US telecoms – softly ticking

AT&T and Verizon are facing a radically different competitive environment than they did a year ago.

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The superhighway of information has a toll

Newspapers and other news publishers are increasingly targeting smaller, more affluent audiences, impelled not by governments, but by their own economics. For years, digital news conformed to one section of the 1984 prophecy of the technology guru Stewart Brand – that “information wants to be free because the cost of getting it out is getting lower.” Now, it is relying on his other, lesser-known maxim – that “information wants to be expensive because it’s so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life.”

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Observers ponder impact of Markey’s Senate bid on House Commerce Committee

Rep. Edward Markey's (D-MA) run for Sen. John Kerry's (D-MA) seat may leave the House Commerce Committee without one of its longest-serving members and fiercest advocates for online privacy rights.

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US Internet Users Pay More for Slower Service

The American copper wire telephone system is, in fact, becoming obsolete. The physical switches used in the network are reaching the end of their useful lives. But now that cable has won the battle for wired Internet service and consumers are moving to mobile phones for voice service, the telephone companies are looking to shed the obligation to maintain their networks at all. Meanwhile, the U.S. is rapidly losing the global race for high-speed connectivity.

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