Behavioral advertising, which involves collecting data about readers’ online behavior and using it to serve them specially tailored ads, often through bits of code called cookies, has become the dominant force in digital advertising in recent years.
We want our radio and TV broadcasts and cellphone reception to just work. Who cares how? But now might be a good time to start caring. New technologies will require frequency bandwidth, leading to clashes between new, shiny innovations and older technologies we still need but take for granted. These conflicts will only happen more often in the future. Bandwidth is a finite resource, our demand for its use is only increasing, and much of the spectrum has already been apportioned.
Some Maine towns seeking to set up municipal broadband will no longer have to pay a fee to put equipment on utility poles. Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME) recently signed a bill into law to exempt municipalities from such "make-ready fees." Owners will be responsible for expenses needed to make poles ready for municipal efforts to provide broadband service to underserved areas. The law takes effect 90 days after the legislative session ends.
Two parties have gone to court to try to put to a vote of the public the city of Tacoma’s proposal to enter into a private-public partnership to manage Click, the municipal cable and internet network. Both cases, filed recently in Pierce County Superior Court, contend the proposal violates the city’s charter, a charge the city rejects. The section of the charter in dispute is Section 4.6, titled, “Disposal of Utility Properties.” It states: “The City shall never sell, lease, or dispose of any utility system
Federal Communications Commissioner Mike O’Rielly’s current term expires in June 2019. Although he can remain seated until the end of 2020, he would need President Donald Trump’s renomination and a Senate confirmation vote to serve beyond then. Commissioner O’Rielly has said he wants another five-year term if possible. “I think he’s outstanding,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).
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