Policy and Law
Wednesday, February 13, 2002EPIC - ID Cards Archive: "EPIC National ID Report: "Your Papers, Please." Today EPIC released the report "Your Papers, Please: From the State Drivers License to a National Identification System." The report (PDF) analyzes the proposal from the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) to convert state driver's licenses into National ID cards."
Microsoft Outspends Enron
Now that Enron's house of cards has collapsed, politicos and commentators are aghast at the amount of money the company spread around Washington and other political environs. Turns out the company was a relative lightweight when compared to Microsoft. A report has revealed that total donations to political donations from Microsoft and its employees to political parties, candidates and PACs in the 2000 election cycle amounted to more than $6.1 million. During this period, Microsoft and its executives accounted for $2.3 million in soft money contributions, compared to $1.55 million by Enron and its executives for the same period. Stay tuned.
Microsoft's lobbying efforts eclipse Enron. An expert who monitors political influencers says Microsoft and its employees have been big spenders on the political scene--even outpacing Enron. [ZDNet Tech News]
Is Spam Killing E-Mail?
Some additional coverage on the FTC's anemic spam prosecution efforts. Note the statistic on the declining effectiveness of e-mail as a marketing vehicle - where last year some 10% of message receivers responded to posts, this year shows an 8% response rate. I'm keep talking with marketers who insist that spam isn't a problem and that people who don't like it can just hit the delete button. The facts just don't support that view.
FTC Joins The Fight Against Spam. When Tom Gellar was a music student at Oberlin College in 1987, he fell in love with the Internet. [The Washington Post : Business]
Tempest In A Teapot
Several articles this week looking at a long-lived SEC investigation of Microsoft's accounting practices. The company is claimed to have held back revenue reserves in good quarters to pad weaker ones. There's smoke, but it's not clear there is a fire - since the investigation has been going on for over two years, it would seem the SEC is having some difficulty making a case, although the length of time required to investigate the charges may be a reflection of sometimes complex software revenue accounting practices. In any event, the flurry of attention seems a consequence of Enron's shenanigans - which look to be more bald-faced lies than sandbagging.
SEC suspects MS may have massaged results. Now, where have we heard that one before? [The Register]