Roy Mark

WASHINGTON — Even if Congress passes an anti-spyware bill, it will be ineffective unless lawmakers can untangle the frustratingly complex adware food chain. Absent that, spyware hustlers will be able to dodge liability through their murky deals with advertising affiliates. Ari Schwartz, the associate director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, told the Senate […]

WASHINGTON — Unless Congress takes quick action against identity theft, Americans will soon find all their personally identifiable information up for sale or in the hands of ID thieves. That’s the sentiment of U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.). He and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) want data brokers such as ChoicePoint and LexisNexis to be regulated in […]

Last week, House Republicans urged high-tech lobbyists to turn up the heat on opponents of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Today, they did as they were told. In a media teleconference, three prominent Washington tech trade groups lashed out at the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the centrist New Democrat Coalition (NDC) […]

California is the latest state to target the controversial practice of Internet hunting. The state’s Fish and Game Commission is preparing emergency regulations to ban what is known as “point, click and kill” hunting. In Internet-assisted hunting, promoted as a service for the handicapped, a remote user can fire a mounted rifle at live game. […]

A coalition of consumer groups says the proposed mergers between Verizon and MCI and SBC and AT&T will widen the digital divide and slow the rollout of broadband. In an opposition filing to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today, the groups said the two mergers represent a “double dose of anti-competitive chutzpah that spells disaster […]

UPDATED: Executives at Axcess International don’t mind their work being a waste. In fact, that’s what it’s all about in a new deal between the active radio frequency identification (RFID) systems developer and Bechtel Hanford. The Dallas-based company’s wireless system is used by the Bechtel-led Environmental Restoration (ER) project team to track low-level and hazardous […]

Fix spam? Trust us, tech tells Washington when it wants to pass laws to fight it. We’ll fix it. Spyware? Not to worry, private enterprise has the solution too. Congress first introduced anti-spam bills in 1999. Three congresses and five years later, the 108th Congress passed the CAN-SPAM Act. Lawmakers were so far behind the […]

A federal appeals court today scuttled the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) broadcast flag scheme to keep pirated digital television programming off the Internet. The court unanimously agreed the FCC exceeded its regulatory authority. Concerned that mass piracy of the sort currently plaguing the music industry will slow the rollout of digital television, the FCC in […]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said Thursday SBC is jumping the gun in its petition to exempt IP (IP) platforms from rules and regulations that apply to common carriers. On a 4-0 vote, the FCC rejected SBC’s request to free its broadband networks and services, such as Voice over IP , from the myriad regulations […]

WASHINGTON — And now for the hard part: just how would a national data breach disclosure law work? With bills now in the House and the Senate that would force data brokers and financial institutions to inform consumers of a breach, Congress is looking at the nitty-gritty details of the legislation. “One of my concerns, […]

WASHINGTON — Four months into the 109th Congress, the House Republican leadership turned its attention to technology today, with a flair for partisanship. In outlining its tech agenda for 2004-2005, the House Republicans briefly returned to familiar issues. Unfortunately, their Senate majority brethren have rejected most of the ideas over the last five years. Last […]

Michael Jay Rossi’s legal challenge to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) ended Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court, without comment, rejected his appeal of the 2001 “wrongful shutdown” of his Internetmovies.com site by Hollywood. That year, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) issued a cease and desist order to the site’s Internet service […]