Wayne Rash

The comment period for the Federal Communications Commission’s notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on software-defined radios was supposed to end on Sept. 8. But the FCC has extended the comment period because the topic is complex, and the parties involved need time to work. This NPRM, FCC 15-92, attracted little attention when the agency issued […]

Everything came to a stop at the U.S. Open tennis tournament on Sept. 3 as a drone appeared out of the evening sky and passed over the players while they volleyed. Then, unexpectedly, the drone careened toward the grandstands and crashed into the seating area. That area of the stadium was unoccupied at the time, […]

Imagine a voice dictation system that actually works for more than short messages. Imagine that it could even transcribe a long conversation or a brainstorming session. That’s been a sort of Holy Grail for voice dictation for a long time. But now it appears that Google has managed to pull it off. However it turns […]

When I called Microsoft to ask about an unexpected screen when I tried to log on to Windows 10 on a freshly upgraded computer, I already knew there would be a wait. Still, it was a surprise when the computerized voice on the other end of the line said that I could expect a call […]

Right now, it’s not clear who breached the security of the marital infidelity site Ashley Madison, although there’s an international team of investigators looking in to it. In the meantime, the list of members, including details of their dating preferences, has found its way to the open Internet, with results that are sad but not […]

A fight brewing at the Federal Communications Commission over an unlicensed form of the familiar LTE calling and data protocol used by wireless carriers is likely to develop into a full-blown regulatory tussle over the mobile phone in your pocket. The likely opponents in the fight are staking their ground in FCC filings regarding something […]

In a decision that cites a litany of basic security blunders, the United States Third Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously found that the Federal Trade Commission has the authority to sue Wyndham Hotels for unfair cyber-security practices that, “taken together, unreasonably and unnecessarily exposed consumers’ personal data to unauthorized access and theft.” The decision lists […]

The Federal Communications Commission has served notice that Smart City Networks is unlikely to be the last organization to face enforcement action for blocking private hotspot WiFi signals in public spaces. The FCC entered into a consent agreement with Smart City Networks in which the company agreed to pay the commission a fine of $750,000 […]

The potential misuse of classified information in the office of the Secretary of State has been at the top of the news daily for quite a while, but while there have been claims and counter-claims, almost nobody seems to understand what this all means. In fact, there are specific rules about how sensitive government information […]

The Internal Revenue Service is one of the federal government’s least-liked agencies. No surprise there since the job of the IRS is to pry plenty of your hard earned dollars from your hands. Still, the IRS is in fact sensitive to the fact that it needs to try to make reporting income and paying taxes […]

A few days from now, on Aug. 20, Samsung will launch two of the latest smartphones that it plans to use in its relentless Android competition with Apple. At first, the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ will be released in Korea, then in the U.S. late in September. These two phablets will support […]

When the offices of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon were hacked three weeks ago, the hackers, who were apparently from Russia, harvested a trove of unclassified but sensitive data. What happened is that those hackers managed to launch a phishing attack against one or more people at the JCS and were successful […]