Articles by Sonia Arrison 
Sonia Arrison is an author and policy analyst who has studied
the impact of new technologies on society for more than a decade. A Senior Fellow at the California-based Pacific Research Institute (PRI) and a columnist for TechNewsWorld, she is author of two previous books (Western Visions and Digital Dialog) as well as numerous PRI studies on technology issues. A frequent media contributor and guest, her work has appeared in many publications including CBS MarketWatch, CNN, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. She was also the host of a radio show called "digital dialogue" on the Voice America network and has been a repeat guest on National Public Radio and CNN's Headline News.
The WSJ had a good piece yesterday on how telco and cable companies have morphed into the same thing (you’ll need a subscription to see it). Here’s a graph:
In Omaha, Neb., cable giant Cox Communications Inc. has toppled the regional Bell and become the area’s largest phone company. Over in New York, Cablevision Systems Corp. has signed up 115,000 phone customers.
Meanwhile, in the Southwest, telecom titan SBC Communications Inc. has landed 120,000 subscribers for the satellite-TV service it launched in March with EchoStar Communications Corp. Verizon Communications Inc. has built a fiber-optic network in a Texas town and will use it to offer “cable” TV service this fall.
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Today at a conference in Aspen, FCC Chairman Michael Powell made some thoughtful comments including this one: “VOIP is the killer app for legal policy change.” What he meant is that the technology forces regulators to see “telephone service” in an entirely new light. Let’s just hope policymakers are smart enough to see that convergence of technologies means changing regulations to fit tech rather than trying to force tech into an old, outdated, and harmful framework.
State Public Utilities Commission meetings are usually fairly boring affairs, but at last Thursday’s CPUC meeting, I was surprised to see a packed room and grand theatrics over UNE-P rates in California. I know what you’re thinking–didn’t a DC Appeals Court invalidate the UNE-P regs? Well, yes, but California is going ahead anyway as everyone is still waiting for new FCC rules and California is two years late in setting them in any case. The CPUC’s administrative law judge suggested allowing SBC to raise rates only $0.25–enough to cause the labor unions to get wound up. And, let me tell you, labor leaders are really good at getting their message across LOUD and clear. If telecom wasn’t such a mess, the theatrics might have been more fun. If you want to learn more about this issue, see my weekly column here.
“Phishing,” a.k.a. tricking an Internet user into handing over their data to thieves who steal their money and identities, is becoming a huge problem. There’s a few companies in Silicon Valley that are working on a tech solution to the problem, and Senator Leahy recently introduced a bill to stop it. Here’s a decent primer on the issue.
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.