The federal government spends more than $80 billion each year on information technology. In 2010, the federal chief information officer issued guidance to government agencies requiring them to adopt cloud computing tools when replacing systems, and to move at least three existing services to the cloud. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued the 25 Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal Information Technology Management (25-Point Plan), also in 2010, which required agencies to consider cloud computing options for all new IT acquisitions.
ISPs Are Not Common Carriers
Since the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued its decision in Verizon v. Federal Communications Commission on January 14, 2014, there has been a big push to reclassify the Internet as a Title II telecommunications service. Unfortunately, many who have been raising this call don’t understand what that would mean.
CAGW Files Comments on Net Neutrality Order
On July 7, 2014, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) President Tom Schatz filed public comments on the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) May 15, 2014 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding net neutrality.
House Passes Permanent Ban On Internet Taxes
Consumers across America are increasingly using the Internet to shop, apply for jobs, perform schoolwork, and email one another. In 2012, the Federal Communications Commission found in its annual report on advanced communications capabilities that 95 percent of Americans have access to broadband Internet services. According to the International Telecommunications Union, 84.2 percent of individuals […]
Telecom Heats Up the Summer Months
In March 2014, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) released “Telecom Unplugged: Unleashing a New Digital Era,” which highlighted topical telecommunications issues. Now that summer is in full swing, politicians and bureaucrats are feverously pitching to finish their work on telecommunications legislation and regulations before the glorious August recess, when only the tourists trudge their way down the scorching hot Mall.
City Residents Tell Investment Group No
According to a June 18, 2014 article by Deseret News, residents of Lindon, Utah rejected a proposed partnership with the Australian-based Macquarie Group that would have given Macquarie control of the Lindon fiber optic network for 30 years. Lindon is the first member of the Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA) to decline the Macquarie […]
Wheeler’s UTOPIA: This Emperor Has No Case
In his April 30 remarks at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association’s conference in Los Angeles, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler imperiously decreed: “I believe the FCC has the power – and I intend to exercise that power – to preempt state laws that ban competition from community broadband.”
FCC Chairman Takes another Stab at Controlling the Internet
In December 2013, House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), and Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) announced that they would begin a review of the Communications Act of 1934 and its subsequent amendments, including the Cable Act of 1992 and the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The committee has issued three white papers on various topics that Congress plans to address in the modernization of the Communications Act, and it is expected that future publications will include the role that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will play in Internet governance, among other items.
GAO Report Shows Duplicative Spending on Software Licenses
Federal agencies are missing opportunities to save money in their software license purchases, according to a May 2014 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has been following this issue for some time, including a May 10, 2013 briefing on Capitol Hill highlighting the problems with software asset management in the federal government.
Too Big To Bail Out: The Trouble with Johnson-Crapo
There is a theory about the naming of legislation. Some titles are straight out of George Orwell’s “double-speak” dictionary. In other words (literally), whatever word is in the title usually means exactly the opposite of what the bill will do. Remember the “Affordable Care Act” (ACA)? Despite the promises of President Obama and his administration that this milestone legislation would reduce the cost of healthcare for most Americans, the ACA is on track to explode those costs for all but the poorest Americans.