Roy Mark

The U.S. Senate held a hearing June 25 to investigate the possible constitutional violations of a government program that allows Customs officials to search, seize or copy contents of laptops and smart phones even if the agency has no reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. The government told the committee to kiss off. In a show […]

With a majority of Americans supportive of electronic medical records but still wary of the privacy implications, the non-profit Markle Foundation moved June 25 to create a national framework of standards. The effort drew the immediate praise and endorsement of Google, Microsoft and a host of other organizations, including insurers, WebMD and AARP. The framework […]

When the Federal Communications Commission classified DSL as an information service in 2005, it put telephone broadband providers in the same category as cable modem broadband providers. The decision relieved both telephone and cable companies from legal obligations to lease broadband lines to competitors. More importantly, telephone companies would not face the same antitrust laws […]

Charter Communications, the nation’s fourth-largest broadband provider, hastily withdrew June 24 from a proposed deal with online advertising company NebuAd to track users’ online movements and search queries. NebuAd, a Silicon Valley startup, counted Charter among its top catches for its consumer Web tracking service. NebuAd’s other announced clients include WOW (WideOpenWest), Embarq Holdings Company, […]

In one of the poorest kept secrets at the FCC in recent years, the agency officially sanctioned Verizon June 23 for attempting to keep customers from porting their telephone numbers to another carrier. According to the FCC order, Verizon used proprietary information such as customers’ telephone numbers and porting requests to blitz potentially departing customers […]

European geo-based companies continue to be a hot commodity, with Nokia announcing June 23 it has acquired Plazes, which develops Web platforms for location sharing and publishing. Vodafone acquired ZYB, a mobile social network, in May for $31.5 million. Terms of Nokia’s deal with Plazes were not disclosed, but the acquisition is the second geo-based […]

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. […]