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President Barack Obama wants to reclassify the internet as a utility, he said in a new statement released by the White House on Monday. This would allow the Federal Communications Committee to enforce heavier restrictions on it and protect net neutrality. "The time has come for the FCC to recognize that broadband service is of the same importance and must carry the same obligations as so many of the other vital services do," Obama said in his statement. Obama is officially supporting net neutrality, writing that internet service providers should not be allowed to control, or "pick winners and losers"...

President Obama leapt directly into the net neutrality fight Monday, urging the Federal Communications Commission to claim expansive new powers over the Internet to enact the "strongest possible" rules. Under his plan, the FCC would classify broadband Internet as a "telecommunication service," a provision the agency already uses to regulate telephone companies. Broadband providers like Comcast and Verizon have been lobbying fiercely against the same classification for Internet service, warning it would strangle their industry with utility-style regulations. Obama noted that the FCC is an independent agency and that the ultimate decision will be up to Chairman Tom Wheeler and...

London's police chief today warns society against letting parts of the  internet become a “dark and ungoverned” space populated by paedophiles, murderers and terrorists. In a call for action, Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe says encryption on computers and mobile phones is frustrating police investigations, meaning parts of the web are becoming “anarchic places”. He was telling a New York law enforcement conference: “We can’t allow parts of the internet, or any communications platform, to become dark, ungoverned space where images of child abuse are exchanged, murders are planned and terrorist plots are progressed. “In a democracy we cannot accept...

That an octopus called Paul had a better success rate than Goldman Sachs when predicting World Cup results (credit to the Wall Street Journal for the headline “Octopus Beats Vampire Squid”) tells you something about the wisdom of guessing the future in public. Guessing what the world will look like in 50 years’ time, however, is pretty safe, as I won’t be here to see myself proved wrong. Or will I? If Google’s director of engineering has his way, we’ll all be around indefinitely – in the cloud at least. AI (artificial intelligence) guru Ray Kurzweil is one of a...

The Internet is moving to a shopping center near you. In Fort Wayne, Ind., a vacated Target store is about to be home to rows of computer servers, network routers and Ethernet cables courtesy of a local data-center operator. In Jackson, Miss., a former McRae’s department store will get the same treatment next year. And one quadrant of the Marley Station Mall south of Baltimore is already occupied by a data-center company that last year offered to buy out the rest of the building. As America’s retailers struggle to keep up with online shopping, the Internet is starting to settle...

Video at link....

BUDAPEST—Hungary’s government said Monday it will soften its stance on a proposed tax on Internet access after tens of thousands protested the plan that initially saw a steep levy on every gigabyte of online traffic. After protests in Budapest and other cities in Hungary over the weekend, the administration of Prime Minister Viktor Orban said it filed a new version of its tax proposal, capping the tax at 700 forints ($2.87) a month for each individual subscriber and 5,000 forints for businesses. Internet service providers rather than subscribers are to pay the tax, according to the bill.

Anyone else having trouble? Major sites.. esp.. Yahoo ... all failing

Not content with the total bias and domination of the news networks, CNN, and the nation's leading newspapers, the Democrats on the Federal Election Commission have moved to assert federal control over Internet political speech. Claiming the authority to regulate political postings and blogs as independent campaign expenditures, they want to apply federal campaign finance laws to online voices. According to the Washington Examiner, the three Democrats on the FEC moved at the Oct. 24 meeting to impose "burdensome new rules on Internet-based campaigning." The three Republican members on the commission beat back the measure, warning the proposal would regulate...

Walking the floor of the Consumer Electronics Show last week, I kept thinking of that line from Jaws, “You’re going to need a bigger boat.” All the Internet-connected, data-hungry gadgets that are coming to market sent a strikingly clear message: we’re going to need faster broadband networks. Making sure the U.S. has super-fast, high-capacity, ubiquitous broadband networks delivering speeds measured in gigabits, not megabits isn’t just a matter of consumer convenience, as important as that is. It’s essential to economic growth, job creation and U.S. competitiveness. In our 21st century economy, innovation leadership is necessary for economic leadership. Our broadband...

The Federal Election Commission deadlocked in a crucial Internet campaign speech vote announced late last week, leaving online political blogging and videos free of many of the reporting requirements attached to broadcast ads — for now. All three Republican-backed members voted against restrictions, but they were opposed by the three Democrat-backed panel members, including Vice Chairwoman Ann M. Ravel, who said she will lead a push next year to come up with rules for government political speech on the Internet. It would mark a major reversal for the commission, which for nearly a decade has protected the

The owners of the website Ebola.Com have scored a big payday with the outbreak of the epidemic, selling the domain for more than USD 200,000 in cash and stock. The deal highlights the rewards and risk of industry trading and speculating in domain names that see high interest following news events. According to a securities filing, the buyer was a Russian-registered firm called Weed Growth Fund, previously known as Ovation Research. The October 20 filing said the price was USD 50,000 cash and 19,192 shares of Cannabis Sativa worth close to USD 170,000, which promotes medical uses for marijuana. The...

While all three GOP-backed members voted against restrictions, they were opposed by the three Democratic-backed members, including FEC Vice Chair Ann M. Ravel, who said she will lead a push next year to try to come up with new rules government political speech on the Internet.

As I’ve noted elsewhere, the most amusing aspect of the whole #GamerGate phenomenon (background here and here and here) has been the angry progressive media types confusedly looking around trying to figure out how we got to a point where they would be targeted for boycotts and the like for casual comments they have made. As Varad Mehta noted, Crazy, right? They don’t quite understand the world they’ve created. They think it’s the worst thing in the whole world for Internet Tough Guys to make death and rape threats* and also that it’s cool to joke about Bristol Palin actually...

Amazon.com Inc. reports quarter three earnings today and analysts are expecting a loss of $0.75 per share according to FactSet. That’s a significant jump from their loss of $0.09 per share for the same period last year. Amazon follows a “profitless prosperity” model so losses aren’t unexpected, and typically Wall Street shrugs them off. This year, however, Amazon (AMZN) has seen more than a 20% drop in value on the NASDAQ. Wall Street is becoming restless-- is it time for Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos to start focusing on the bottom line? Yahoo Finance’s Henry Blodget believes that investors are clearly...

Dealing with federal, state and local taxes and regulations is already an incredibly burdensome task on startups and small businesses. But beyond complying with onerous regulations from the jurisdiction where businesses operate, there is a little talked about potential tax change that could make it much more difficult for small businesses to expand into the online marketplace. This complication is known as the Marketplace Fairness Act or MFA. Right now, traditional “brick-and-mortar” stores are required by states and localities to collect sales taxes from customers and remit those back to the states. This is because they have a physical presence...

I live in a quiet subdivision in rural Ontario. I mean very quiet—all summer long, I rarely saw any kids outside biking or playing street hockey or running flimsy lemonade stands or just roughhousing around outside. Then, the day school started, I was shocked when I left my house in the morning and I saw kids everywhere, backpacks in tow, heading to bus stops and walking to the nearby school. This many kids live in my neighborhood? I thought to myself. Where were they all summer? There are a number of possible answers, of course. Some were probably on vacation....

Yik Yak, an anonymous, location-based app that acts as a sort of local bulletin board, wants to be a serious news source. Right now, Yik Yak is home to a lot of chatter and huge with college students. That demographic is reflected in the posts found on the app, which are mostly about midterms, Netflix, food and sex. But its founders, 23-year-olds Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington, have big dreams for the app. They want it to be an on-the-ground, immediate feed of what’s happening, especially during breaking news situations. On Monday, they released a new feature, Peek, that lets...

People found guilty of Internet "trolling" in Britain could be jailed for up to two years under government proposals outlined on Sunday, following a number of high-profile cases of abusive and threatening behaviour on Twitter. Justice Secretary Chris Grayling told the Mail on Sunday newspaper: "This is a law to combat cruelty -- and marks our determination to take a stand against a baying cyber-mob." There has been increasing concern in Britain about the growing scourge of Internet "trolls" who post hate-filled messages on social media, often threatening their targets. The parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann are among the...

We took a hacker to a café and, in 20 minutes, he knew where everyone else was born, what schools they attended, and the last five things they googled. In his backpack, Wouter Slotboom, 34, carries around a small black device, slightly larger than a pack of cigarettes, with an antenna on it. I meet Wouter by chance at a random cafe in the center of Amsterdam. It is a sunny day and almost all the tables are occupied. Some people talk, others are working on their laptops or playing with their smartphones. Wouter removes his laptop from his backpack,...