TechBytes

A tax increase is usually the result of Congress acting; in this case Americans will get an estimated $14.7 billion tax increase next year if Congress doesn't act—by passing an extension of the Internet Tax Freedom Act. The obstacle to this extension is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has his own tax-increase legislation, the Mainstreet Fairness Act.

There is intense international pressure to have a UN-type organization take control of Internet governance, fundamentally changing ICANN into an international governmental regulatory agency.

The FCC has no authority to sweep aside state law in order to promote municipally owned broadband networks.

In which a federal agency oversteps its legal authority and opposes state efforts to save taxpayer dollars. Again.

In June, the Supreme Court held that abstract ideas are not patentable and that merely implementing them via computer was not enough to make them so. While this decision provides some help, Congress must act to clarify the situation and end the very real harm to the overall patent system.

Updating the 28 year-old Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) could protect the privacy of our electronic communications from the NSA, the IRS, and other federal agencies.

When companies resort to lawsuits to gain market advantage, a sort of rent seeking via the courts can be the result.

Innovation is transforming health care, or at least it’s trying. Old practices and laws can create a drag on that new innovation.

The Aereo decision is a victory for property rights and the rule of law, rather than the triumph of entrenched interests over disruptive innovation.

Hopefully, the next step on the right path will be taken with the House Judiciary Committee deciding that the Internet tax moratorium must continue.