A U.S. Senate committee has approved a bill that would outlaw the practice of remotely installing software that collects a computer users’ personal information without consent.
In addition to prohibiting spyware, the Spyblock (Software Principles Yielding Better Levels of Consumer Knowledge) Act would also outlaw the installation of adware programs without a computer user’s permission. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved the bill Thursday.
Spyblock, sponsored by Senator Conrad Burns, a Montana Republican, would prohibit hackers from remotely taking over a computer and prohibit programs that hijack Web browsers. The bill would protect antispyware software vendors from being sued by companies whose software they block.
Housing Price Insurance
Fascinating, Tyler Cowen:
Just in time for the apparent top of the housing market, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange is introducing futures and options on housing prices in 10 cities for the second quarter of 2006. (Here’s an overview of the products, and CME’s White Paper on the topic.)
Here is the Slate article.
Addendum: Here is further analysis, from a new blog on risk markets.
City Spending up 5.5%, Property Taxes to Rise 4.35%
Two interesting perspectives on Wednesday night’s Madison City Council Budget votes:
- Kristian Knutsen (Posted Thursday @ 10:52p.m.):
Coming from another perspective, Brandon urges a no vote against this budget since it has a 4.35% increase, stating that no cuts were made “This isn’t the mayor’s budget. The mayor set a clear challenge to us, 4.1,” Brandon states. “We are playing into the state government’s perception, what they portray about us, is that we are big spenders,” he continues. “All we are doing is inviting more levy limits, and at worst, TABOR.”
Konkel says “we could have done this if we really wanted to,” referring to the failure of the hotel room tax hike, which she states would have brought the levy down to 4.03, also lamenting the failure of several amendments to provide services to the indigent. “I know how I’m going to vote,” Webber says, while Bruer commends the council for the tenor of this year’s budget process. “This administration unlike others in the past did more truth in budgeting,” he says of the mayors role, continuing by pointing out cost-cutting measures undertaken by city departments in his defense of the budget and its process. “To go through all those hours and all that energy,” Bruer says, “I have no problem going out to my constituency and defending this increase” due to its “balance” of attention.Knutsen also live-blogged the meetings (which is fabulous)
- Dean Mosiman (posted 01:10 a.m. 11/18/2005)
The tax hike, Cieslewicz said, is the third lowest in the past two decades.
It’s now time for the state to back away from tax caps, let cities make budget decisions based on their own values, and for the state to try to fix how it funds municipalities, the mayor said.
Ald. Zach Brandon, 7th District, who led the group that made the 4.1 percent tax cap pledge, offered the lone harsh words about the budget.
“Do you know what this is saying to the rest of the state?” he said, adding that Madison will become a “poster child” for its inability to contain spending and taxes.”
FEC Rules Bloggers are Journalists
Federal Election Commission (PDF):
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Verizon Fiber Service to Pass 3M Homes by Year’s End
Verizon: FiOS On Schedule To Pass 3 Million Homes By Year End From a client note by UBS analyst Aryeh Bourkoff: Verizon CFO Doreen Toben told attendees at the UBS Global Communications Conference Thursday that the Keller, TX launch of FiOS was on track for double-digit penetration by the end of the year, ahead of expectations. Verizon still expects to cover 3 million-plus homes passed by the end of the year with launches coming in New York, Texas, Massachusetts, Florida and California, and 6 million or 20 percent of the footprint by the end of ’06.
Presentation (pdf) | Webcast
Sony’s DRM Waterloo
The outcry was so great that on Nov. 11, Sony announced it was temporarily
halting production of that copy-protection scheme. That still wasn’t enough — on Nov. 14 the company announced it was pulling copy-protected CDs from store shelves and offered to replace customers’ infected CDs for free.
Searls: Saving the Net: How to Keep Carriers from Flushing the Net Down the Tubes
The subjects covered here are no less enormous than the Net and its future. Even optimists agree that the Net’s future as a free and open environment for business and culture is facing many threats. We can’t begin to cover them all or cover all the ways we can fight them. I believe, however, that there is one sure way to fight all of these threats at once, and without doing it the bad guys will win. That’s what this essay is about.
Here’s a brief outline of the article. If you want to go straight to the solution, skip to the third section:
- Scenario I: The Carriers Win
- Scenario II: The Public Workaround
- Scenario III: Fight with Words and Not Just Deeds
More here.
Tax Burden in America’s Largest Cities
The reports contain information about the rates and burdens of major taxes in the District of Columbia compared with states and other large cities in the United States. This publication contains two reports: (I) Tax burdens in Washington, D.C., Compared with Those in the Largest City in Each State, 2004 and (II) A Comparison of Selected Tax Rates in the District of Columbia with Those in the 50 States: A Compendium of Tables. This information is requested annually by committees of the U.S. Congress and the District of Columbia Council and is provided pursuant to Public Law 93-407.
Drucker’s Intellectual Compass
Drucker had an amazing ability to predict what was coming next, and distilled management into actionable terms for entrepreneurs, eschewing fads of the day. As George Gendron, Inc.’s founding editor-in-chief, once said in a 1996 article, “Both the man and his work have been my intellectual compass for the past two decades.” Gendron wasn’t alone, and Drucker’s works are sure to continue to guide businesses for years to come.
Drucker’s four entrepreneurial pitfalls:
- The entrepreneur doesn’t realize that a new product or service is not successful where he or she thought it would be but it is instead successful in a totally different market. (This, Drucker says, is much more common than you might imagine.)
- Entrepreneurs believe that profit is what matters most in a new enterprise. Cash flow matters most.
- As a business grows, the person who founded it becomes incredibly busy. Rapid growth puts an incredible strain on a business. You outgrow your production facilities. You outgrow your management capabilities.
- When the business is a success, the entrepreneur (who is perhaps bored) begins to put himself and his needs before the business.
- For a fuller explanation, check out the complete text of the article here.
The Evangelist of Entrepreneurship
“FORGET space aliens and race cars—here’s a game that gives kids skills they can use for the rest of their lives.” So says the blurb for Hot Shot Business, an online game (www.hotshotbusiness.com) played each year by millions of “budding entrepreneurs” who get the chance to open their own pet spa, skateboard factory, landscape-gardening business or comic shop in Opportunity City. Players start marketing campaigns; change products, services and prices; and respond to demanding customers and big news events. And, “as a self-funded entrepreneur, you’ll keep all the profits. But if anything goes wrong, well, you’re on your own.”