Roy Mark

President Bush and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) may be highlighting their differences as their presidential campaigns hit the home stretch, but both apparently agree on at least one technology issue. The solution to copyright theft over peer-to-peer (P2P) networks is not to be found in regulating the technology, according to their responses to a Washington […]

State officials warned California residents Wednesday to take preventative steps against ID theft after an unknown hacker gained access to a database at the University of California, Berkeley. The files contained approximately one million names, addresses, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers and dates of birth for participants in California’s In Home Supportive Services (IHSS), a […]

WASHINGTON — In the absence of congressional action, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Michael Powell has taken over the direction of Voice over IP policy in the Capitol, at least for the time being. Speaking Tuesday at the Voice over Net (VON) conference in Boston, Powell said he would force a vote at the FCC […]

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice (DoJ) said Tuesday Microsoft is “generally moving in the right direction” in its compliance efforts with the landmark 2002 antitrust settlement between the company and the DoJ. Earlier this month, the DoJ complained in a required status report that Microsoft wanted to distribute documentation for licensees in a rights-protected […]

WASHINGTON — Within an hour of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) vote today to further free incumbent carriers from line sharing obligations with competitors, SBC Communications said it would “dramatically accelerate” its plan to build a new fiber-optics network. The FCC decision added fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC) networks to the list of high-speed lines the Baby Bells […]

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved rules today clearing the way for commercial deployment of broadband over power lines (BPL). The decision classifies BPL as an unlicensed service with the rules primarily aimed at limiting interference with licensed radio services. Broadband transmissions over electric power lines are not shielded to prevent radio interference […]

Approximately a quarter of all Americans have researched prescription drugs online, but only a few are buying pharmaceuticals through the Internet, according to a new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. With the price of prescription drugs increasingly becoming a political hot button, the study illustrated that only four percent of Americans […]

The U.S. Supreme Court today rejected the music industry’s effort to revive a controversial practice that briefly forced ISPs to reveal the identities of thousands of accused peer-to-peer (P2P) music pirates with no notice to the alleged infringers. In denying a writ of certiorari to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the court upheld […]

The U.S. Senate approved today a one-year tax break backed by the tech industry that proponents say will repatriate more than $300 billion into the U.S. economy and create as many as a half million new jobs. Opponents claim the bill rewards companies for outsourcing jobs overseas. The tax provision, part of a much larger […]

Officials from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the British Office of Fair Trading (OFT) hosted the first international meeting of spam enforcement agencies today in London. The conference, which brought together agencies from more than 20 countries, focused on consumer protection, data protection and telecommunications agencies to promote cross-border cooperation on spam and spam-related […]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which opposes Congressional efforts to pass anti-spyware legislation, filed its first spyware case Thursday against the man once known as the undisputed king of spam and the various companies he controls. According to court documents filed in U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire, the FTC claims Sanford […]

WASHINGTON — Republican House and Senate leaders predicted Wednesday there is still life in the flagging high-tech agenda, even as the 108th Congress prepares to adjourn on Saturday. With only a couple of days left in the regular session, conferees from both parties in the House and Senate are hammering out last-minute compromises on several […]