Wayne Rash

The Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011 is a very important departure from the usual Congressional attempts at putting rules on the Internet in that it avoids two big traps: First, it doesn’t define specific technical standards in the rules that it attempts to impose on Internet enterprises and users. Second, the bill […]

Cisco’s announcement that it is exiting the consumer electronics business and, as a result, shutting down its Flip camera operations while consolidating Linksys into its larger home-video business is probably a good move for a company focusing on data centers. The Flip acquisition was always kind of a mystery, since those pocket-size camcorders didn’t really […]

As this column is being written, Congress is feuding over the terms of a budget to keep the government running until the end of September. The government has been running on a series of continuing resolutions since Oct. 1, 2010. These are effectively short-term agreements to keep funding going to the government while the Republicans […]

It’s no secret that the Obama administration and the Federal Communications Commission have been working hard to find ways to deploy wireless broadband Internet, especially to underserved areas. In general, this is an important move, since the current crop of broadband providers has shown little interest in bringing the Internet to rural and economically challenged […]

When I opened my email this morning (meaning when I peered at my BlackBerry over my morning coffee), I scrolled past the usual notices of comments to last week’s columns and found warnings waiting for me. The first one was from Hilton, who told me that my email address had been compromised. There were several […]

The recent revelation in Wired News of a new Android malware application highlights the risk that comes with getting your applications from unknown sources. However, that same ability to get mobile applications from some place besides the Android Market is one of the things that users really like about Android devices. Besides that, the Android […]

When AT&T announced that it was buying T-Mobile a couple of weeks ago, it was presented as if the deal were a fait accompli. Deutsche Telekom gave the same impression when it made its own announcement. There was a reason for this apparent certainty. It’s good for share prices. You’ll note that the markets treated […]

T-Mobile customers do not appear to be happy about the company’s proposed sale to AT&T. In statements to me here at eWEEK, and elsewhere on the Internet, the last company that these people want to see handling their wireless service is the struggling and much-maligned AT&T.Many of those people suggest that their only refuge in […]

There is a saying here in Washington that “no man’s life, liberty or property is safe while the legislature is in session.” It was reputedly coined by Judge Gideon Tucker, who was commenting on the New York state legislature in the 1800s, and it was quickly picked up by Mark Twain.That saying remains true, and […]

The first reaction I had on hearing about the agreement by AT&T to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom was one of dismay. As a T-Mobile customer, I’d grown used to its relatively low rates, its stellar customer service and the lack of dropped calls.I also liked the comparatively low rates when I traveled out […]

Two-factor authentication has been considered by many to be the gold standard for secure IT access. The idea is that you must have two things, something you have such as a token and something you know, such as a password. Many companies, for example, require a smart card with an embedded identity chip to be […]

Now that Internet privacy bills have been introduced into both houses of Congress with the Obama administration and the Federal Trade Commission calling for some means of disclosure and control over how personal information is used on the Internet, forces opposed have already started to spread fear. On March 16, for example, the Competitive Enterprise […]