March 31, 2006
New Telecom Draft Generates Buzz
Telecommunications reform dominated the tech talk in Washington this week, as lawmakers, industry lobbyists and consumer advocates buzzed about the latest draft bill. The measure was unveiled just days before a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on it.
The legislation would effectively exempt Bell telephone companies and cable operators from local video franchises. The Bells and other new entrants in the video market would be eligible for national franchises. Dominant cable companies would be eligible for them once competitors are in their markets.
The bill also would give the FCC a limited role in policing price discrimination by the Bells and cable companies against Internet content firms -- an issue known as "network neutrality."
For more details about the ongoing telecom debate, as well as the latest news on campaign regulations for the Internet and congressional actions on the privacy front, listen to this week's podcast.
Posted by Technology Daily at 11:20 AM | Permalink
March 28, 2006
Online Obscenity And The Internet Bubble
Lawmakers were away from Washington this week, but the nine justices of the Supreme Court were still here to play -- and they had a thing or two to say about technology. The court reached two decisions of interest to the tech community.
The first ruling concerned a 1996 online obscenity law, with the high court rebuffing a challenge to the statute. The second ruling, which was initiated after the Internet stock bubble burst, curtailed investors' ability to launch large class-action lawsuits.
Also in the news this week: data security, content neutrality over high-speed Internet networks and video-franchising rules in New Jersey. For the details on those stories and more, listen to the podcast.
Posted by Technology Daily at 12:28 PM | Permalink
The Freedom To Blog
Bloggers hoped this would be the week that both Congress and the Federal Election Commission took a stand for largely unfettered online political speech, but both of them balked.
The FEC postponed by a week its decision on new campaign finance rules for the Internet, and the House indefinitely delayed floor debate on a bill designed to exempt most bloggers from any such rules. The FEC now plans to tackle the subject March 23.
Other stories this week include the Justice Department's attempt to get data from Google, the House Judiciary Committee's fight for its turf in the telecommunications debate and Congress' push toward consensus on registering sex offenders. Listen to the podcast for the details.
Posted by Technology Daily at 12:19 PM | Permalink
Welcome To The Tech Policy Pod
National Journal's Technology Daily is the premier publication for technology policy news from the nation's capital and key tech hubs around the country and the world.
We publish two issues a day for our subscribers -- our blog-like "coverage of the coverage" that summarizes news from other publications each day at 9 a.m., and our original content that is published at 4 p.m. We also publish a feature each day: "Issue of the Week" on Mondays, the "People Column" on Tuesdays, an "International Roundup" on Wednesdays, a "State Roundup" on Thursdays, and our "Executive Summary" of the top tech news each week on Fridays.
This month, Tech Daily started producing podcasts of about six minutes that are based on the "Executive Summary." The podcasts are free to the public. They are available at Apple's iTunes, Podcast Alley, Podcast Directory, Podcast.net and other services.
I'm Danny Glover, the managing editor of Tech Daily, and I record and publish the audio roundups to the Web each week. I hope you'll listen and send your feedback to dglover-at-nationaljournal.com -- and I hope you will visit www.technologydaily.com and consider subscribing to our publication.
Posted by Technology Daily at 11:12 AM | Permalink
