policy

Obama: Don’t Worry Internet, I Got Your Back on That SOPA Thing

Arik Hesseldahl in News on January 14 at 4:00 pm PT

The White House signals that it doesn’t like the controversial SOPA bill. Here’s one writer who’s not the least bit surprised.

President Obama’s LinkedIn Town Hall: The Other Silicon Valley Jobs Event

Kara Swisher in News on September 26, 2011 at 10:09 am PT

Here’s an idea to get more jobs for the citizens of the U.S.of A.: Fantastic high-speed wireless access!

Exclusive: Skype Employees Were Briefed in Plain English — The Internal Equity Incentive Plan Deck

Kara Swisher in News on June 28, 2011 at 1:14 pm PT

What did Skype employees know and when did they know it? A lot, if you’re reading this “Equity Incentive Plan” deck, which clearly outlines what happens to “good leaver” and bad leaver” execs.

Godspeed on That Investing Thing, Yertle–But I Still Have Some Questions for Your Boss, Arianna

Kara Swisher in News on April 28, 2011 at 10:19 am PT

Would it surprise you to know that BoomTown doesn’t really care anymore if TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington sidelines as a blogger while he makes investments in tech companies his tech news site covers? Especially after reading his post yesterday that made a good argument about who he is and, frankly, who he has always been. But that does not mean his boss, AOL content head Arianna Huffington, doesn’t have some ‘splainin’ to do.

Will Secretary of State Clinton's "Internet Freedom Agenda" Finally Get Traction?

Kara Swisher in News on February 16, 2011 at 7:09 am PT

Yesterday, in a major policy speech in Washington, D.C., Secretary of State Hillary Clinton jumped on the Internet bandwagon again, unveiling a $25 million government investment for entrepreneurs to allow dissidents to thwart “thugs, hackers and censors.” Since that’s about the amount a third-string social photo-sharing site gets while walking down University Avenue in Palo Alto, Calif., from venture capitalists with bags of money to spend, let me just say the money is, well, underwhelming. Clinton’s speech, thankfully, was much better.

Rackspace Is Not for Sale, but Thanks for Asking

Arik Hesseldahl in Enterprise on February 14, 2011 at 6:00 am PT

Rackspace is one of several companies thought to be likely acquisition targets following the buyouts of Terremark and NaviSite. Ask CEO Lanham Napier about it, and he insists the company is not for sale, but he clearly enjoys being asked.

Facebook Moves Could Disallow Apps From Running Google Ads

Liz Gannes in Social on February 10, 2011 at 12:07 pm PT

Facebook announced this week it will begin enforcing a policy that requires app developers to run advertising from a list of approved providers. The list does not include Google’s AdSense and DoubleClick.

Cisco: It's Just a Little Transition, That's All

Arik Hesseldahl in Enterprise on February 9, 2011 at 5:39 pm PT

No more talk of short term “air pockets” from Cisco CEO John Chambers today. The new phrase is “a period of transition,” and it seems nowhere near over.

Cisco Earnings Beat Estimates, but Only by a Little

Arik Hesseldahl in Enterprise on February 9, 2011 at 1:15 pm PT

Air pockets have been transformed into “a period of transition” for CEO John Chambers.

Verizon to Butcher Speeds of Data Hogs

John Paczkowski in Mobile on February 3, 2011 at 2:00 pm PT

What an odd coincidence. Verizon Wireless introduced a new policy today that gives it the right to throttle the data speeds of its heaviest bandwidth users-–just as it began accepting pre-orders for the new CDMA iPhone.