By Yaël Ossowski / March 13, 2015 / Watchdog.org At long last, the FCC has released its 400-page tome of net neutrality regulations. One sentence alone reveals in a nutshell what’s to come. It’s to be found in the massive document released by the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday, nearly two weeks after three of the five commissioners adopted the plan. It reclassifies Internet Service…
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No one in government knows knows how to use email — except Hillary Clinton
By Yaël Ossowski / March 10, 2015 / Watchdog.org Yet again, Americans can rest reassured their government officials don’t really know how to use email. Or technology for that matter. Save for Hillary Clinton, of course. This has been made more clear after revelations that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used her private email address, hdr22@clintonemail.com, during her tenure to conduct State Department business,…
House of Cards: Feds aim to overrule states, ban online gambling
By Yaël Ossowski / March 5, 2015 / Watchdog.org Taking risks and reaping huge rewards may be a fixture of American politics, but a bill being pushed through committee may completely outlaw the chance for Americans to do the same from their home computer or smartphone on Internet gambling websites. At least that’s the idea behind H.R. 707, a bill introduced by anti-gambling champion U.S….
British comedian John Oliver cheers FCC’s net neutrality regulation
By Yaël Ossowski / March 3, 2015 / Watchdog.org After pushing Americans to contact the FCC and lobby to make the Internet a public utility under Title II, British comedian John Oliver used part of his HBO show Monday to celebrate the regulation and his effort to implement it. “Yes! Cable and telephone companies will not be allowed to create a two-tired fast lane and…
Top GOP contenders seek to change nation’s tune on immigration
By Yaël Ossowski / February 27, 2015 / Watchdog.org In the wake of a Texas judge’s decision to halt President Obama’s temporary amnesty for illegal immigrants, derided by most House and Senate Republicans, a quartet of top GOP leaders are bringing fresh perspective to the idea of positive immigration reform within their party and, if their chances bode well, into the next presidency. The top…
It’s here: FCC adopts net neutrality, first significant Internet regulation
By Yaël Ossowski / Watchdog.org / February 26, 2015 Watched by leagues of passionate activists on both sides, the Federal Communications Commission today passed its first significant Internet regulation by reclassifying it as a Title II public utility, known as net neutrality. “The American people reasonably expect and deserve an Internet that is fast, fair and open,” said Wheeler at the commission hearing. “Today they…
Symposium: A World Without Borders?
Tomorrow afternoon I’ll be giving a talk at Tilburg University in the Netherlands on the topic of “A World Without Borders”. The Facebook event can be found here. February 25, 2015 Tilburg, Netherlands
Has the tide turned against the FCC’s plan for regulating the Internet?
By Yaël Ossowski / Watchdog.org / February 23, 2015 Whether the public knows it or not, the Internet is set to face its biggest transformation yet when the Federal Communications Commission meets in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. It’s at this meeting of the commissioners, cloaked in bureaucratic mystique, that FCC chairman Tom Wheeler is expected to present the Title II classification of Internet service providers….
Mark Cuban: FCC control of Internet ‘scares the sh*t out of me’
By Yaël Ossowski / Watchdog.org / February 20, 2015 The idea of the Federal Communications Commission regulating the Internet by way of net neutrality is not only a bad idea in Mark Cuban’s view, but it’s also literally scary. “Having them overseeing the Internet scares the sh*t out of me,” said Cuban at the Code/Media conference hosted in Laguna Niguel, Calif., on Wednesday, one of…
Racism in the 21st Century
I was recently asked about the “huge increase in racism” in the past few years. It’s a topic I’m normally faced with upon returning to North Carolina from abroad. Not sure why. It’s become a leading narrative for many political observers and it seems denotes something very bothersome about what is going on in society. I lived in North Carolina for 15 years and I…