December 2009

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2009

Policyland would usually be shutting down this time of year, but it looks like Health Care Reform and a FCC Field Hearing on Broadband and Small Business will still be in the news. http://bit.ly/86YZG2

THE STIMULUS
   Vice President Announces an Initial $183 Million in Awards to Expand Broadband Access in Seventeen States
   See also:State Preferred Broadband Stimulus Projects Sweep Day
   See also: Congress responds to Broadband Stimulus Announcement
   Why We Must Measure the Results of the $7.2 Billion in ARRA Broadband Funding
   Recovery Act Investments in Broadband
   Broadband mapping group questioned

NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
   Public Interest and the Media in the Digital Age
   Boucher Says 50mb/20mb Should Be Baseline of National Broadband Plan
   Broadband Lessons Beyond Our Borders

AGENDA & POLICYMAKERS
   Boucher Sets House Telecom Agenda for 2010
   More Open Internet Workshops
   Senate Commerce Committee approves two Obama nominees for FTC
   Commissioners Named to Serve on Three Key FCC Federal-State Advisory Panels

OWNERSHIP
   Analyst: Comcast Could Own 100% of NBCU by 2014
   The FTC vs. Intel
   Intel: Antitrust case 'misguided'

CONTENT
   Libraries ask for oversight of Google books product
   Privacy Groups Target Facebook
   Want privacy on Facebook? Here's how to get some
   Facebook's Growing Ethnic Diversity Mirrors U.S. Population

ADVERTISING
   CFBAI Tightens Nutrition Standards In Kid Ads
   ANA: Restricting Kids' Advertising Won't Solve Obesity

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   China Imposes New Internet Controls
   Twitter hijacked by 'Iranian Cyber Army'

E-COMMERCE
   Internet retailers outgrow their sales tax exemption
   Requiring online retailers to collect sales taxes would be unfair, onerous

TEN YEARS AGO ...
   Time capsule: The Rough Guide to the Internet... from 1999

MORE ONLINE ...
   Philadelphia to buy municipal WiFi network for city business
   Congress Keeps Up Pressure on Arbitron
   Why You Should Consider Paying Your Early Termination Fee
   CMS calls for nationwide electronic provider directory
   Climate Change Debate Rages Online
   Cable industry: at a Cross-Roads
   AT&T Stunt Miffs FCC

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THE STIMULUS

VICE PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES ARRA BROADBAND GRANTS
[SOURCE: The White House]
Vice President Joe Biden kicked off $7.2 billion in Recovery Act broadband grant and loan programs, of which $2 billion will be made available on a rolling basis over the next 75 days to bring high-speed Internet to communities that currently have little or no access to the technology. He announced an initial $183 million investment in eighteen broadband projects benefiting seventeen states which has already been matched by over $46 million in public and private sector capital. The projects receiving funds are the first in the $7.2 billion program ­ $4.7 billion through the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and $2.5 through the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) ­ being implemented under the Recovery Act to expand broadband access and adoption across the country. The awards are designed to help underserved ­ and often hard-hit ­ communities overcome the distance and technology barrier by expanding connectivity between educational institutions, enabling remote medical consultations and attracting new businesses. As part of the announcement, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke traveled to Bangor (Maine) where he announced $25.4 million in grants to build broadband infrastructure throughout rural and disadvantaged portions of parts of the state. On Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will travel to Ohio to discuss how a $2.4 million broadband award will help boost economic development in the region and connect the local community to the smart energy grid. Four different types of awards were made on Thursday: 1) Middle Mile Awards ­ $121.6 million to build and improve connections to communities lacking sufficient broadband access. 2) Last Mile Awards ­ $51.4 million to connect end users like homes, hospitals and schools to their community's broadband infrastructure (the middle mile). 3) Public Computing ­ $7.3 million to expand computer center capacity for public use in libraries, community colleges and other public venues. 4) Sustainable Adoption ­ $2.4 million to fund innovative projects that promote broadband demand with population groups where the technology has traditionally been underutilized. [more details at the URL below]
benton.org/node/30682 | White House, The | White House -- Background | White House -- blog | NTIA -- BTOP grantees | Multichannel News | GigaOm
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WHY WE MUST MEASURE THE RESULTS OF ARRA BROADBAND PROJECTS
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Charles Benton, Kate Williams]
[Commentary] We must act now to capitalize fully on the billions of dollars the stimulus law is investing in broadband deployment and adoption. These investments represent the most significant direct public funding of broadband projects ever made by the U.S. government. The success or failure of these projects is likely to be a huge factor in whether or not the federal government and other levels of government attempt to supplement private sector investment or correct for market failures in the future. Those are incredibly high stakes that will impact our nation's ability to compete economically against global competitors, to improve educational outcomes, and to achieve the promise of high-quality, affordable healthcare. To evaluate these investments honestly, we need to act now to ensure we collect the right data, organize it and make it publicly available. Why is broadband data and research so critical? American Recovery and Reinvestment Act-funded projects represent an unprecedented opportunity to fill the enormous knowledge gap we have with respect to what works and what does not work in broadband deployment and broadband adoption.
benton.org/node/30670
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RECOVERY ACT INVESTMENTS IN BROADBAND
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: National Economic Council]
By leveraging federal dollars, the Administration's Recovery Act investments will expand broadband access throughout the nation and provide more Americans—in both urban and rural areas—with the opportunity to succeed in the digital age. Among the awards are investments in "middle-mile" networks, which connect unserved or underserved communities to the Internet backbone. These investments will maximize the impact of federal dollars by encouraging private service providers to build connections to homes and businesses using the publicly funded infrastructure. In rural areas and areas with low population density that are difficult to reach, Recovery Act awards will fund investments in the "last mile" of service, which will help provide connections to homes and businesses that would otherwise go without highspeed Internet access. Recovery Act investments will also leverage federal dollars by targeting community institutions that provide critical services in urban and rural areas, including schools, libraries, and hospitals. Middle-mile projects will connect these institutions directly to broadband services, helping to improve the quality of their services and exposing new users to broadband opportunities at work, school, and other venues. Funding for public computer centers, including those in urban and suburban areas, will promote digital literacy among the new generation of workers through one-time investments in equipment, hardware and software, and basic training. These critical broadband investments will create tens of thousands of jobs and stimulate the economy in the near term. By providing broadband-enabled opportunities to previously underserved communities, these investments will also lay the foundation for long-term regional economic development and foster a digitally literate workforce that can compete in the new knowledge-based economy.
benton.org/node/30679 | White House, The
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CONNECTED NATION MAPPING QUESTIONED
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kim Hart]
Connected Nation, which has received upward of $25 million in stimulus grant money to create state broadband maps, is subcontracting some of the work to other groups, raising questions about the efficient use of the money. The questions about Connected Nation come as prominent Republicans criticize stimulus spending as wasteful and ineffective. Internet advocates in Washington have already balked at the organization's eligibility for stimulus money because it is funded by large broadband providers such as AT&T, Verizon and Comcast--all of whom could benefit from how the Obama administration divvies up the dollars. "This is a non-profit controlled by telcos making the very maps that will decide how $7 billion will be spent," said Art Brodsky, communications director at Public Knowledge, who has been a vocal opponent of Connected Nation's involvement in the mapping process. "Why did they get the grants if they clearly can't do the work themselves and have to outsource?" The mapping grants are being allocated by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), an agency within the Commerce Department. So far it has given out 21 grants totaling $39 million. The remaining grants will be announced this month. Connected Nation communications director Jessica Ditto said it is hiring a third-party to help turn the millions of raw data points it receives into readable maps. Ditto added that the contractors will not know which telecom provider's data they are processing in order to prevent any bias in the maps. On the concerns over industry ties, she said the majority of Connected Nation's funding comes from public foundations and that only a "small percentage" comes from telecom firms.
benton.org/node/30676 | Hill, The
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NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN

PUBLIC INTEREST AND THE MEDIA IN THE DIGITAL AGE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Steve Waldman]
In a Public Notice released earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission asked, What are the benefits of free, over-the-air television broadcasting, in particular with respect to public awareness of emergency information, local news, political discourse, and education? These are good questions at a time when the media landscape is changing dramatically. Some innovations -- from both traditional media companies and new players -- are not only just as good as the status quo, they're considerable improvements, and universal broadband will clearly help facilitate further innovation. In some ways, this is a very exciting time in the evolution of media as we are seeing new delivery systems and types of content come on-line almost every day. At the same time, we must recognize that the business model challenges now faced by the traditional media may diminish its ability to provide one its most critical functions: full time, local, professional journalism. The FCC hopes a full range of players will weigh in on these questions in comments in response to the Public Notice, which are due by December 21.
benton.org/node/30698 | Federal Communications Commission
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BOUCHER SETS 50/20MB BROADBAND GOAL
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-VA) shares what he believes should be in the National Broadband Plan: universal availability and higher speeds. "The Commission should explicitly endorse a goal for minimum broadband speeds, of at least 50 megabits downstream and 20 megabits upstream for 80 percent of the population by 2015," he said. "Without committing to such ambitious, but achievable, levels of speed and service, the promises of telemedicine, distance learning and telecommuting may remain a far-off dream rather than a near-term reality. If we fail to achieve such a goal, our nation will likely remain well behind other industrialized countries that are racing ahead and gaining a competitive advantage by doing so."
benton.org/node/30677 | Broadcasting&Cable | Read Boucher's letter | Free Press
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BROADBAND LESSONS BEYOND OUR BORDERS
[SOURCE: Daily Yonder, AUTHOR: Sharon Strover, Nick Muntean]
[Commentary] It is a good time to remember that other countries have much higher rates of broadband use than the United States. How have they succeeded where we have lagged, especially in bringing broadband in rural areas? There are plenty of international examples this country can draw on as we design a broadband system for rural America. We ought to use them. We are at a critical juncture where we can acknowledge our recent laissez-faire missteps and learn from the policy-oriented successes of our neighbors abroad, or we can choose to continue down our present path, embracing a system which privileges immediate private profits over the long-term competitiveness of its citizenry.
benton.org/node/30697 | Daily Yonder
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AGENDA & POLICYMAKERS

BOUCHER: EXPANDING ACCESS REMAINS THE GOAL
[SOURCE: Roll Call, AUTHOR: House Telecom Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-VA)]
[Commentary] In 2010, the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet will focus on: 1) Reforming the Universal Service Fund through a measure Chairman Boucher co-authored with Rep Lee Terry (R-NE). 2) Ensuring ubiquitous availability of broadband through oversight of the Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Plan. 3) Protecting consumer privacy. 4) Freeing up spectrum for commercial wireless services.
benton.org/node/30678 | Roll Call
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FCC ANNOUNCES NEXT ROUND OF PUBLIC WORKSHOPS FOR OPEN INTERNET PROCEEDING
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission announced the dates, times, and locations of the January public workshops for the FCC's open Internet proceeding. These workshops will explore the impact of the Internet's openness on consumers, innovation, and investment. The next public workshop will occur on Jan. 13, 2010 at 5 p.m. at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Mass. and will address innovation, investment, and the open Internet. It will be followed by a workshop on consumers, transparency, and the open Internet on Jan. 19, 2010 starting at 1 p.m. in the Commission meeting room. The dates, locations, and topics for additional spring workshops for the open Internet proceeding will be announced in early 2010. Agendas for the Jan. 13 and Jan. 19 workshops will be made available in early January. All workshops will be open to the public.
benton.org/node/30696 | Federal Communications Commission
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FTC NOMINEES APPROVED BY SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Diane Bartz]
The Senate Commerce Committee approved President Barack Obama's picks to fill out the Federal Trade Commission, Julie Brill and Edith Ramirez, sending their nominations to the Senate floor. Brill, North Carolina's top consumer watchdog, and Ramirez, who knew Obama in law school, were chosen to fill two slots on the five-member FTC, which divides its work between antitrust and consumer protection. Brill became the senior deputy attorney general and chief of consumer protection and antitrust for the North Carolina Department of Justice in February 2009. She previously worked in Vermont in the attorney general's office and is considered a privacy expert. Ramirez, a virtual unknown in the Washington antitrust world, has represented corporations like Mattel Inc and Northrop Grumman Corp. She would be moving to the FTC from a Los Angeles law firm. An expert in copyright and trademark infringement, antitrust and unfair competition claims, Ramirez graduated from Harvard Law School in 1992. She worked for the Harvard law review in 1990 at the same time Obama was the first black president of the review. She later worked on Obama's campaign as Latino outreach director in California. If confirmed, they will replace Republican Deborah Majoras, who stepped down in March 2008, and independent Pamela Jones Harbour, whose term ended in September.
benton.org/node/30694 | Reuters | Senate Commerce Committee
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FCC-STATE BOARDS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission has appointed Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Meredith Attwell Baker to serve on the Federal-State Board on Universal Service and the Federal-State Board on Jurisdictional Separations. Commissioner Clyburn will serve as federal chair of both panels. Commissioner Michael Copps will continue to serve on both boards. In addition, Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioners Clyburn and Baker will be members of the Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Services, joining Commissioners Copps and Robert McDowell on the panel. Commissioner Clyburn will also serve as federal chair of the Joint Conference. The Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service was established by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to implement the universal service provisions under the Act and to make recommendations on other universal service matters. It is comprised of three FCC commissioners, four state commissioners, and one state consumer advocate. One state commissioner, currently Oregon Public Utility Commissioner Ray Baum, serves as a co-chairman. The Federal-State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations advises the FCC on matters concerning the apportionment of regulated costs between interstate and intrastate jurisdictions. The separations board is comprised of three FCC commissioners and four state commissioners. One state commissioner, currently South Dakota Public Utilities Commissioner Steven Kolbeck, serves as co-chairman. The Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Services provides a forum for ongoing discussion on the development of broadband resources between the FCC, states, and local and regional entities. The joint conference is comprised of all five FCC commissioners and up to seven state commissioners.
benton.org/node/30675 | Federal Communications Commission | Read the order
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OWNERSHIP

COMCAST COULD OWN NBCU BY 2014
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Mike Farrell]
Comcast could buy out General Electric Co.'s 49% interest in the NBC Universal joint venture for $17 billion in the next four years, according to Citigroup media analyst Jason Bazinet, a scenario that the analyst believes would not only make sense for Comcast, but would be affordable. GE would have to request that Comcast buy out its interest, which Bazinet is assuming it will do. The analyst estimated that the partnership would increase revenue from $18 billion in 2010 to $20 billion in 2014 and cash flow would rise from $3.3 billion to about $4.2 billion in the same time frame. Free cash flow is expected to increase from $1.6 billion to $2.5 billion in 2014. Bazinet estimates that Comcast would have to shell out about $17 billion to buy out GE's 49% stake, representing a 20% premium to the value of its interest in the JV. That, the analyst said, could be funded partly with Comcast cash on hand -- estimated to be about $11.6 billion by 2014 -- and $11.5 billion in debt that could be tacked on to the partnership. Bazinet wrote that NBCU should be debt free by 2014, which would enable Comcast to heap more debt on the partnership and still maintain a 2.75 times leverage ratio.
benton.org/node/30689 | Multichannel News
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THE FTC VS INTEL
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] After almost a decade of relative silence from the Justice Department's antitrust division, the LA Times welcomes the Federal Trade Commission challenging how far a dominant company can go with discounts, incentives and penalties to hold on to its share of the market. The $1.25-billion settlement Intel reached last month with rival Advanced Micro Devices doesn't address Intel's pricing, just its exclusive deals with PC makers and retailers. Another important issue raised by the FTC's complaint is whether competition can be considered harmed if prices fall, as they have in chips. Just as the PC operating system is being overtaken by other technologies, though, so is the ground shifting under Intel. It has little sway over the markets for portable and mobile devices and not much presence in televisions, Blu-ray players and other increasingly intelligent devices in the living room. The commission is rightly concerned about companies extending their dominance unfairly from one market to another, but it needs to bear in mind how rapidly the computing world is changing.
benton.org/node/30705 | Los Angeles Times
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INTEL: FTC CASE MISGUIDED
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Del Jones]
A day after the Federal Trade Commission filed an antitrust suit against Intel, CEO Paul Otellini fired back at Washington for action and inaction that he says is getting in the way of an economic recovery. He said Intel had committed to invest $7 billion in nanotechnology manufacturing over two years in Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico that would support 7,000 jobs. Depending on what remedies the FTC might eventually impose, part of that "$7 billion we plopped down could go elsewhere," Otellini said, though he added: "I'm not prepared to say that's what we're doing." Otellini complained that the federal government is in some cases "running" private business and that companies don't know what their health care and energy costs are going to be. They don't know if tax credits for research and development are going to be renewed, he said. The comments were in reference to a range of stalled legislation. "They don't know if corporate taxes are going to be raised from the highest in the world to even higher in the world," Otellini said. "Take the uncertainty out and people can start making business decisions." Otellini says the FTC wants Intel to give up volume discounts and to license its technology to competitors, which he says has the FTC expanding from enforcing regulations to making law. "The entire case is misguided," he says.
benton.org/node/30704 | USAToday
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CONTENT

LIBRARIES ASK FOR OVERSIGHT OF GOOGLE BOOKS PROJECT
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Diane Bartz]
The American Library Association, the Association of College and Research Libraries and the Association of Research Libraries have asked the Justice Department to oversee Google's plans to create a massive digital library to prevent an excessively high price for institutional subscriptions. The groups don't expect there to be an effective effective competitor to Google's massive project in the near term. They asked the government to urge the court to use its oversight authority to prevent abusive pricing of the online book project.
benton.org/node/30693 | Reuters
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FACEBOOK AND PRIVACY
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
The Electronic Privacy Information Center and nine other privacy and consumer groups filed a complaint Thursday with the FTC urging the agency to open an investigation against Facebook, saying its new privacy settings violate consumer protection law. Facebook last week formally rolled out what it described as "easy-to-use" tools to help users gain better control of content on their Facebook pages and allow users to control who sees each piece of content they add. EPIC, joined by the Consumer Federation of America, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and others, claimed the changes Facebook made such as requiring users to go through a "transition tool" before accessing their account allow for far more user information to become publicly available, including to third-party application developers. Facebook issued a statement defending its privacy tools.
benton.org/node/30691 | CongressDaily | Inside Facebook
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FACEBOOK PRIVACY TIPS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Barbara Ortutay]
If you want to stay out of people's view, but still want to be on Facebook, here are some things to look out for as you take another look at your settings. 1. Some of your information is viewable by everyone. Everyone can see your name, your profile photo and the names of work and school networks you're part of. Ditto for pages you are a fan of. 2. Your list of friends may also be public. 3. You can hide yourself from Web searches. 4. Beware of third-party applications. Quizzes and games are fun, but each time you take one, you first authorize it to access your profile information, even if you have made that available only to your friends. You're also letting the app access some information on your friends. 5. Go over your list of friends. 6. Create custom friends groups. 7. Customize your status posts. 8. Let your friends know you have boundaries — in person. 9. Never assume complete privacy.
benton.org/node/30701 | Associated Press
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FACEBOOK DIVERSITY
[SOURCE: Inside Facebook, AUTHOR: Sara Inés Calderón]
Facebook's Data Team has just published a report called "How Diverse is Facebook?" in which the company analyzed the surnames of U.S. users in order to estimate a breakdown of US Facebook users by ethnicity. The conclusions? While Whites and Asian/Pacific Islanders have historically been more represented on Facebook compared to the US population, Facebook's user diversity is increasingly mirroring that of the overall US populace. The report also examined "saturation" by ethnic and racial groups, defined by Facebook as a fraction of its users as compared to a fraction of Internet users by ethnicity. Facebook found that Asian/Pacific Islanders have been much more likely to be on the site than Whites over time. Hispanics are currently 80 percent as likely as Whites to use Facebook and Black users are about as likely to be users as Whites.
benton.org/node/30690 | Inside Facebook
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ADVERTISING

NEW NUTRITION STANDARDS FOR KIDS ADS
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Karlene Lukovitz]
The Council of Better Business Bureaus' Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) will expand its "core principles" starting Jan. 1, according to Elaine Kolish, BBB VP and CFBAI director. The principles will now require that participating food and restaurant companies commit that 100% -- versus the previous minimum standard of 50% -- of their advertising to children under 12 will be for "healthier dietary choices or better-for-you products," according to the nutrition standards defined in their individual pledges.
benton.org/node/30684 | MediaPost
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RESTRICTING ADS WILL NOT END OBESITY
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Karlene Lukovitz]
During the Federal Trade Commission's public forum on food marketing and childhood obesity this week, Association of National Advertisers EVP Dan Jaffe laid out multiple arguments against any new, government-imposed restrictions on advertising -- and also maintained that an overemphasis on advertising is distracting attention and resources from broader efforts needed to address the obesity problem effectively. Jaffe praised the FTC for upholding First Amendment protections in recent decades, and urged the commission to continue that policy despite "a growing chorus of consumer activists who claim that the most effective and efficient way to combat childhood obesity is through broad advertising suppression."
benton.org/node/30683 | MediaPost
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   China Imposes New Internet Controls
   Twitter hijacked by 'Iranian Cyber Army'

CHINA IMPOSES NEW INTERNET CONTROLS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Sharon LaFraniere]
China's government censors have taken fresh aim at the Internet, rolling out new measures that limit its citizens' ability to set up personal Web sites and to view hundreds of Web sites offering films, video games and other forms of entertainment. The authorities say the stricter controls are intended to protect children from pornography; to limit the piracy of films, music, and television shows; and to make it hard to perpetuate Internet scams. But the measures also appear devised to enhance the government's already strict control of any political opposition. In various pronouncements, top propaganda and security officials have stressed anew the need to police the Internet on ideological and security grounds.
benton.org/node/30707 | New York Times
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E-COMMERCE

PRO: E-COMMERCE TAXES
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Christmas is only a week away, but for many people the shopping has just begun. These procrastinators have a choice: Hit the mall, with its jammed parking lots and long lines at the registers, or opt for online shopping, where the goods are just a few mouse clicks and an overnight shipment away. For the price-conscious consumer, shopping on the Internet offers one other major advantage: no sales tax (unless the website has a store, warehouse or other "physical presence" in the shopper's state). The tax break averages about 6%, which is very nice, of course, but with the recession threatening Main Street retailers and dangerously depleting state treasuries, maybe it's time to summon the Grinch. Online sales should be taxed. Time and technology have eroded the two main reasons for exempting Internet sales from taxation.
benton.org/node/30703 | USAToday
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CON: E-COMMERCE TAXES
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: John Greco]
[Commentary] The Internet holds such fertile ground for creativity and growth that it's tempting for states in search of much-needed revenue to look online for simple, streamlined solutions to complex problems. Unfortunately, collecting taxes has never been a simple process. Shifting the burden to Internet retailers would not only be unfair, it would also suppress one of the strongest sources of commercial growth in today's fragile economy. When a consumer makes a purchase using the Internet, that transaction is certainly taxable. The real question is who has the responsibility of collecting the correct amount of tax and remitting it to the appropriate tax jurisdictions.
[John Greco is president and CEO of the Direct Marketing Association.]
benton.org/node/30702 | USAToday
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TEN YEARS AGO ...

THE INTERNET IN 1999
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
1999 was in some ways a simpler time, a bygone era in which a leading Internet guidebook's first page could open with the question: "Okay, what's this Internet good for?" The book then follows this question up with a host of others. "Is there a lot of really weird stuff on the Net?" "But isn't it yet another male-dominated bastion?" "What's electronic mail, again?" "So, is this the Information Superhighway?" Well, yes, it is the "Information Superhighway," a term which itself sounds straight out of a previous century, but it's not the superhighway that we're driving on today. When Ars Science Editor John Timmer unearthed a copy of 1999's Rough Guide to the Internet, we decided to take a look back at just what has changed in the last decade—and what has remained depressingly the same.
benton.org/node/30674 | Ars Technica
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... and we're outta here. Drive safe from those holiday parties!