Roy Mark

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 […]

Vuze, a video distributor using BitTorrent peer-to-peer technology, petitioned the Federal Communications Commission Nov. 14 to establish rules prohibiting Comcast and other broadband providers from “throttling” network traffic. Vuze contends the practice violates the FCCs network neutrality principles. Throttling involves blocking or slowing the uploading and downloading speeds of lawful applications and content. Vuze, of […]

Sen. Barack Obama said on Nov. 14 if he is elected to the presidency next year he would appoint the countrys first chief technology officer to guarantee that the United States is “always at the forefront of technology.” Using the Mountain View, Calif., headquarters of Google as a campaign backdrop, the Democratic presidential hopeful promised […]

The U.S. House approved Nov. 13 the Broadband Census of America Act, designed to change the way the Federal Communications Commission measures broadband penetration nationwide. The legislation (H.R. 3919) will discontinue the FCCs current ZIP code method that counts a single broadband subscriber in a five-digit ZIP code as representing high-speed access for the entire […]

A federal court issued a temporary restraining order Nov. 12 to prevent the White House from destroying backup copies of millions of deleted e-mails that are at the center of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, filed the lawsuit March 29 against the Bush administration and […]