Nancy Scola

The Federal Communications Commission should head up to Capitol Hill, gather round a table with industry and advocacy groups, and cobble together a new set of rules for broadband, according to an editiorial in The Washington Post today: For some eight years, the agency has argued that broadband constitutes an “information service” and that it […]

It seems that people who are accustomed to making a healthy profit from the aggressive business strategy of bio-agricultural giant Monsanto are growing nervous about the soundness of the company’s long-term vision. Now we’re seeing their executive vice president for seeds and seed traits say things like, “We have some room to improve in the […]

To his great credit, the legal justification that FCC general counsel To his great credit, the legal justification that FCC general counsel Austin Schlick put together on the proposed plan the commission announced yesterday to regulate broadband service is eminently readable — though some of that credit has to go to chair Julius Genachowski, because […]

If reports are to be believed, the Federal Communications Commission is on the very cusp of making a big bold move on broadband. FCC Chair Julius Genachowski is expected to announce that the commission is declaring its authority over broadband Internet service. In regulation-speak, from here on out broadband will be treated as a Title […]

Advocates for net neutrality are, to use a technical term, freaking out today, and it’s justified, if this report in today’s Washington Post is to be believed. The gist is that FCC chair Julius Genachowski is on the cusp of announcing that he won’t seek to reclassify broadband Internet as a common carrier service, as […]

As expected, this week’s Supreme Court oral arguments on Monsanto had much less to do with the pros and cons of genetically modified (GM) seeds than it did with the ins and outs of environmental regulation. On that point, the justices who actually spoke seemed fairly skeptical of the Ninth Circuit’s decision to completely halt […]

Steven Johnson has shaped my way of thinking about technology more than any other writer. His 2002 Emergence was a revelation for its description of how everything from ant colonies to cities to software share a certain organic interconnectivity that makes them so powerful. That’s what has made his recent celebrations of the iPhone and […]

Legendary public domain advocate Carl Malamud uploaded a photo of a Law.gov sign yesterday, which seems to create a perfect opportunity to talk about what it is he’s up to here. Open law advocates like Malamud argue that legal information in the United States today has a structural problem. Layers of laws and regulations that […]

Paul suggests below that Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann is the embodiment of the theory that people who are demonstrably crazy tend to have have far more potential for career advancement in the Republican Party than in the Democratic Party. And her convoluted understanding of the whole raison d’être of network neutrality seems aimed at […]