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Mark Zuckerberg's push for immigration reform may have hit a snag. A coalition of nine liberal grassroots organizations—including Progressives United, the Sierra Club, and Democracy for America—pulled their ads from Facebook after Zuckerberg's political advocacy group, FWD.us, began running ads through subsidiaries for conservative causes like the Keystone Pipeline, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and attacking Obamacare.
While the liberal groups support immigration reform, the strategy used by FWD.us—meant to curry political favor—really rankles. And although the boycott is unlikely to make a dent in Facebook's balance sheet, the groups are hoping to drive home a political point. "We're under no delusion that we'll bankrupt Facebook," said Josh Orton, Progressives United's political communications director. "We wanted to send a political message. We know we're not sending anyone to the bread lines."
Liberal Groups Launch Ad Boycott of Facebook
AT&T Inc. has agreed to pay $18.25 million to settle an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau into whether the company improperly billed the Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) fund for certain IP Relay (Internet-based TRS) calls.
Among the issues under investigation were whether AT&T billed the fund for IP Relay calls by persons whom the company registered for the service without first requiring them to provide such basic information as their names, and by persons whose registration information the company failed to adequately verify. These registration and verification requirements are designed to protect the program against waste, fraud and abuse. In the consent decree, AT&T agreed to reimburse the TRS Fund $7 million, which includes interest. In addition, AT&T agreed to make a voluntary contribution of $11.25 million to the U.S. Treasury. AT&T must implement a robust compliance plan including new operating procedures, comprehensive training of its employees and contractors, and periodic reporting requirements.
AT&T Settles FCC's TRS Billing Probe for $18.25 Million FCC (Order/Consent Decree)
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) suggested that the online sales tax legislation that easily cleared the Senate this week was not one of the House's top priorities.
Speaker Boehner referred reporters at a news conference to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), who has expressed concerns about the Senate bill. “I think they have jurisdiction over this. I've not talked to him about it,” Speaker Boehner said. “I don't know what his intent is, in terms of whether he's interested in moving it through his committee or not.” “I'm for regular order,” Speaker Boehner added, when pressed about whether he is personally interested in the bill.
Senate Republicans split roughly down the middle — 21 for, and 22 against — on the proposal. The breakdown underscores that the measure likely faces a rockier path in the GOP-controlled House. But retail groups and state governments, which could gain more than $20 billion in new revenue each year under the bill, have made the sales tax measure a major priority. Because of that, Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and other GOP leaders will find themselves under intense pressure to bring the bill to the floor. “I think the overwhelming number of Democrats are for this bill, I think a large number of Republicans are for this bill,” Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters shortly after Boehner’s comments. “I think they're going to get a lot of pressure from retail people in their states who are having to compete with online sellers who don't pay tax.”
Speaker Boehner suggests House will take its time on Internet sales tax Boehner says he 'probably' can't support online sales tax bill (The Hill)
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) said his panel would take a "more thoughtful" approach to legislation allowing states to force retailers to collect sales taxes on Internet purchases. His comments signaled that momentum from the easy passage of the bill in the Senate won't lead to quick House action on the controversial issue. Chairman Goodlatte said he has problems with the proposed Marketplace Fairness Act, and criticized the Senate for bypassing the committee process by taking the bill straight to the floor.
He understands the concerns of conventional retailers that they are competing with Internet sellers who do not have to collect sales tax. But he said the bill's process for collecting sales tax for hundreds of different jurisdictions and then remitting payments needed to be simplified. Chairman Goodlatte has also echoed concerns of some conservative opponents of the bill that it could set a precedent for states to collect other taxes, such as income or business-use levies, from people or companies outside their borders. "I am open to considering legislation concerning this topic, but these issues, along with others, would certainly have to be addressed," Chairman Goodlatte said. "The committee will also look at alternatives that could enable states to collect sales tax revenues without opening the door to aggressive state action against out-of-state companies.”
Key lawmaker: House will be 'more thoughtful' on Internet sales tax
Taxes on Internet sales have been talked about since the birth of e-commerce. In those early Web days, one major objection was that taxes would be impossible to collect, given all the various local and state sales-tax regimes. Forcing merchants to adhere to the laws of thousands—or dozens if only state sales taxes are considered—of jurisdictions would have made it impossible for even the largest online store to do business. Developments in software and services have long since solved that problem.
Cracks in objections to Internet sales taxes
What would happen if the push for Internet sales taxes falls apart? In at least a couple of states—Maryland and Virginia—it could mean higher gasoline prices.
One reason the Senate’s Marketplace Fairness Act came up now is that states are hungry for new revenue. Balanced-budget rules and the slow economic recovery have combined to produce a $55 billion budget shortfall affecting all states this year. That hunt for revenue makes online shoppers an appealing target; estimates are that collecting sales taxes on Internet purchases could put an additional $23 billion a year in state coffers. Some states are so anxious for the anticipated revenues they’ve already committed the money to various projects.
If the Internet Sales Tax fails, Expect Higher Gas Prices
[Commentary] Interested parties of all types, from hedge fund managers to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, are pondering how Tom Wheeler will manage the Federal Communications Commission and what he’ll focus on.
A look back at his musings on a personal blog (aptly named Mobile Musings) and on his more formal writings as chairman of an advisory committee to the FCC may provide some insights. Out of the gate, Wheeler will be confronted with several pressing issues, ranging from the FCC’s merger-review authority to the broadcast-spectrum auctions to net neutrality to the IP transition. When it comes to drawing the limits of the FCC’s authority, I have argued that where the conduct under scrutiny fits squarely within the four corners of antitrust (such as mergers), the FCC should take a backseat to the antitrust agencies; for conduct that is not easily recognized as an antitrust violation (such as discrimination by a vertically integrated network owner), the FCC should take the lead. Does Wheeler agree?
Which Way Will Tom Wheeler Take The FCC? Follow The Blog Trail
Apparently, Nicole Wong, Twitter’s legal director and longtime veteran of Internet litigation issues, has been picked by the Obama Administration to be the nation’s first Chief Privacy officer, a new position in the White House, created by the Obama Administration.
Wong joined Twitter approximately five months ago to head up its legal team, which has long dealt with First Amendment issues for the microblogging service. Previous to her time at Twitter, Wong spearheaded decisions at Google on whether certain user-generated content would remain up on YouTube and other Google-owned applications. She also dealt much in litigation with China and its government’s decisions to censor Google search content in 2010.
White House Taps Twitter Legal Vet as Nation’s First Chief Privacy Officer
Love YouTube, but hate the ads? Then you’re not going to be any happier with most of the subscription videos the site is going to start selling. They’re going to have ads, too, say people familiar with YouTube’s long-awaited plans. That should give you a sense of how incremental YouTube’s move will be when the site formally announces it this week.
YouTube Is Happy to Take Your Money, but What It Really Wants Are Ad Dollars
While women are the more active social media users overall, men outpace women in their use of platforms like YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn. But most of those Google+ users aren't using the collaboration platform to interact with others -- according to a new infographic from Internet Service Providers, three-fourths don't use Google+ socially at all. A larger percentage of women than men, however, use Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. But before you dismiss Pinterest as a haven for domestic hobbyists, the platform generates more business referral traffic than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined. See more gender-based social media stats below.
The Gender Gap in Social Media