Chris Nolan

Think its easy writing columns on tax policy? Think again. Which is what I should have done before I wrote last weeks column on Internet sales tax. Boy, am I popular. Readers wrote in—some quite angrily—to say (inaccurately) that I must not have many dealings with state governments and that they hoped Id have to […]

Selling online? Think you may never have to charge a sales tax? Think again. State governments, tired of seeing an estimated $15 billion in revenue go uncollected, are organizing themselves. And that doesnt bode well for companies selling goods over the Internet. The latest salvo came last week when the Council of State Taxation (also […]

In the future, when the grey-haired historians of Geekdom choose the moment when the tech business was forced to grow up, chances are good it will be the Monday in June when Silicon Valley awoke to find out that its innovators and inventors could be held liable for their mischief. If the tech community wants […]

Want to know how heated the lobbying, arguing, positioning and maneuvering over copyright legislation is going to get this fall? Ask anyone whos ever published anything containing the words “peer to peer” for a look in their e-mail in-box. Chances are good it has filled up in the past few days with helpful messages from […]

Watching the Chinese government try to balance its desire to become a major player in the global networked economy while maintaining an authoritarian governing structure is a bit like watching a clumsy circus performer make his way across a tightrope. Hes probably going to fall off, but when—and why—hell make a wrong step is hard […]

Its beginning to feel like a weekly occurrence: A large company with sensitive employee or customer information—financial records, Social Security numbers—announces that its security has been breached. Theres a flurry of headlines and then a little pause. Then theres another announcement by another company. This week it was CitiGroups turn. The company said digital tape […]

Are CEOs going back to being heroes? Maybe. Just maybe. No ones ordering any shiny new armor or getting out the white stallions, but two events this week could mark the beginnings of a subtle shift in how politicians see government involvement in corporate scandal. The popular idea that all corporate behavior is, almost by […]

Federal funding for stem cell research may not happen soon, but its clear that staunch opposition to the idea is softening. And this could be a great example of just-in-time politicking. A week after a South Korean lab announced that it had successfully used human embryos to clone new stem cells, the U.S. House of […]

There are few things stranger—for a journalist—than seeing a well-respected columnist talk to an audience and tell listeners the story of their lives. But thats what happened last week when the New York Times International Affairs columnist, Tom Friedman, spoke to the annual meeting of TIE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) in Santa Clara, Calif. Friedman, who […]

The looming Congressional battle over copyright legislation got a whole lot hotter last week. Thats when the U.S. Circuit Court in Washington—not exactly a bunch of tech junkies—said that the Federal Communications Commission had overstepped its authority. The FCC doesnt have the legal right to require TVs or other devices to read special “broadcast flag” […]