Articles by Carl Gipson

Carl Gipson formerly wrote for the TLF.


Weekend Reading — NBCU/Comcast/GE Public Interest Statement

by on January 29, 2010 · 2 comments

For those of you inclined to read protracted legalese filings, NBC Universal, Comcast and GE submitted their Public Interest Statement to the FCC this week. You can read the filing here.

Many conspiracies have been touted, claiming that public control of communication mediums will be wrested away from the public because of this venture and that consumers stand to lose the most. Adam did a good job debunking these concerns earlier this month. The fact is that this merger in no way would result in the dreaded “M” word, aka monopoly.

Whatever the case, this process is still bound to take another year or so before finalization, which gives you, dear reader, time to process the entire 145 page document. Happy reading!

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Emergence of Cloud Computing = Government Regulation Can’t Be Far Behind

by on January 22, 2010 · 3 comments

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s Senior Vice President and General Counsel addressed the Brookings Institution earlier this week calling for government to get involved to enhance the safety, security and privacy of the “Cloud.” (Here’s a transcript of his remarks)

Smith alluded to the fact that cloud computing is undergoing a powerful transformation and correctly pointed out that, even though millions of Americans are using cloud computing platforms today (and have been for years), a far majority of them have no real concept of what cloud computing actually is or does — and neither to most policymakers.

This speech was very well timed, given the current Google-China kerfuffle from the past couple of weeks. Essentially, who is in charge of the data in the cloud? How can we guarantee that best practices are being used by providers? And, what role will the federal government play in the regulation of this powerful emerging technology? Continue reading →

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