Policy and politics Archive for Faster Forward - Technology News, Observations and Occasional Rants by The Washington Post's Rob Pegoraro

Hughes tries to relaunch satellite Internet's image

Satellite-based Internet access suffers from a reputation as the broadband of last resort: It should work anywhere with a clear view of the southern sky, but it's expensive, it's slow, it limits your use, it can suffer the same "rain fade" as satellite TV, and the 44,472-mile round trip data...

ACTA puts digital rights on the table, locks the public out of the room

For the more than 10 years I've been writing this column, I keep coming back to copyright-policy issues, and not just because I work in Washington. Laws and court decisions constrain the hardware, software and services we buy -- this was a subject of one of my first copyright-overreach rants,...

Electronic voting lingers on

I voted earlier today, and I'd like to think that it was the last time I had to deal with an electronic voting machine. But knowing how long old software and hardware can stay in service in large bureaucracies, I fear that I'll have the same experience next year. And...

Google's recipe: to serve man?

The odds are pretty good that many of you found this article with the help of a large technology firm based on the West Coast. The odds also suggest that many of you will move on from this page to sites or services operated by the same company -- and...

IPhone Users, Start Your Internet Phone Calls

AT&T Wireless backed down on one of its more puzzling restrictions on the iPhone yesterday, saying that it would allow users of Apple's popular smartphone (perhaps you've heard of it?) to make Internet phone calls on its own airwaves and not just on WiFi connections. To judge from the Dallas-based...

Tuesday Tidbits: Little Things That Could Count

Not all of the important news in technology is heralded by 32-point headlines. Three developments over the past few days didn't land on any front pages, but each amounts to a significant -- and in one case, not necessarily pleasant -- change to the tech business. Bloggers Must Cite Ties...