Roy Mark

WASHINGTON — Two old foes and an implacable critic of both squared off in a Senate hearing Wednesday on the Baby Bells’ $10 billion IPTV bet. Verizon and SBC want to run fiber-optic cable into homes delivering an IP network offering bundled television, telephone and high-speed Internet to consumers without having to meet the same […]

A new congressional report determined that the E-rate program, though having good intentions, is poorly managed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee said that the mismanagement of the program that funds Internet connections in schools and libraries has led to waste, fraud and abuse. “The government mismanagement of the […]

It may have escaped your attention, but October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. You can be forgiven since Congress only remembered it on Monday, overwhelmingly passing a resolution to raise the profile of U.S. computer security, particularly among consumers. The non-profit National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), a public-private partnership that includes computer companies and […]

The FBI has at least temporarily put one of the world’s largest spammers out of business, a possible victim of the almost two-year-old CAN-SPAM Act. Following an FBI raid on his Detroit suburban home last month, Alan Ralsky, currently ranked by Spamhaus as the world’s most prolific spammer, says he is unable to operate the […]

A Washington, D.C., man is facing up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal charges of using the Internet to distribute and receive child pornography. In a Friday afternoon plea deal, Bruce Schiffer, 34, admitted to one count each of using his computer to advertise, transport, receive and possess child pornography. The […]

U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alas.) wants to set an April 7, 2009, hard deadline for broadcasters to vacate their analog spectrum and air programs only in digital signals. A portion of the vacated spectrum would be dedicated to first responders with the rest auctioned off to wireless broadband providers. In draft legislation circulated on Capitol […]

WASHINGTON — Korean chipmaker Samsung agreed today to take a guilty plea and pay a $300 million fine for its participation in a global price-fixing scheme among memory chip manufacturers. The fine is the second-largest criminal antitrust fine in United States history. The guilty plea is the latest in a three-year investigation by the Department […]

A federal grand jury indicted three San Francisco-area men Wednesday for their involvement in what the music industry calls the largest illegal CD manufacturing seizure in the United States. The indictments follow the arrests of five individuals and searches of 13 locations in California and Texas on Oct. 6 as part of the Department of […]

It seemed like a great idea: own fee-based, public Internet terminals located in malls and rake in the cash. Too good, in fact, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Tuesday the agency announced it won a temporary restraining order to stop the allegedly illegal practices of an “Internet kiosk” business opportunity and froze the […]

The technology industry hopes a U.S. proposal to cut farm subsidies will break a logjam bottlenecking overall World Trade Organization (WTO) talks, which include opening up the global IT marketplace. With just two months left to conclude a WTO treaty that began with negotiations in Doha, Qatar, four years ago, the issue of agricultural subsidies […]

With indecency complaints soaring, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is launching a new site to educate the public about laws governing the public airing of obscene, indecent and profane material. The FCC receives hundreds of thousands of complaints each year alleging violation of the restrictions on obscene, indecent, or profane programming. Last year, the FCC […]

Stanford University claimed the $2 million first prize in the Pentagon’s driverless vehicle challenge Sunday. The diesel-powered Volkswagon Toureg R5 completed the two-day, 131.6 mile course in the Mojave Desert in six hours and 53 minutes. Nicknamed “Stanley,” the Stanford vehicle averaged 19.1 miles per hour, finishing almost 11 minutes ahead of a Carnie Mellon […]