After years of waiting for a local phone company to roll out high-speed Internet access in this growing lakeside town of about 6,400 people, municipal information-technology director Tony Tull took matters into his own hands. The city last year invited a start-up telecom firm to hang wireless equipment from a water tower and connect the town.
The network now provides high-speed wireless Web access to most of Granbury, and the town is negotiating to buy some of the equipment. But Granbury’s foray into the wireless business has propelled it into a battle between cities and technology companies on one side and big telephone companies on the other.
SBC Communications Inc., the dominant phone company in Texas, and other big phone companies say that cities should not be allowed to subsidize high-speed Internet connections — even in areas where the companies don’t yet offer the service.
Subsidy Suckers: The Explosive Growth of Lobbyists in Washington, DC
The number of registered lobbyists in Washington has more than doubled since 2000 to more than 34,750 while the amount that lobbyists charge their new clients has increased by as much as 100 percent…The lobbying boom has been caused by three factors, experts say: rapid growth in government, Republican control of both the White House and Congress, and wide acceptance among corporations that they need to hire professional lobbyists to secure their share of federal benefits…
Lobbying firms can’t hire people fast enough. Starting salaries have risen to about $300,000 a year for the best-connected aides eager to “move downtown” from Capitol Hill or the Bush administration.
I wonder what the numbers look like in Madison?
Greasing the Wheels: Advertising Oshkosh Trucks
Wisconsin based Oshkosh truck build’s “Severe Duty” trucks. These include ambulances, fire trucks and military vehicles, among others. Driving around Washington, DC recently with the local NPR station (WETA 90.9/89.1FM) on the radio, I smiled as I heard that this portion of the program was sponsored by Oshkosh Truck Corporation. Someone, somewhere evidently felt that placing their name on the DC NPR station would generate good will and perhaps a few orders.
Frankston on Bank of America’s Security Practices
Even more so because of a letter I received after sending an online Query to CallVantage using another unique address and I quickly got an unrelated letter from a third party site that seemed fraudulent. I reported it to the third party’s ISV and got a response saying they were shut down but know no more than that.
I view these as very serious breaches because they indicate attacks at the vital points in the system.
TSA Collects Airline Passenger Data Despite Pledge
AP:
A federal agency collected extensive personal information about airline passengers although Congress told it not to and it said it wouldn’t, according to documents obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
A Transportation Security Administration contractor used three data brokers to collect detailed information about U.S. citizens who flew on commercial airlines in June 2004 in order to test a terrorist screening program called Secure Flight, according to documents that will be published in the Federal Register this week.
The TSA had ordered the airlines to turn over data on those passengers, called passenger name records, in November.
The EFF’s Lee Tien has more.
iLaw Conference Underway In Boston
Friend and Business partner John Stathas emailed some links from the iLaw conference at Harvard:
- John Palfrey summarizes Jonathan Zittrain’s presentation. Key words: “teach the kids to code. Teach the artists to code. Let them control their own culture.”
- Irina has more on Zittrain
- Herkko Hietanen adds his take on Zittrain
Our Tax System….
Zelenak & Chirelstein on Tax Shelters:
This article describes the ongoing legislative and administrative efforts to curtail tax shelters. It concludes that these efforts, which rely largely on disclosure requirements and penalties, cannot succeed as long as taxpayers continue to win many of the litigated shelter cases.
Amazing… Yet, we continue to generate more tax law spaghetti.
Great Example of a Tax Loophole/Giveaway
Lee A Shepphard: Massive Giveaway in Partnership Compensatory Options Regs.
Dane County/Madison Airport: Still No WiFi
Greensboro’s airport joins many others in supporting WiFi. Madison, a community attempting to grow it’s tech business base, still lacks it…. I cannot think of one reasonable explanation for this.
Bob Lefsetz on the Music Business
Barry Ritholtz published Bob Lefsetz’s comments on the state of the music industry:
“We’re being duped. The RIAA keeps saying it’s saving the MUSIC when really all its label members are interested in is saving THEMSELVES!
It’s out of control. Irrelevant of the Grokster decision. These billion dollar companies with their high-priced lobbyists have infected the media and the minds of the public to the detriment of ART! What’s worse, they’ve convinced the musicians signed to their labels of the validity of their position, which is equivalent to slaves standing up for plantation owners.
I don’t know about you, but I believe in MUSIC, not LABELS!