lobbyist

As Samsung products continue to be used by U.S. consumers at a growing rate, the company faces more competition from U.S. tech companies and a higher potential for legal battles. This means that the South Korean company must work to win the trust of U.S. lawmakers.

Apparently, Samsung has worked pretty hard at this over the last year. According to Bloomberg, the company spent a record amount of money on Washington, D.C. lobbyists.

In 2012, Samsung spent $900,000 on lobbyists, according to Bloomberg -- this is up from the $150,000 it spent in 2011. … 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

Chinese Internet company Alibaba is investing in new lobbying power in the U.S., a move that syncs up with its reported plans to make a serious bid for Yahoo.

A legal filing unearthed this week shows that the company hired the services of Washington D.C.-based Duberstein Group, headed by President Reagan's former chief of staff Kenneth Duberstein.

The hire comes months after chatter about Alibaba making a move to acquire Internet giant Yahoo. In a talk at Stanford University in September, Alibaba CEO Jack Ma told an audience that he was "very interested" in such a deal. … Read more

The New York state legislature is set to vote this week on a bill that would ban apartment sublets that last less than a month, which if passed would have a significant impact on online vacation rental services like AirBnB, Roomorama, HomeAway, and even classifieds behemoth Craigslist.

In recent years, there's been a surge in popularity for short-term apartment rentals and housing exchange services that let users offer anything from luxury lofts to pull-out couches--especially in states like New York, whose eponymous island metropolis is known for housing prices so exorbitant that many tourists seek alternatives to hotels and … Read more

Update: This blog post has been modified since it was first published. Click here for more details, or scroll to the bottom to see the original text.

A pro-consumer, bipartisan data-breach bill was stripped of most its provisions before its feeble remains were finally passed by an Indiana Senate committee on Tuesday.

This came after two weeks of intensive lobbying by AT&T, Verizon, Microsoft, and LexisNexis, all of which wanted to kill the bill. For the most part, they were successful.

In a blog post last week, I explained how I had worked with my state Rep. Matt Pierce (D-Bloomington) … Read more

In a direct slap in the face to consumers, tech industry giants including Microsoft, AT&T, and Verizon are frantically engaged in an effort to kill pro-consumer provisions in a data breach notification bill currently being considered by the Indiana State Senate.

The bill would require that the state attorney general act as a single point of contact for data breaches. Any company that suffered a breach impacting one or more Indiana consumers would be required to notify the AG's office. The bill would also make Indiana the only state in the country to to require the attorney … Read more