Regulation

Is CEO Mark Zuckerberg an obstacle to his own company going public?

Fox Business News correspondent Charles Gasparino is claiming that an internal J.P. Morgan document discussing Facebook's IPO cites Zuckerberg as a "risk factor." No other details were revealed in Gasparino's teasing tweet, but the correspondent promised to reveal more information on "FBN@11am."

But beyond Gasparino's limited tweet, Facebook's own S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission highlights some potential risk factors concerning Zuckerberg.

Obviously, the loss of Zuckerberg as well as other key personnel would hurt … Read more

Apple doesn't want jurors to see Samsung's logo on court video equipment, which is just one of many courtroom requests the two companies have made as they prepare to take their patent issues to trial.

With the upcoming jury trial currently set for July 30, the two have already revealed the issues they plan to raise ahead of their courtroom showdown, according to Foss Patents' Florian Mueller.

Apple's intention to file a motion to obscure the Samsung logo on the court's video displays may seem "funny," says Mueller. But Apple doesn't want to … Read more

Apple has managed to tick off the judge hearing a case between it and Motorola.

Judge Richard Posner of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois will preside over a patent lawsuit between Apple and Motorola due to hit the courts in June. But the judge last week chided Apple for filing "frivolous" motions, according to Foss Patents' Florian Mueller.

"I deny the second half of Apple's motion (seeking prohibition of the deposition) as frivolous and the first half (seeking substitution) as untimely. I've had my fill of frivolous filings by … Read more

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wants a federal law banning talking or texting on a cell phone while driving.

Yesterday at an event in San Antonio, Texas, he called for tough federal legislation that would deal with what he called a "national epidemic" of distracted driving, according to a Reuters report. LaHood told a group of doctors, government officials, and other advocates for bans on cell phone use while driving that police should have "the opportunity to write tickets when people are foolishly thinking they can drive safely or use a cell phone and text and … Read more

Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee introduced a bill today that would put a valuable sliver of government-owned wireless spectrum on the auction block for commercial wireless carriers within five years.

Reps. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) and Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) introduced the bill, which will require the government to auction off spectrum in the 1755 MHz to 1780 MHz frequencies. The spectrum would be paired with spectrum at the 2155 MHz to 2180 MHz frequency bands. The 2155 MHz to 2180 MHz band of spectrum has been already cleared by the Federal Communications Commission and is now ready to … Read more

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives have formed a bipartisan task force to figure out how the government can more efficiently use wireless spectrum.

The Federal Spectrum Working Group was announced Wednesday by Greg Walden (R-Ore.), chairman of the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), the Democratic ranking member on the subcommittee. And it will be led by Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and Doris Matsui (D-Calif.).

The purpose of this new group will be to study and come up with a possible action plan for making more efficient use of wireless spectrum used by the … Read more

Google continues to up the ante on the money it spends each quarter on Washington lobbying.

The search giant spent a record $5.03 million (PDF) last quarter, according to the company's lobbying report. That figure compares with $3.76 million spent in the fourth quarter and just $1.48 million in 2011's first quarter.

Among the lobbying issues grabbing Google's attention were the regulation of online advertising, privacy and competition issues in online advertising, openness and competition in online services, and International tax reform.

The search giant devoted lobby dollars to HR 1389 - Global Online Freedom Act of 2011, … Read more

Apple and Australia are still at odds over the branding of a 4G iPad that doesn't support Australia's 4G networks.

Mediation between Apple and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ended today without an agreement on one sticking point -- the actual name used to sell the iPad. The two parties have been trying to hammer out a compromise since late last month when Australia's consumer commission filed a legal action against Apple over the use of the term 4G.

In its grievance, the ACCC has contended that labeling the tablet "iPad Wi-Fi + 4G" in … Read more

Meet CISPA.

You may not have heard of it yet because it's been flying under the radar. It's a lot like PIPA, which was a lot SOPA (I'm sure you heard of those). Actually, some people are calling it "worse than SOPA," and it's sponsored by a congressman who thinks the death penalty should be considered for Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of leaking military information to Wikileaks.

Be worried: they think we stopped paying attention after SOPA -- so they made this.

CISPA, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (PDF) (aka H.R. 3523), … Read more