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Despite national legislation, spam remains a menace that clogs e-mail inboxes and costs Internet Service Providers millions of dollars. One California company is trying to stem the flow of unwanted mail, but California legislators are threatening to stand in the way AOL has partnered withGoodmail Systems to offer its customers a service called "Ce...
This week, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) voted to exempt much political communication on the Internet from the provisions of the McCain-Feingold finance law. This action is a partial win on free-speech rights, but bad news on government control of the Internet A few years ago, the FEC issued regulations exempting the Internet from the just-...
French legislators approved a bill this week that will force technology companies such as Apple Computer to share proprietary technology with rivals. Such a move is not only a recipe for disaster but completely unnecessary The digital music market has always been a tumultuous place. For a long time, Hollywood and Silicon Valley battled over how t...
About a month ago, a bi-partisan group of senators released a statement supporting cable franchise reform. Now key members of the House of Representatives appear to agree. At this rate, consumers might actually see national reform that will slash cable bills and make video service more innovative and interesting For years, consumers have yearned ...
The recent news that AT&T made a deal to acquire BellSouth has elicited two reactions: one, an assumption that communications prices will go up; and the other, an assumption that prices will go down. It's always tough to predict exactly what will happen in the marketplace, but the best money will be on the bet that the merger is good for consumers...
Some members of Congress want to tax the Internet, and they're trying to do it under the guise of "telecom reform." That's a trick Americans won't like. It's time to send Washington a message, loud and clear: hands off the Internet During hearings on a government tax and welfare program called the Universal Service Fund (USF), Senate Commerce Comm...
At a recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a group of biologists discussed how, in the near future, people could expect to live 100 years. A longer, healthier life is good news to most, but predictably some speakers took a negative, almost pro-death, stance Stanford University biologist Dr. Shripad Tuljapurkar ...
For those who think their cable bills are soaring to all-time highs, it might be reassuring to know that a bipartisan group of U.S. senators agree. At a recent Senate Commerce Committee hearing, members pondered the reasons for the rate hikes "There is only head-to-head competition in less than two percent of America," said Senator Gordon Smith (R...
AOL andYahoo will soon roll out a new program to charge advertisers for guaranteed access to users' e-mail boxes. It's not the perfect spam-fighting program that some would have hoped for, but those critiquing the plan on free speech and other grounds are out to lunch The reason most people's inboxes are overflowing with nasty bits of unwanted, un...
After a year of heading in the right direction, the California Public Utilities Commission veered off course last week when Commissioner Dian Grueneich initiated a dangerous move towards old command-and-control regulation. Grueneich claimed to be staking out a middle ground in her alternate plan to Commissioner Michael Peevey's outline for a California Telecommunications Bill of Rights...
Google recently created a public-relations firestorm when it unveiled a new search site in China that censors data on behalf of the Chinese government. Though the search giant's success stems from its birth in a free country, that doesn't mean the company is strong enough to enforce freedom around the world Many Americans were horrified to learn t...
The debate over "network neutrality" recently heated up with the release of seemingly conflicting poll results from two consumer organizations. Of course, the devil is always in the details, and much of the debate is about whether or not to regulate the Internet preemptively Survey results released on January 18 by the Consumer Federation of Ameri...
Anyone who purchased clear sunscreen or wore stain-resistant pants during the holidays was probably enjoying the benefits of commercialized nanotechnology. While nanotech advances are exciting, some observers dangerously press for greater government oversight in the sector Nanotechnology, the manipulation of matter at the molecular level, can crea...
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's State of the State address this week reminded California voters that in ten months they'll be casting ballots again, many using electronic voting devices. While popular, e-voting is at risk of being stymied by nervous Nellies and the anti-property lobby One frequently cited concern with e-voting machines, otherwise ...
Those who claim that racism, sexism, and homophobia run rampant in the San Francisco Police Department got some high-powered ammunition last week. Videos posted on the Web showed police officers participating in outrageous acts -- an embarrassment for the city and a strong demonstration of how technology is reshaping society Although the videos ha...
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger rocked the political world this week with the appointment of Susan Kennedy, a Democrat and Public Utilities Commissioner (PUC) as his chief of staff. Republicans might feel snubbed, but Kennedy's appointment is good for the technology sector A thriving technology sector is good for California, and next year ke...
Sony used to be associated with the popular Walkman music player, but these days it's more likely to conjure up images of nasty spyware. The company's anti-piracy measures have created a security problem for unwary Sony customers -- and highlighted the inadequacies of a key piece of federal legislation, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) O...
In a move that makes Jim Carrey's character in "The Cable Guy" look angelic, the California Cable and Telecommunications Association (CCTA) recently circulated a letter to Sacramento lawmakers in an attempt to scare them into protecting cable's dominant video market position It's now easy for cable companies and others that offer high-speed Interne...
Imagine a world where China argues for guaranteed freedom of speech and Cuba and Iran push for democracy. If that sounds like an episode of "The Twilight Zone," then welcome to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's new show set to air again next week in Tunisia Before anyone starts to think that Chinese and Cuban communists have suddenly become enligh...
The imperative to fight diseases like AIDS and cervical cancer is a no-brainer, yet new technologies that help in this quest are under assault from bureaucrats and advocacy groups. As technology advances, questions surrounding its control and use will only get hotter. A key set of guiding principles is therefore of the utmost importance This month...
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