Roy Mark

More than 5,000 Facebook members have signed a petition protesting the social networks decision to allow businesses to reach users in the companys social network of 52 million users. Known as Beacon, Facebooks new online ad network lets advertisers target audiences through friends referrals. Facebook encourages companies to get “word-of-mouth promotion for your business” to […]

The chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights is urging the Federal Trade Commission to be wary of Googles proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick. The acquisition would combine two of the biggest players in online advertising. Googles text-based AdSense business is based on clickable links, while DoubleClicks technology places […]

With the goal of combining 500 million people into a single market, the European Commission wants to reshape the regulatory climate of Europes telecommunications industry, including imposing a form of network neutrality. Under a proposal released Nov. 13, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding said reform “goes to the heart of the […]

A federally funded initiative will connect health care providers and establishments serving rural communities, making it easier for people living in those areas to get better health care at a reasonable cost. The Federal Communications Commission has allocated $417 million to help build 69 statewide or regional broadband telehealth networks across 42 states and three […]

As part of a last-minute flurry of legislative activity before lawmakers returned home for the Thanksgiving holidays, the U.S. Senate approved legislation aimed to at toughening the nations cyber-crime laws. The Identify Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act (S. 2168), approved late on Nov. 15, would make it easier for law enforcement officials to prosecute cyber-extortionists. […]

If the United States and China were to find themselves in an armed conflict, China is likely to launch cyber attacks on American regional bases in Japan and South Korea, and might even include cyber attacks on the U.S. homeland that target financial, economic, energy and communications infrastructures. According to Gen. James Cartwright, commander of […]

Comcasts alleged network traffic discrimination continues to create legal woes for the company. Following complaints filed at the Federal Communications Commission, the Comcast, the nations number two broadband carrier, is now facing a possible class action lawsuit. Jon Hart, a San Francisco area Comcast subscriber, filed the lawsuit Nov. 15 complaining that the cable giant […]

On an issue where theres little disagreement between the candidates, Sen. Barack Obama moved Nov. 14 to differentiate himself from the Democratic pack with a detailed technology agenda. While Obamas overall tech policy tracks with the plans from the other candidates-support for network neutrality, increased H-1B visas and jacked up spending and investment on math, […]

Nov. 15 was a bad day for the nations telephone carriers on Capitol Hill, as two separate congressional votes refused to retroactively grant immunity to the telephone companies that cooperated with the Bush administrations domestic spying program. In a full U.S. House vote, lawmakers approved the RESTORE Act, a renewal of the FISA (the Foreign […]

Sen. Hillary Clintons campaign said Nov. 15 her long silence on network neutrality should not be interpreted as waning support for the idea of mandating that broadband providers treat all network use in a nondiscriminatory manner. Two weeks before announcing her presidential campaign in January, Clinton, along with Sen. Barack Obama, signed on as original […]