Technology

Another peculiar consequence from ObamaCare: The Food and Drug Administration seems to think they have authority to tax app developers and smartphone and tablet manufactures.
 
House Energy & Commerce leaders sent a letter on Monday, March 4 to the Food & Drug Administration asking how the Obamacare medical device tax would be applied to smartphones, tablets, and apps. This is a legitimate question for clarifying tax authority, and a clear consequence of passing a monolithic bill without a thorough reading.

Despite the reforms passed by Congress two years ago, it's no secret that our software patent framework remains out-of-step with the realities of innovation in the modern technology sector.



Patents are too easy to acquire, particularly for vague, low-quality features that the Patent & Trademark Office’s founders – luminaries like Thomas Jefferson – would never have considered “inventions” at all. It is now a fact of life that companies have to spend their resources litigating - offensively and defensively - over patents instead of on research and development.



While dozens of U.S. banks are in the midst of reviewing their information security policies after falling victim to recent successful network intrusions resulting from cyber-attacks, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and even Twitter have joined the ranks of other high-value companies to have been targeted by hackers, most notably from China and Iran. It should come as no surprise to anyone following U.S. Internet vulnerabilities that China has been named as principal culprit behind a massive, sustained cyber-espionage campaign that threatens the nation’s economic competitiveness, according to a report released today by The National Intelligence Estimate.

For Brian Edwards and Tom Privitere of New Jersey, the photo was a beautiful reminder of the day they were engaged. Instead, the iconic photo of the two men kissing was stolen by an anti-gay group and used in a political mailer to attack a Colorado state Senate’s support for gay marriage. While there is no doubt that their likeness was misappropriated and the photographer’s work was stolen, really something more happened here: Brian and Tom were the victims of hate.
 
It’s a teenager’s worst nightmare: provocative photos are stolen and posted online by classmates who want to ruin your life. Or an ex-boyfriend lets the world see a sex-video that you thought was just for you and him. It’s called “slut-shaming,” and it’s the latest and most vicious form of cyber bullying.

After serving his country for nearly forty years, Senator Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) departed Capitol Hill earlier this month. It's now up to Congress to honor his legacy by continuing to support his most important legislative achievement.

The Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program was passed twenty years ago. It established an international framework to safeguard and/or eliminate weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their delivery systems located in the newly independent states that resulted from collapse of the Soviet Union.

Ten years ago, the U.S. space program and the Nation suffered a tragedy that was a stark reminder of the challenges and risks involved in human spaceflight. On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart over Texas on its way home. Commander Rick Husband, pilot William McCool, mission specialists Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, and David Brown, payload commander Michael Anderson, and Ilan Ramon, Israel’s first astronaut, were all lost when part of Columbia’s heat-resistant surface failed to protect the Shuttle orbiter as it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere.

As the country continues to endure tough economic times, policy makers play a role in aiding in America’s recovery. This begins with creating an environment for start-up companies and established businesses to grow and thrive. In an ever-growing global market, it has never been more important that companies have the opportunity to compete on a level playing field. Our economy is driven by innovation and therefore, the government is tasked with finding ways to ensure intellectual property protection incentivizes development of new and improved products, and isn’t used as an impediment, stifling competition.

It is Data Privacy Day, a day organized by privacy advocates to call attention to the risks to us all from the use of personal information. The advocates don’t lack for outlets for their fears: whether it is a company developing new features based on social network data or scientists identifying anonymous individuals based on genomic data, privacy issues continue to make headlines. And accompanying these news stories are grumblings and misgivings from privacy advocates lamenting technological progress and the inevitable demise of our culture and commerce should we continue down this path unabated.

One year ago, ahead of the European Data Protection Day 2012, the European Commission proposed a root and branch reform of the EU’s data protection rules to make them fit for the 21st century. One year after the reform proposals, it’s easy to see why clear and modernized rules are needed.

New rules are needed which both protect citizens’ rights and facilitate business in the digital age. The Lisbon Treaty provides a legal basis for strengthened data protection safeguards for citizens. A key objective of the reform proposals therefore is to increase individuals’ control over their personal data, thereby boosting confidence and trust in the digital economy. We must ensure that data protection standards keep pace with emerging technologies and new business models.

We live in a digital world in which personal data has enormous economic value. Just look at the figures: while in 1993 the Internet carried only 1 percent of all telecommunicated information, by 2007, this figure was more than 97 percent. In 2011 the European market for cloud computing services had a value of €3.5 billion for software products and €1.1 billion for hardware products. Estimates for 2014 predict that this market will grow to €11 billion. This is exponential growth. With more than 1 billion people worldwide connected to smartphones, an increasing variety of data can now be linked to individual identities. The insights that can be derived from linking previously separate bits of data have become essential for business and for innovation.

Europe needs to take advantage of this new computing and information-sharing landscape. We need rules that don't penalize companies for working cross-border. We need a solid legislative framework that will protect citizens and at the same time allow companies to take advantage of Europe's digital single market, with 500 million potential customers. Some estimates show that EU GDP could grow by a further 4% by 2020 if the EU takes the necessary steps to create a modern digital single market.

The recent settlement by the Federal Trade Commission with Google leaves privacy advocates shocked and dismayed but smartphone manufacturers will be jubilant.

Following an investigation of Google’s business practices, the FTC’s settlement has been deemed feeble by most and even outrageous by some corporations, like Microsoft. Microsoft has contended that Google have been stifling the competition and feels that the company has been let off the hook. It is true that Google has been looking to lock consumers into its suite of services through Google+ and its acquisition of Motorola Mobility worried many smartphone developers that it would squeeze the competition. The merger saw Google acquire invaluable telecommunications patents so that it could have even more control over the development of smartphones and tablet devices, thereby relying less on third party manufacturers and become a more aggressive competitor to Apple.