Roy Mark

Led by Microsoft’s $2.9 million in spending on lobbying in the first quarter alone, the IT industry is on track to set a tech lobbying spending record of $119 million in 2008, beating last year’s $110 million. According to numbers compiled by eWEEK from OpenSecrets.org, a database of political contributions and lobbying spending by the […]

Time Warner Cable didn’t have to do any thinking outside of the box to come up with a new pricing plan for the delivery of Internet services. Instead, TW simply found an old box from the 1990’s and blew the dust off metered service with usage caps. Like other cable companies, TW’s lines are clogged […]

Privacy groups said on June 3 that Google should follow standard industry practices and post a link on its homepage to the search giant’s privacy policy. Google has so far resisted the call for the privacy link, saying it did not want to clutter its homepage. In a letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, the […]

The Supreme Court took a lot of the fun out of the high court’s fall session June 2 by refusing to hear cases involving Major League Baseball and the nudie model site, Perfect 10. There goes any chance of MLB commish Bud Selig anxiously sitting next to a nude model in the high chamber. MLB, […]

In our last post, we noted the Entertainment Software Association has been the big dog among Washington tech trade groups since 2007 when it comes to lobbying bucks. Since the beginning of last year, the ESA has spent $2.9 million on winning friends and influence for the computer and video game industry. But, we also […]

Overstock.com is the latest online retailer to challenge New York’s controversial new online sales tax. The measure requires Internet retailers to collect and pay New York sales tax even if the retailer has no physical presence in the state. In a May 30 lawsuit, Overstock, based in Utah, claims the new law is unconstitutional under […]

The total value of wireless broadband and mobile voice services will exceed $427 billion by 2016, according to a new study by CTIA and analyst Roger Entner. The new analysis shows even greater productivity and efficiency gains than first reported in 2005. While the 2005 report on the macroeconomic impact of the U.S. wireless industry, […]

Bankrolled by the computer and video game industry, the Entertainment Software Association currently tops all Washington tech trade associations, alliances, coalitions and other groups in lobbying spending. According to numbers compiled from opensecrets.org, the treasure trove of data by the Center for Responsive Politics, the ESA has spent $2.9 million since the beginning of last […]

Let’s slap a not so fast label on last week’s report that John McCain is against granting immunity to telephone companies that participated in President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping of American’s telephone calls and e-mails. Chuck Fish, a former Time Warner executive who recently resigned to join the McCain campaign, told the 18th Annual Computers, Freedom […]

The private investigators involved in Hewlett-Packard’s 2005 infamous boardroom leaks case agreed May 28 to $600,000 in settlements and judgments for their role in obtaining the confidential phone records of journalists and HP employees. Two key players in the scandal, though, will pay only $3,000. The Federal Trade Commission imposed a $67,000 fine on Matthew […]

The government is again using its favorite boogeyman–child pornography–to push the likely limits of the U.S. Constitution’s proscription against unreasonable search and seizures. The latest flash point is an April court decision that the Fourth Amendment does not require U.S. Customs agents to have reasonable suspicion before searching laptops and other digital devices. You read […]

Cisco plans to muscle into the wireless enterprise space with a new platform offering an open application programming interface. The $20,000 platform consolidates and supports a wide array of mobility services across both wireless and wired networks. Rick McConnell, Cisco vice president and general manager for unified communications, told eWEEK during a private briefing in […]