RoadMAP admits to having a longstanding and bemused interest in the rather wacky and idiosyncratic radio sermons and counseling delivered by a fellow named Roy Masters.  The IRS revoked the “church” status of Master’s Foundation of Human Understanding a few years ago, and last month the U.S. Court of Federal Claims agreed in this decision. What caught [...]

WASHINGTON — A Wall Street Journal article today reports that industry negotiations on network neutrality are underway once again, this time led by DC-based technology lobbying group Information Technology Industry Council. The talks reportedly involve Microsoft, Cisco, Skype, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, AT&T, and Verizon.
Andrew Jay Schwartzman, Senior Vice President and Policy Director [...]

The cover story in next month’s Wired has an essay by editor Chris Anderson (“The Long Tail”) in which he argues that the open Internet is on its way to obsolescence.  The folks at The Atlantic Wire have links to the story, to a companion piece by gadfly Michael Wolff, and to a number of blog posts arguing [...]

Today’s item is a somewhat contrarian musing about online privacy.
The (Still) Coming Privacy Boom
A year ago, at a cover meeting at BusinessWeek, I proposed a big story: The Privacy Pay-off. The idea was that tracking and other data surveillance would spark a reaction: People would fear for their privacy. And this would create all sorts [...]

Satellite technology has been a modest commercial success for video, but it has never done well at delivering Internet service.  Notwithstanding the limitations imposed by the laws of physics, two companies are about to introduce services offering more competitive speeds.  This is still a longshot, but might add some competition to the mix.
Tapping the Web, [...]

Media Access Project, Georgetown University’s Institute for Public Representation, and Free Press filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Third Circuit today in response to broadcasters’ statutory and constitutional challenges to the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to retain its local television ownership and newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rules.
The brief also describes a number [...]

The latest data from the The Pew Internet and American Life Project are chock full of interesting tidbits.  RoadMAP’s favorite is that 20% of Americans rely primarily on wireless for their Internet connection.  Here is ars technica’s review.
Is There a “Caring About Broadband” Divide in the US?
The Pew Internet and American Life Project has a new poll [...]

Media Access Project (MAP) filed reply comments on August 12th, together with the Center for Media Justice, Consumers Union, and the New America Foundation, in the Federal Communications Commission’s “broadband framework” docket.  The proceeding will determine whether or not the FCC has direct authority to regulate broadband Internet connectivity providers – to protect customers of [...]

Many of RoadMAP’s readers may be tiring of reading about the Google/Verizon proposal on network neutrality, but if you haven’t read these two pieces, you’ve missed the best writing on the subject.  (Yes, RoadMAP is cheating today, but it was hard to choose between the two.)  Ryan Singel’s rant inWired has been picked up all over [...]

This inquiry is, to put it mildly, speculative, but it is nonetheless very interesting.  Do Black people use Twitter differently?  There are no good answers here, yet the speculation is provocative.
How Black People Use Twitter
As far as I can tell, the Twitter hashtag #wordsthatleadtotrouble got started at about 11 a.m. Pacific Time on Sunday morning, [...]