Getting "terms of service" updates lately? Here's why

Europe is about to enact the GDPR, a set of new privacy rules for the web.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

There is a major digital divide on the Texas-Mexico border, one of least connected parts of the country

May 3, 2018
The Texas-Mexico border is one of the least connected in the U.S. A map  from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas shows border counties bathed in bright red, meaning less than around 60 percent have home internet access. It’s a distinction shared by the Mississippi Delta and Appalachia, other parts of the country with pernicious […]

What happens if online retailers have to charge sales tax?

Apr 26, 2018
"This is a very big deal ... for all small entrepreneurs everywhere," Etsy's CEO says.
FedEx worker sort through a pile of boxes at the FedEx sort facility at the Oakland International Airport in December 2006 in California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Net neutrality rollback begins

Apr 23, 2018
Businesses, states, Democratic senators are mounting challenges to the FCC repeal of internet protections. Click the audio player above to hear the full story. 

4 things to know about Russian internet usage

Apr 13, 2018
Russians really love YouTube.
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies at a joint hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and Senate Judiciary Committee  about Facebook on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on April 10.
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

The Data Economy: Data-fueled politics

Apr 13, 2018
As the data economy grew, politicians took notice — and took your information.
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies at a joint hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and Senate Judiciary Committee  about Facebook on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on April 10.
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

The Data Economy: Policy (or lack thereof)

Apr 12, 2018
The U.S. has few policies around privacy and data. That's great, until it's bad.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on April 11, 2018 in Washington, D.C. This is the second day of testimony before Congress by Zuckerberg, 33, after it was reported that 87 million Facebook users had their personal information harvested by Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm linked to the Trump campaign.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Cloudflare promises to keep users' web data from ISPs

Internet service providers track customers' web data and sell it, so is there a way to keep your information private?
KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images

China moves to tighten control of the internet

Mar 12, 2018
In China, the internet is censored. You can’t get access to Google, or Facebook or Twitter unless you have a workaround known as a virtual private network. VPN technology lets users jump over the so-called Great Firewall of China. But now those jumping days could be ending. By month’s end, Beijing plans to block all VPN […]

Should websites be responsible for what users post online?

A new bill makes it easier to sue websites for illegal content their users post.
The statute that former Rep. Chris Cox wrote with Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden has “worked pretty well over the last 20 years,” Cox says, but he's seen courts “stretch the rule a little bit too far.”
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images