Roy Mark

New York authorities issued a 33-count indictment today charging 27 individuals and three corporations with operating an illegal online gambling operation that allegedly booked more than $3.3 billion in wagers over a 28-month period. In addition to the criminal charges, Queens County District Attorney Richard A. Brown is pursuing a $500 million asset forfeiture case […]

A wide range of technology trade groups called upon Congress today to stop playing politics with the extension of the research and development (R&D) tax credit. So, too, did the outgoing and incoming chairmen of the Senate Finance Committee. The tax credit expired 11 months ago, despite repeated promises by both Republicans and Democrats to […]

WASHINGTON — As the lame duck Congress considers adding President Bush’s Competitiveness Initiative to its closing days, the Council on Competitiveness is meeting here Tuesday with a message to lawmakers: go for it, but be careful. “The world of global trade has changed significantly since the 1980s, but our methods for understanding and measuring these […]

ERG Ventures and one of its affiliates were ordered by a U.S. district court today to stop distributing what the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) claims is false and deceptive software. According to the FTC, the Nevada-based ERG and its affiliate trick consumers into downloading seemingly innocent software such as screensavers and video files. Embedded in […]

The United States and Russia expect to sign a bilateral trade agreement next week that includes setting benchmarks and enacting new laws for the protection of intellectual property. Russia, along with China, topped the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus’ 2006 International Piracy Watch List. The office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has frequently criticized […]

BetonSports, the London-based online gambling firm enmeshed in a legal maelstrom with the Department of Justice (DoJ), agreed Thursday to a permanent injunction barring the company from doing business in the United States. The agreement settles a 22-count civil suit filed this summer by U.S. Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway against BetonSports. The agreement does not […]

One-party rule in Washington ends next year when the 110th Congress convenes with Democrats taking over the House and the Senate. What does this mean for technology policy? A year ago this month, presumptive new Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi held a press conference and rolled out the Democrats’ “Innovation Agenda.” She promised that […]

While speculation builds over what a Democrat-led U.S. House and, possibly, a U.S. Senate under Democratic control will do when the 110th Congress convenes in January, the 109th Congress, still firmly in Republican control, resumes today. Given the power shift voted in Tuesday, the lame duck Congress is likely to meet long enough only to […]

WASHINGTON –- For Internet advertising and marketing, new technology and techniques are spawning old challenges: privacy and security. As the U.S. Public Interest Research Group said last week in a filing with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), “The Web’s default state is now ‘Privacy/Off – Surveillance/On.’” On the second day of the FTC’s hearings on […]

WASHINGTON — Eleven years ago, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held a series of hearings to determine where the nascent commercial Internet was going and what the FTC should do from a regulatory point of view. The FTC gathered legal, regulatory and consumer experts to predict what the 2006 Internet might look like. Some things […]

Controversial adware distributor Zango agreed today to return $3 million in “ill-gotten gains” to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges of unfair and deceptive practices. The Bellevue, Wash.-based company, formerly known as 180solutions, also agreed not to download its adware without consumers’ consent and to provide consumers with a way to remove the adware from […]

A Federal Communications Commission (FCC) vote on the AT&T-BellSouth merger is on hold again, marking the third time in as many weeks the agency has postponed a decision on the proposed $80 billion deal. The commission pulled Friday vote from its agenda last night. “While we have been engaged in this process for many weeks, […]