Internet And Technology

"Our massive strategy was to use the Fairness Doctrine to challenge and harass right-wing broadcasters and hope the challenges would be so costly to them that they would be inhibited and decide it was too expensive to continue." --Bill Ruder, Democratic campaign consultant and Assistant Secretary of Commerce, Kennedy Administration[1] "The… Read more

Felipe Calderón, who began his single sexenio (six-year term) as President of Mexico in December 2006, has made significant progress in the fight against narcotrafficking, but Mexicans are still waiting to see whether his government will successfully chal­lenge the private- and public-sector monopolies and duopolies that dominate huge portions… Read more

If you liked "Waiting for Godot," you've probably loved this year's congressional telecom reform drama. Much like the characters in the Samuel Beckett play -- who keep audiences waiting for the appearance of the apparently important, but ill-defined title character -- Congress kept us waiting most of this year for telecom legislation to come on… Read more

WARNING: This column will make you very angry! By law, illegal aliens convicted of heinous crimes - rape, murder, child molestation - are to be deported once they've served their jail terms. But lately, thousands of them have simply been let go. And Justice Department officials… Read more

Cable TV is now at the center of two simmering controversies. The first concerns content: How can parents protect their kids from inappropriate TV programming? The second involves competition: what to do about local rules that impede telephone companies from competing with existing cable TV providers. These two policy debates have largely been kept separate… Read more

Ten years ago this week, President Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, completely rewriting the nation's telecom laws. To mark the anniversary, the Federal Communications Commission meets this week not in D.C. or some high-tech hub city but in the smallish Dallas suburb of Keller, Texas. It's an appropriate location. In September,… Read more

The debate about anti-terrorism eavesdropping focuses public attention on the nexus between technology and politics and how the two affect our lives. The short answer is, power, including computing and telecom, can be a force for good -- or evil, depending on users and stakeholders. Since the… Read more

On February 4, before several snow storms shut down much of Washington, D.C., the U.S. House of Representatives passed its first cyber security bill of this session. This bill, the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2009, would fund grants and fellowships for cyber research and establish minimum requirements… Read more

Abstract: Despite Congress's mandate in 2007 that the Department of Homeland Security track all foreign visitors biometrically by June 2009, DHS missed the deadline, and biometric exit, as opposed to the current biographic approach, has proved costly without adding much… Read more

Abstract: Virtual or online learning is revolutionizing American education. It has the potential to dramatically expand the educational opportunities of American students, largely overcoming the geographic and demographic restrictions. Virtual learning also has the potential to improve the quality of instruction, while increasing productivity… Read more

Abstract: Can Facebook and Twitter change the world? Can all the nifty new social-networking sites promote democracy and a better understanding of American values around the world? The potential is certainly there -- as was seen in the invaluable Twitter updates during the post-election protests in Iran. The U.S. government… Read more

As his Administration pursues a path toward nuclear disarmament, President Obama has stated that, in the meantime, he will seek to maintain an effective U.S. nuclear arsenal. A stepping stone in the path toward nuclear disarmament is a new treaty with Russia, currently… Read more

Abstract: When it comes to robotics technology, the future is here. Robots across the world now traverse hazardous terrain, carry out surveillance missions, and perform remote surgery. They are becoming ever more sophisticated and autonomous. Robots easily and safely perform… Read more

A statement issued by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit conceded a long-suspected reality: The upcoming Copenhagen conference will not produce a legally binding climate pact to succeed the failed Kyoto Protocol.[1] APEC's statement was… Read more

The upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, is supposed to produce a successor agreement to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, a treaty signed by the Clinton Administration… Read more

Perhaps the most prominent reaction to progress in trade and investment talks between China and Taiwan is that the dialogue is long overdue. From Taiwan's perspective, such an assessment turns out to be exactly right--cross-straits economic liberalization is overdue. In pure economic terms, it would have been… Read more