TechBytes

Much has been said about FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s comment, including his seeming flip-flopping, that he is concerned about one innovative business model—data caps on broadband. He said, “We should all be concerned with anything that is incompatible with the psychology of abundance.” But what has not been said is that the chairman sets up an injudicious measuring stick—broadband abundance, whatever that means.

While the NFL replacement referees hav enot earned high praise, no one has accused them of cheating, of ignoring facts, to change the game as they see fit. But what happens when that occurs at the FCC?

The federal government is lobbying for expanded government power to ignore some guaranteed citizen's liberties saying that is the only means to provide greater security for the U.S.

Google has announced algorithm changes that will penalize websites that host pirated materials by lowering them in the search results.

The fundamental question on the issue of design is whether Samsung, in producing its product, illegally “copied” the design of the iPhone, or in other words, did Samsung copy the iPhone’s ornamentation rather than its function. The fundamental problem is taking elements of innovation that really do not belong in patent and trying to patent them. Not everything can or should be patentable.

New FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai is on the right track calling for the FCC to speed up its reviews in order to reduce uncertainty and other hindrances to innovation. Ultimately, the FCC should adopt forbearance as its default position, stepping in to regulate only in cases of demonstrable harm.

In regard to tennis, an invalid serve; in regard to sound public policy, a dangerous rewriting of the rules.

A couple weeks ago Mr. Rubio, along with Senator McCaskill and a bi-partisan group of co-sponsoring senators, introduced a resolution that if approved would demonstrate the U.S. government's commitment to Internet freedom by opposing the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and some countries' efforts to impose international regulations dictating how the Internet is to be operated.

There is no simple solution when it comes to taxing ecommerce transactions.

The states are looking for more revenue, and digital goods and services are at the top of their lists.