congressional
Tallying earmarks and changing government… from your couch
It’s not easy for individuals living outside of Washington to directly alter the workings of the federal government, but one young mother living in Missouri was able to do so using the awesome power of the Intertubes. Her work has already spurred the Office of Management and Budget to offer better reporting next year on Congressional earmarks, and she did it from the comfort of her couch. After the recent birth of a child, Andi Brown scaled back her work hours and began to telecommute from home.
Continue reading »Pandora lives! SoundExchange cuts deal on webcasting rates
The long, strange saga surrounding webcaster royalty payments is (mercifully) over after a multiyear fight. Back in 2007, the US government’s Copyright Royalty Board set royalty rates for the online streaming of music that many in the business felt were unrealistically high for a nascent market, leading at least one prominent streaming service, Pandora, to threaten to pull the plug . Negotiations over an alternate pricing scheme broke down earlier this year, leaving things looking grim.
Continue reading »West Virginia sues Comcast over cable box tying
For many cable TV customers, their service is indistinguishable from the cable box that provides it. Although it is possible to purchase this hardware from third parties, most service providers push their customers into renting the box from them, which ensures an additional revenue stream that easily surpasses the volume pricing they pay for it. Not surprisingly, a number of consumers have objected to this practice , filing lawsuits against the cable companies.
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