policy

FCC discusses barriers to national broadband plan

The Federal Communications Commission met Wednesday to discuss obstacles to enacting a national broadband policy that will provide high-speed Internet access to every American.

President Obama has made universal broadband access a key goal. Grants and loans for helping make universal broadband access a reality have already started being doled out as part of Congress' economic stimulus package.

In an effort to ensure that new programs and policies work toward achieving the same goal, the FCC has been tasked with developing a national broadband plan to help direct policy makers in getting affordable broadband to every American. A task force, … Read more

Facebook adopts new privacy policy

Facebook on Tuesday announced that it has decided to adopt a revised privacy policy designed to be more accessible and easier to understand.

The social network had just completed a weeklong comment period for the new revision and, though "a lot of people participated," less than 7,000 members commented. According to Facebook's rules, this meant that a vote was unnecessary, Michael Richter, Facebook deputy general counsel, wrote in a company blog.

Overall, members supported the proposed changes, including the simplification of the language used to describe the policy and the document's new structure, Richter said. … Read more

Netherlands' open-source policy goes double Dutch

Government policies favoring open-source software adoption should be wildly popular within the open-source crowd. Yet, at an open-source conference in Amsterdam today, I kept hearing the opposite. Despite the Dutch government's best intentions to foster open-source adoption, some people think it may actually be doing the opposite.

By many measures, the Netherlands is a great place for open-source software. In 2007, the government started to phase in a policy that gave preferential treatment to open-source software in IT purchasing decisions. Initially, at least, the policy seems to have been a success, with a July 2009 study highlighting a wide … Read more

The broadband adoption dilemma

CHICAGO--Internet service providers have built it, but many still have not come.

That's one of the biggest problems the U.S. policy makers and service providers face in their effort to bring broadband access to every American, according to several panelists speaking Wednesday at the Supercomm 2009 trade show here.

Panelists highlighted the low adoption rate as a major issue that must be addressed in the pending National Broadband Policy, which is currently being developed by the Federal Communications Commission. The National Broadband Policy, which will be presented to Congress in February, will outline how the government can reach … Read more

Yes, new FTC guidelines extend to Facebook fan pages

Prominent users of Twitter and Facebook won't be exempt from controversial new Federal Trade Commission guidelines that keep tabs on blogger freebies and giveaways, according to Richard Cleland, associate director for the FTC's advertising division. The agency absolutely plans to keep tabs on social networks as well as blogs in accordance with revised regulations that could see violators fined up to $11,000, he said.

Here's a sample scenario: a celebrity or other prominent figure with loads of friends on Facebook receives free hotel says from Hotel Chain X in exchange for running Hotel Chain X ads … Read more

Facebook ratchets up privacy controls (again)

A recent simplification of Facebook's user privacy controls wasn't enough for some policymakers.

On Thursday, in conjunction with the Canadian Privacy Commissioner, Facebook announced a new set of modifications to its user privacy controls as well as its developer API, and the targets of these changes are the thousands of third-party applications built on Facebook's developer platform. That means there may be major implications for developers--some of whom rely almost exclusively on Facebook activity as a revenue source.

The Canadian Privacy Commissioner's office released a set of recommendations for Facebook last month, specifically highlighting concerns that … Read more

Some tweets now out of bounds at ESPN

For ESPN, the social-networking revolution will not be televised--or tweeted, blogged, or Facebooked. Not for now, at least, and not without ESPN's approval.

The sports network has apparently banned its workforce from posting any sports-related content on social-networking tools such as Twitter and Facebook without its permission. The news first came to light Tuesday when Ric Bucher, an NBA analyst for ESPN, tweeted that he had just received an network memo regarding tweeting:

The hammer just came down, tweeps: ESPN memo prohibiting tweeting info unless it serves ESPN. Kinda figured with was coming. Not sure what this means but … Read more

BOL 1033: Special interview with federal CTO Aneesh Chopra

Federal CTO Aneesh Chopra drops by to chat with us about the technology policies of the current U.S. administration. We ask him our own questions as well as some from the audience. Get Chopra's takes on Broadband, health care, Net neutrality, education, and more.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1033

The following is a rundown of the topics covered in this comprehensive interview and the questions asked by the hosts as well as some questions submitted by fans of Buzz Out Loud. Thanks for your participation, … Read more

New FCC chairman sees broadband as priority

The new head of the Federal Communications Commission wants affordable broadband access for all Americans, according to an article in Monday's Wall Street Journal.

Julius Genachowski sat down with the Journal for one of his first interviews since being sworn in as FCC chairman in late June and said that making affordable high-speed Internet available throughout the nation could be the "most successful driver of economic growth" in the nation.

Exactly, how he plans to do this is something that broadband providers, such as AT&T, Verizon Communications, and Comcast, are watching carefully. The new chairman … Read more