Roy Mark

The privacy implications of Google’s proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick continues to raise concerns among House Republicans. The deal is currently under regulatory scrutiny at the Federal Trade Commission. The acquisition would bring together two of the biggest players in online advertising. Google’s text-based AdSense business is based on clickable links, while DoubleClick’s technology […]

WASHINGTON-By all accounts the E-Government Act passed by Congress five years ago is a success. Last year, the governments USA.gov site received almost 100 million visitors and was hailed by Time magazine as one of the “25 Sites We Cant Live Without.” Nevertheless, approximately 2,000 government sites harbor public information unavailable through search engines like […]

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are blasting a Bush administration proposal to cut 2009 funding by as much as half for local emergency management operations, including interoperability grants. A lack of funding could jeopardize state and local emergency management agencies’ plans to utilize spectrum that will be auctioned by the government in January. […]

While the Federal Communications Commission has moved aggressively to deregulate the broadband market by eliminating line sharing requirements for the nation’s carriers, the agency is holding fast to government-imposed regulations in the local telephone market. In a disappointing vote for Verizon, the FCC unanimously decided Dec. 4 to deny the nation’s second largest carrier’s request […]

NOTE TO NYPD: Many MP3 players now have digital recording ability. While that might be old news to most, apparently N.Y. police Detective Christopher Perino didn’t get the memo. It may cost Perino his badge and 84 years in prison. Perino, 42 and a 19-year New York Police Department veteran, was indicted Dec. 6 by […]

The Federal Communications Commission could not come to a clear consensus on Verizon’s request to deregulate some of its commercial broadband business. By government rules, the FCC’s 2-2 vote in 2006 on Verizon’s request meant that the commission actually approved it. On Dec. 7, a federal court upheld the decision, refusing to overturn it despite […]

For the 13th time in 26 years, Congress has agreed to a temporary extension of the research and development tax credit. On a vote of 88-5, the Senate approved a one-year extension of the R&D credit. The House agreed to the same measure Nov. 9. [This measure failed during reconciliation between the House and Senate […]

An adult social network that caters to the “sex and swingers” community agreed Dec. 6 to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that its use of sexually explicit pop-up ads violates federal law. According to the FTC, Various, Inc., a California corporation doing business as AdultFriendFinder, AdultFriendFinder.com and Cams.com, as well as its various advertising affiliates […]

The same bipartisan group that pushed patent reform through the U.S. House calling for reduced infringement awards introduced legislation Dec. 5 to increase criminal and civil penalties for copyright and trademark infringement. The Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2007, or PRO IP, would also create an Office of the United States […]

Legislation passed by the House Dec. 5 would triple the penalties for ISPs that knowingly fail to report child pornography on their service and expand the reporting requirements to cover all communications providers, including Wi-Fi operators that offer open connections to the public. Approved 409-2, the SAFE (Securing Adolescents From Exploitation Online) Act of 2007 […]

TomTom, the Dutch-based navigation device maker, said Dec. 5 it is teaming with Google to allow users to send business addresses directly from the Google Maps Web site to TomTom devices. To accommodate TomTom customers, Google Maps’ local search page has been expanded to include a “Send to GPS” button. The option allows a one-click […]

Padmasree Warrior, the former Motorola chief technology officer who left the company Dec. 3 in the wake of CEO Ed Zander’s ouster, reappeared the next day as Cisco Systems’ new CTO. Warrior will report to John Chambers, Cisco’s chairman and CEO. Warrior left Motorola just three days after Motorola announced Nov. 30 that CEO Ed […]