Roy Mark

Loose lips at the Federal Communications Commission are predicting that the agency will find Verizon guilty of violating consumer privacy as early as June 20 for actions affecting customers’ ability to change providers. The decision would reverse an earlier staff recommendation that Verizon did not violate any FCC rules. To anyone who has ever tried […]

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang made an obligatory round of Capitol Hill this week, assuring lawmakers there are no antitrust flies on Yahoo’s advertising deal with Google. While the arrangement does not require government approval, both Yahoo and Google are working Congress hard to allay concerns about consumer privacy and competition in the Internet advertising industry. […]

The U.S. House of Representatives voted June 20 to approve a new version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that Republican lawmakers contend will essentially end civil lawsuits filed against telephone carriers that participated in President Bush’s warrantless domestic spying program. The carriers allegedly provided customer telephone and e-mail records of U.S. citizens-often without a […]

The best part of having sitting senators as presidential candidates is that on occasion they have to, well, vote on issues. Instead of providing only hollow campaign rhetoric, they have to actually stand up and be counted. As early as next week, Obama and McCain will have to face the music on telephone company immunity. […]

From dongles to chips to base stations and receivers, the WiMAX Forum June 18 approved 10 products for the 2.5GHz profile. These products are the first WiMax gear to receive clearance for use in the United States. Approved were products from Airspan Networks, Alvarion, Beceem Communications, Intel, Motorola, Samsung, Sequans Communications and Zyxel Communications. Alvarion, […]

Two watchdog groups accused Silicon Valley startup NebuAd June 18 of hijacking Web sites and intercepting users’ browsers. NebuAd is an online advertising company that provides targeted advertising for ISPs. According to a new technical report (PDF) by Free Press and Public Knowledge, NebuAd uses special equipment that “monitors, intercepts and modifies the contents of […]

China Mobile signed a $1 billion deal June 16 with France’s Alcatel-Lucent to provide mobile communication equipment and services to the world’s largest mobile carrier as measured by subscribers. The carrier also announced a $34.8 million deal with Sun Microsystems to provide IT services and products. China Mobile is upgrading its network to 3G speeds […]

The Federal Communications Commission has decided to change its method for counting U.S. broadband subscribers. For years, the agency’s reports have been widely criticized for overstating U.S. broadband penetration. Over the last decade, broadband suppliers had to give the FCC the number of subscribers an ISP had in a zip code. If a zip code […]

Google is hedging its bets over the future of Yahoo in the proposed advertising deal between the two companies, according to a June 12 Yahoo filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing shows a $250 million kill fee obligation by Yahoo if ownership of the company changes within the next two years. Google […]

An otherwise routine June 18 hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee is taking on a new meaning with the June 12 advertising agreement between Google and Yahoo. The panel’s topic is “Privacy Implications of Online Advertising,” but lawmakers are sure to plunge into the details of the proposed deal. With that hearing already set, U.S. […]

Perhaps Congressman Frank Wolf is just disappointed that President Bush is ignoring his advice to not attend the Beijing Olympics as a protest against China’s human rights abuses. It could be his concerns that history will “never, ever, ever forgive” Americans for attending the Olympics. Maybe he just misses Ronald Reagan. Whatever his reasoning, the […]

Alleged Chinese hacking of government computers went high profile June 11 with U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf accusing Beijing of cyber attacks on four of his office computers. The Virginia Republican also said other members of Congress and the House Foreign Affairs Committee have been targets of Chinese hackers. “These cyber attacks permitted the source to […]