Keeping politicians' hands off the Net & everything else related to technology
There’s a hearing going on as I write on a Louisiana bill (HB 569) that would create a new tax on the Internet bills of consumers, despite the fact that there’s a federal moratorium prohibiting it. We just heard Attorney General James D. “Buddy” Caldwell say that this isn’t a “tax”, it’s a “fee.” Louisiana [...]
The Gawker offers a fascinating discussion of the legal right to anonymity: “There is clearly a moral case that some people should be able to join the public debate and retain their anonymity,” Tench told Gawker. “And I think this will have a chilling effect. Blogs like this can only exist anonymously, and I imagine [...]
Internet policy Shame Artist extraordinaire Chris Soghoian has struck again! Chris recently shamed the online advertising industry into improving their privacy practices with his Targeted Advertising Cookie Opt-Out (TACO) plug-in for Firefox. Now Chris has set his sight on the security practices of cloud service providers. A letter released this morning, signed by 37 leading [...]
According to Ina Fried of CNet News, Microsoft plans to remove its Internet Explorer web browser from the new versions of Windows 7 when it ships it in Europe later this year. [Additional coverage at ZDNet.] MS is apparently doing so to assuage the concerns of EU antitrust officials, who have been obsessed with the [...]
Recent developments have the events ticket market going paperless (tickets) and creating a paper trail (via proposed legislation). First, there’s Ticketmaster’s efforts to push “paperless tickets” into greater use. On Monday the Wall Street Journal reported on how the upcoming Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana) tour will sell only paperless tickets. I’ve previously blogged about [...]
Sometimes legislation is so bad, it’s awful! or iAWFUL (the Internet Advocates’ Watchlist for Ugly Laws). I’m happy to announce that NetChoice just created a top ten list where we’ll keep track of the worst of the worst. iAWFUL identifies the 10 worst legislative and regulatory proposals targeted at the Internet. We’ll continually update to reflect the [...]
The Department of Homeland Security’s Privacy Office sez: On his first full day in office, President Obama directed his administration to seek an “unprecedented level of openness in government.” In the spirit of openness and transparency consistent with the directives of the administration and with her personal philosophy, the Chief Privacy Officer of the Department [...]
When it comes to theories about how to best raise kids, I’m a big believer in what might be referred to “a resiliency approach” to child-rearing. That is, instead of endlessly coddling our children and hovering over them like “helicopter parents,” as so many parents do today, I believe it makes more sense to instill [...]
January 29, 2012
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.
