TechBytes

The FCC has no authority to sweep aside state law in order to promote municipally owned broadband networks.

In which a federal agency oversteps its legal authority and opposes state efforts to save taxpayer dollars. Again.

In June, the Supreme Court held that abstract ideas are not patentable and that merely implementing them via computer was not enough to make them so. While this decision provides some help, Congress must act to clarify the situation and end the very real harm to the overall patent system.

Updating the 28 year-old Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) could protect the privacy of our electronic communications from the NSA, the IRS, and other federal agencies.

When companies resort to lawsuits to gain market advantage, a sort of rent seeking via the courts can be the result.

Innovation is transforming health care, or at least it’s trying. Old practices and laws can create a drag on that new innovation.

The Aereo decision is a victory for property rights and the rule of law, rather than the triumph of entrenched interests over disruptive innovation.

Hopefully, the next step on the right path will be taken with the House Judiciary Committee deciding that the Internet tax moratorium must continue.

By Monday Illinois Governor Quinn must approve or deny a scheme that may well leave him in a similar, if less dramatic, situation as Nero.

The Supreme Court took a step in the right direction, but the proposed patent legislation, which has been shelved, is also necessary to fully address bad actors’ behavior.