On March 18, 2014, I had the opportunity to attend the Free State Foundation’s Sixth Annual Telecom Policy Conference.  Keynoted by Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, former acting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Federal Trade Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen, the conference covered the continued need for spectrum, broadband deployment in the U.S., the use of TV whitespaces for wireless use, and updating the Communications Act of 1934.   

In 2005, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a Broadband Policy Statement to define the principles of an “open Internet” in response to claims that Internet service providers were unfairly restricting access to content.  The FCC stated that an individual should have an unrestricted ability to access lawful Internet content, run applications and use desired services and connect legal devices to the network.  The statement also called for competition among network providers, application and service providers as well as content providers. 

Those pork-barrel spenders are at it again.  This time, they increased the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget request for the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) by 23 percent, from $64.6 million to $80 million, in H.R. 3547, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which was signed into law on January 17, 2014. 

In December 2010, the Obama administration announced its 25-Point Plan to reform federal information technology (IT) management (the 25-Point Plan).  As part of the plan, agencies were to implement a “cloud first” strategy when purchasing new IT systems and programs.  At the time, there was much head-scratching about how this new policy would be implemented, and whether or not it would save taxpayer dollars and streamline federal IT programs.