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Consumer technology has changed immensely over the past twenty years because of competition. But the video set-top box market is an area where this has not been the case. With few exceptions, navigating video on a box provided by your pay-TV provider reflects the same experience a consumer would have experienced in the mid-90s. That is why ITI filed comments today in the Federal Communications Commission [...]
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On this Earth Day, it's time to move beyond debating climate change and get to work rolling up our sleeves and tapping the best and brightest minds so we can tackle this challenge. For too long, taking action on climate change has been the can kicked down the road because some feared solving this problem could hinder economic growth. However, for the past two years, carbon emissions have fallen, while [...]
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With the federal government’s increasing reliance on information technology (IT) and software solutions as a central element to carrying out its mission and delivering services to citizens, the IT Alliance for Public Sector (ITAPS) understands OMB’s efforts to address open source software. This week the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) closed the comment period on their draft Federal Source Code [...]
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H-1B visas allow companies to hire highly skilled immigrants who are a valuable part of the U.S. economy and yesterday, U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the agency reached its congressionally mandated H-1B visa cap of 65,000 for fiscal year 2017, as well as more than the 20,000 H-1B petition limit the agency can allocate under the U.S. advanced degree exemption. This news came [...]
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The IT Alliance for Public Sector (ITAPS) recently sent a letter to the Arizona Department of Administration opposing its decision to include Most Favored Customer (MFC) language in future open bid opportunities. This restrictive contract clause is of major concern to the information technology (IT) industry because it substantially decreases competition, significantly increases procurement cycles, [...]
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President Obama is in Cuba, the first sitting president to travel to the island in nearly ninety years. His trip kicks off a historic week, as he travels on to Argentina, the only G20 country he has not yet visited during his time in office, and also marks the first bilateral visit by a U.S. president since 1997. As the entire world watches this historic moment, tech companies are paying particularly [...]
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Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), Chairman of the House Committee on Armed Services, has introduced his latest plan to increase acquisition agility and interoperability in programs at the Department of Defense (DOD), and while an iterative approach to true acquisition reform may be effective in the long run, too few steps may stall the momentum. The proposal, the Acquisition Agility Act, is a continuation [...]
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Appearing before the International Tax Policy Forum and Georgetown University Law Center Conference late last week, Jason Furman, Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, threw cold water on an emerging aspect of turbo charging innovation policy—the American adoption of a so-called innovation box. In his speech, “Encouraging Innovation and the Role of Tax Policy,” Furman attempted [...]
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This week marks another important step in what has been a busy year in policy developments for autonomous and connected vehicles. On Tuesday, the Senate Commerce Committee will hold its first hearing exclusively focused on self-driving cars. This comes on the heels of several recent, noteworthy actions in this space: The Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that it will update its 2013 guidance [...]
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Last week, the process to transfer stewardship of Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) from the U.S. government to the wider Internet community reached an important milestone: transmittal of the community-developed transition proposal to the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). This helps keep the process on track for the planned handover [...]
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