The smart grid is rapidly becoming a reality in the US, as utilities have been installing networked monitoring and control equipment, both in their own facilities and in their customers’ homes. The pace of these installations should accelerate due to recent initiatives from the Department of Energy and the state of California; across the border, the Province of Ontario will see smart meters installed in every home by the end of next year
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Smart grids drag utilities into the swamp of online privacy
The Federal Trade Commission has charged those behind the shady online check service Qchex with contempt, and wants daily fines imposed on them until they give up the ghost. The group has launched a new site—a Qchex clone—with the same questionable policies that made Qchex a “dinner bell for fraudsters.” This has left the FTC fuming, and it wants the site’s operators to quit helping criminals rip people off— now . You may remember Qchex from a court order earlier this year —in February, a US District Court ordered the company to halt its illegal operations and to cough up its ill-gotten gains
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FTC threatens fines, jail for online check service operators
Back in October, the US Commerce Department changed its agreement with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Out went the “Joint Project Agreement” and in came the “Affirmation of Commitments.” That may not sound like much of change, but the new document removed even more US control from ICANN.
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IGF attendees: America, surrender the root zone file!
We like to encourage debate in hot topics in tech policy and law. This week, we’re focusing on Selectable Output Control, which Hollywood and the cable industry are both pushing hard for at the FCC. We invited Kyle McSlarrow, head of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (cable’s trade and lobbying group in Washington) to take his best shot at convincing Ars readers of the virtue, wonder, and necessity of SOC.
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Hollywood wants to own your outputs (and that’s a good idea)
In our coverage of debates over the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to enforce its proposed Internet nondiscrimination rules , we’ve taken a look at pro and con arguments over whether Congress gave the agency net neutrality powers.
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When do net neutrality "anecdotes" become "data"?
Tim Berners-Lee waved his iPhone playfully at the podium, then gave a boyish grin, touched its face, and instantly and wirelessly sent a message to the world, announcing the launch of the World Wide Web Foundation. If that doesn’t seem amazing, you have to think about the context. Just 40 or so years ago, in 1969, the Internet was getting off the ground as a simple connection between two computers.
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Tim Berners-Lee launches "WWW Foundation" at IGF 2009
Michael Fricklas is Viacom’s general counsel, and it’s his job to oversee the company’s legal efforts, including its $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube. When people talk about Big Content, they’re talking about people like Fricklas
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Viacom’s top lawyer: suing P2P users "felt like terrorism"
If it’s Saturday, then it must be time to look back at the week’s top stories on Ars. And so we shall
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Week in tech: Google Go(es) and AMD gets rejuvenated
