper version, which continues to be available through financial institutions and payroll […]

Predicted demand for hiring IT workers has reached an historic low of only 493,000 positions over the next 12 months, according to research released by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA). The hiring prediction is down from 1.6 million at the start of 2000 and less than one-half of the predicted 1.1 million positions […]

American companies were nearly twice as likely as European firms to say their business and technology planning efforts were integrated and their IT investments over the last two years were driven by business initiatives rather than IT initiatives, according to a new study by management consulting firm A.T. Kearney, a subsidiary of EDS. Nearly half […]

WASHINGTON — The governments and regulatory bodies of Europe, Australia, Korea and Japan have adopted tough laws to deal with spam, including opt-in requirements, subject line labeling, accurate return addresses and a range of criminal penalties for mass mailing violations. Unfortunately for those countries, the majority of spam comes from the United States, which has […]

The House Science Committee approved legislation Thursday that would authorize $2.36 billion over three years for nanotechnology research and development programs. The bill provides a formal structure for coordination of research across a number of agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy (DOE), the Department of Commerce, NASA, and the Environmental […]

While the panelists at the Federal Trade Commission’s Spam Forum argue this week over just what, exactly, should be considered as spam (Unsolicited? Bulk? Fraud element?), a new survey shows American business e-mail users have no such quibbles: the difference between spam and desired e-mail is whether the user has previously transacted business with the […]

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) attorneys came out swinging Wednesday on the first day of the FTC’s antitrust case against Rambus, claiming the memory chip designer’s own attorneys advised the company to “stop what it was doing.” The FTC says Rambus violated federal antitrust laws by deliberately engaging in a pattern of anti-competitive acts and practices […]