Older Feds Aren't Playing to Their Strengths
Is It Too Hard to Fire Misbehaving Feds?
Americans Still Like the Postal Service
A Forced 4-Day Weekend for Many Feds
No More Tax-Cheating Feds, Senators Say
Video: The Daily Show on Apple's Taxes
AUTHOR ARCHIVES
Technology can fix the budget crisis, say former FCC officials
November 28, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
A pair of Clinton-era telecom regulators and “card-carrying Democrats” want to bring back some of the economic magic of the go-go 1990s with an ambitious plan to accelerate growth, shrink the national debt while revolutionizing the delivery of government services, and help slow global warming. The plan from former Federal ...
Cyber Monday crackdown hits 132 websites
November 27, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
In an operation that has become an annual rite of the holiday shopping season, law-enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Europe seized the domain names of 132 websites that were allegedly dealing in counterfeit versions of trademarked goods. For the third year running, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement announced the ...
Silicon Valley reps urge FTC caution on Google
November 21, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
Two Democratic representatives from the heart of California's Silicon Valley sent a letter to Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz on Monday cautioning the agency against assuming a broad grant of authority in pursuing a possible antitrust case against Google. Anna Eshoo, the senior Democrat on the House Energy and ...
What to expect on technology in Obama's second term
November 9, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
Obama’s regulators arrived in January 2009 with a laundry list of priorities they have largely achieved—a version of network neutrality called the “Open Internet” rule; more spectrum for wireless broadband networks; subsidies for those who don’t yet have broadband access; and limits on how much telecom companies can charge for ...
Mobile apps help campaigns track voters
November 5, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
Mobile technology is a big part of the election endgame for both presidential campaigns, but right now the efforts are focused more on turning out those already identified as supporters and not on persuading last-minute deciders. Republican Mitt Romney is leading with a mobile vote-counting effort called Project Orca. (The ...
Election app targets voter suppression fears
October 12, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
Election monitors and ordinary voters can document and transmit reports of possible voting irregularities via a new mobile app built by the left-leaning tech firm Revolution Messaging and connected to the voter file maintained by the political-data firm Catalist. The Election Protection app is available to anyone, and isn't explicitly ...
Report: Google pitches European Union on labels as antitrust remedy
October 11, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
Google has reportedly made an offer to label search results that link to Google-owned websites as a way of remedying complaints from Europe's top antitrust regulator, according to a report in the Financial Times. Joaquín Almunia, who heads the European Commission's competition authority, is negotiating with Google over what it ...
FCC commits $300 million to close gaps in mobile coverage
October 4, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
The Federal Communications Commission announced on Wednesday the recipients of $300 million in funding to build out wireless 3G and 4G connections across 83,000 miles of road in 31 states where there are gaps in mobile service. Wireless providers obtained the Mobility Fund money through participation in a reverse auction, ...
FEC move on wireless campaign contributions could aid Democrats
September 14, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
In a move that will likely open text-message-based campaign contributions to AT&T customers, the Federal Election Commission has issued an advisory opinion allowing for wireless carriers to process political donations at a low rate. The decision is politically significant because AT&T is the only nationally unionized wireless carrier, and it ...
Study: On Facebook, voting is contagious
September 13, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
Facebook messages can have a small but discernible effect on voter participation, according to a large-scale study of more than 60 million users conducted during the November 2010 election. It turns out that Facebook was helping to conduct a massive, controlled experiment on Nov. 2, 2010. The study examined how ...
