Well the House and Senate have been busy little, ahem, beavers on the indecency front. The surprise is the provisions on media ownership. Will they survive a House vote over the opposition of the Republican leadership? Will Bush veto indecency regulation to save his buddies in big media? Stay tuned to Survivor: Washington.
Author: Harold
Tales of the Sausage Factory: Will Janet Jackson's Bosom Baring Kill Comcast/Disney Deal
Granted its a cute headline, but what the heck am I talking about? Comcast and Disney had nothing to do with Ms. Jackson’s little “costume malfunction” and besides, isn’t this just a case of standard election year pandering by legislators on a nothing issue? Welcome, dear readers, to Washington Land, an E-Ticket Ride in the funhouse where surface appearances are very decieving . . .
The Sudan, The Wall, and Why I Hate the International Criminal Court
O.K., this is a bit off the beaten tack for me, but it plays off what I read this morning. And side note to John, can we get some different catagories in our drop down menues? Everything I write is “general.”
Tales of the Sausage Factory: It's Not Just About Sitefinder
A year and a half ago, I spoke at an event sponsored by the CATO Institute warning that ICANN was on track for a “magnificent trainwreck.” The trainwreck may well have arrived in the form of Verisign’s lawsuit against ICANN.
Tales of the Sausage Factory: Unlicensed Spectrum Access Part I
In 2003, “wifi” went from geek toy to mainstream. But WiFi is only part of a much larger revolution in how people access and use the electromagnetic spectrum. Now, numerous competing and ill-fiting anaologies, “property,” “public commons,” “public trust” battle it out among Washington regulators. What’s at stake? While it sounds hyperbolic, this regulatory battle ground holds the key to the next stage of evolution of information technology. This is a background piece. I will post the current developments piece later.
Tales of the Sausage Factory: Why A Comcast/Disney Merger Sucks Rocks
This op ed appeared in the industry Magazine Broadcasting and Cable on Monday Feb. 23.
Tales of the Sausage Factory: RFID– Are Smart Clothes a Smart Idea
Most folks have yet to hear of RFID, or radio frequency ID tags. As explained in this article in The Nation, RFID opens a host of interesting issues.
Tales of The Sausage Factory: CBS caves again for Bush
For those of you haven’t followed, Bush and the Republican leadership fought off an broad attempt by Congress to roll back the national television ownership cap to 35%. The compromise was to freeze the limit at 39%, which means that Viacom (parent of CBS) and News Corp. (parent of Fox) don’t have to sell off any stations. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) says that CBS has paid the administration back for this favor by refusing to sell time to an anti-bush ad on the Superbowl.
Yet More On Fileswapping
Fileswapping is in the New York Times today. The RIAA gears up for more lawsuits while some bands try to actually serve their fans and make a buck. Wow!
Fileswapping: A coda
just a brief coda on my predictions for file swapping. According to The Washington Post, fileswapping is up again in October and November after declining steadily from June to September. I note that coincides somewhat with the college year, if new students get oriented in August/Sept., get a taste of broadband, and start fileswapping. that last is just speculatiuon on my part.
Stay tuned . . . .
