Keeping politicians' hands off the Net & everything else related to technology
FoxSports.com reports today that the FCC has once again received complaints about the Super Bowl. This time the complaints were about boredom. Seems some people were pretty disappointed with Paul McCartney (formerly of “Wings” and another band), compared to the excitement of Janet Jackson last year. Of course, Fox goes on to disclose that only [...]
The President’s Budget includes $304 million for the FCC in fiscal year 2006. That’s an increase from $281 million appropriated for this year. Number from past years (using FCC Change Analysis data): 2004 – $274 million 2003 – $268 million 2002 – $245 million So if this budget amount goes through, we will have a [...]
The Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland has released the 2004 Technology Readiness Survey. The headline they’ve chose for it is National Survey Finds 22.9 Million Hours a Week Wasted on Spam. The headline should be National Survey Finds How Badly You Can Mess Things Up By Asking Consumers To [...]
The Internet’s absence from the President’s State of the Union address, noted here yesterday, didn’t escape our friends at the Progress and Freedom Foundation either. In comments yesterday, PFFer Kyle Dixon mused hopefully that “the speech did not quite vow to continue such policies as the FCC’s efforts to promote investment and innovation in digital [...]
While much of the rest of the world is privatizing state-owned enterprises, there’s a growing movement here in the U.S. for local municipalities to get into the business of broadband. This is a testy issue that draws visceral responses over the proper role of government, property rights, and democracy itself. But the focus of my [...]
Did anyone else notice that the Internet didn’t come up at all in the President’s State of the Union speech last night? Not a mention. Nada. Of course, you can’t mention everything in one speech. Presidents that have tried to do so end with speeches that are forgettable political laundry lists. Still, I would have [...]
Some Virginia officials want to reform telecom taxes. Good idea. To get that much-needed job done they are considering “leveling the playing field” by imposing the exact same tax on all new forms of communications and information services. Bad idea.
Forget paying for Iraq. Apparently, Congress is still worried about paying for that pesky Spanish-American War in 1898. In a report released last week, the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation suggested that the current three percent federal excise tax on telecommunications–originally imposed as a way of paying for the Spanish-American War–be expanded to all communications [...]
May 16, 2012
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.
