Roy Mark

Consumers who took the bait for BlueHippo’s with “less than perfect credit, bad credit, no credit” pitch to finance computer purchases appear also to have received no computers. It’ll cost BlueHippo as much as $5 million. In a settlement reached with the Federal Trade Commission Feb. 25, BlueHippo agreed to a judgment of at least […]

President Bush refused to budge Feb. 21 on his stance that telecommunications carriers should be given immunity for participating in the president’s warrantless spy program. The carriers allegedly provided customer telephone and e-mail records-often without a warrant or subpoena-to the government. The immunity issue is tied to a renewal of FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), […]

Even a modest bump in broadband adoption could result in a $134 billion annual impact on the U.S. economy, according to a new report by the nonprofit Connected Nation. The report is based on the impact of its first state-based program, ConnectKentucky, which resulted in an extensive broadband mapping program for the state. Since the […]

The British government said Feb. 22 it plans to launch a review of the United Kingdom’s broadband infrastructure to identify potential barriers to the rollout of next-generation technology. Francesco Caio, former chief executive of Cable & Wireless, will lead the review. As U.S. officials are in the United States, British officials are concerned that the […]

It works; it doesn’t work. Testing failed; testing is inconclusive. These are the battle lines being drawn between powerhouse technology firms and broadcasters over the use of unlicensed spectrum between television channels. This unused spectrum-known as white spaces-is provided to broadcasters to create interference buffer zones. The broadcasters are loath to share the unused spectrum […]

AT&T met with real estate brokers Feb. 17 in hopes of defusing concerns over the telecom giant’s defective utility cabinets that have resulted in two explosions and two fires. The five-foot tall cabinets equipped with 50-pound doors are part of AT&T’s fiber-optic U-Verse service delivering phone, data and television service. NAREB (National Association of Real […]

Stanford University law professor Lawrence Lessig is considering a run for Congress to fill the vacated seat of former U.S. Rep Tom Lantos, D-Calif., who died Feb. 11 of esophageal cancer. Lessig, an author of several books on Internet law and culture, is an outspoken advocate of open access principles for the Web and a […]

Unable to sway skeptical federal regulators, 3Com said Feb. 20 it has withdrawn its filing with the government seeking approval for the $2.2 billion bid by Bain Capital and Huawei Technologies to acquire 3Com. The withdrawal does not necessarily kill the merger, but any involvement of China’s Huawei would be problematic to the deal. 3Com […]

A group of real estate brokers filed complaints Feb. 15 with five states urging an investigation into incidents involving explosions and fires in AT&T utility boxes. The boxes are part of AT&T’s fiber-optic U-Verse service delivering phone, data and television service. According to both the NAREB (National Association of Real Estate Brokers) and AT&T, there […]

Duke University plans to cover its more than six million square feet of campus with an 802.11n network to provide wireless coverage in academic halls, libraries, residence halls and other buildings. The deployment includes 2,500 access points. According to Cisco, which is supporting the network with its Aironet 1250 series of access, the Duke project […]

Hoping to bridge the gap between the call for national IT health care systems and privacy concerns, two lawmakers are promoting new legislation that would mandate user opt-in programs, encryption and breach notification. The Technologies for Restoring Users’ Security and Trust (TRUST) in Health Information Act (H.R. 5442) would establish a public-private partnership to recommend […]

Network management techniques for handling peer-to-peer applications don’t violate the Federal Communications Commision’s network neutrality principles, Comcast said this week in its first extended response to charges that the cable giant is engaging in discriminatory traffic practices. According to a complaint filed with the FCC by P2P developer Vuze, Comcast “is attempting deliberately to degrade […]