Lessons in economics

ASPEN, Colo.--Luigi Gambardella is an amiable, effusive Italian businessman, who seems almost bemused that anyone would object to his proposal to give a United Nations body more authority over how national governments may or may not regulate the Internet.

Gambardella is chairman of the executive board of the European Telecommunications Network Operators, or ETNO, which submitted a proposal to a U.N. body in June that would establish the principle of sender-party-pays for Internet traffic. Not-so-coincidentally, a lot of Internet traffic is sent to Europe from the United States.

"We believe that this situation is putting at risk … Read more

ASPEN, Colo.--The former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission predicts that an unfair competition lawsuit against Google would be an uphill battle for his former agency.

But William Kovacic, who left the commission last fall and is now a law professor at George Washington University, said here yesterday that his former agency might well try it anyway.

"If I were Mount Google or Mount Apple, I'd be really worried about being scaled today," Kovacic said during a panel discussion on antitrust at a Technology Policy Institute conference. Government attorneys get "extra credit for big cases,&… Read more

ASPEN, Colo. -- Verizon today renewed its criticisms of the Obama administration's Net neutrality rules, saying its lawsuit seeking to overturn them will rein in an out-of-control federal agency.

The company's lawsuit is about "the importance of restraint on the regulatory authority in the Internet space," said Tom Tauke, Verizon's executive vice president for public affairs. "We believe that is critical -- and this battle is really a battle about that kind of restraint."

In September 2011, Verizon filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the Federal Communication Commission's Net neutrality rules. The … Read more

The wife of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and the co-founder of Instagram are among the notable guests for tonight's State of the Union address by President Obama.

The presence of Laurene Powell Jobs and Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger signals that at least a part of the State of the Union will focus on technology, which President Obama has long argued can help improve the country's fortunes.

Releasing the guest list for the State of the Union address has increasingly become a way for the White House to call attention to an issue or initiative, using an individual … Read more

Foes of a controversial copyright measure have gained some high-profile allies: Google, Facebook, Twitter, Zynga, and other Web companies have joined the ranks of the bill's opponents.

They sent a letter (PDF) last night to key members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, saying the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, "pose[s] a serious risk to our industry's continued track record of innovation and job creation, as well as to our nation's cybersecurity."

The protest was designed to raise objections in advance of a hearing before the full House Judiciary committee … Read more

The U.S. government is aiming to pull the plug on hundreds of unneeded data centers over the next few years in an attempt to save taxpayers some hard-earned cash.

In a blog published yesterday, the White House's Office of Management and Budget admitted that instead of consolidating data centers as many businesses have done in recent years, the government went in the opposite direction. Between 1998 and 2010, federal agencies actually quadrupled their number of data centers despite increases in the efficiency of data storage.

And, of course, taxpayers have been stuck paying the bills for those data … Read more

The Swiss might have been slightly late in giving women the vote (1971 was the year), but they still believe in certain progressive forms of democracy.

One of these seems to be helping a fascinating political party in its quest to have PowerPoint banned from the country.

The party is called the APPP. Yes, the Anti-PowerPoint Party. It's an organization that has, at its core, the firm belief that the Microsoft presentation software is a waste of fine Swiss resources.

Indeed, it believes that PowerPoint costs Switzerland 2.1 billion Swiss Francs (about $2.5 billion) every year. You … Read more

Microsoft, Google, Hewlett-Packard, and a host of other companies are providing funds and resources to the Startup America Partnership to further the group's goal of fostering the entrepreneurial spirit.

More than 15 companies will kick in a total of $400 million in money, services, training, and other benefits that will go directly to entrepreneurs trying to get their ideas and businesses off the ground.

Launched this past January with the backing of the White House and contributions from IBM and Intel, the Startup America Partnership tries to network entrepreneurs, investors, non-profit groups, and corporations in a bid to create … Read more

With the deadline to pay our taxes ticking away, many of us wonder just how and where Uncle Sam spends our hard-earned dough. The winner of a recent Google contest reveals the answer.

In February, Google launched a contest designed to shed some light into the U.S. government's often perplexing spending habits. Dubbed the Data Viz challenge, the contest asked developers to create online applications that could show us visually where our income tax dollars are spent.

After receiving more than 40 entries, the Google jury has crowned its $5,000 Grand Prize winner. Created by developer Anil … Read more