CDR: Senate approves online booze ban; FCC, landlords, and telcos

[Declan McCullagh]

http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=00/10/15/2120258&mode=nested

    Senate Votes to Restrict Online Booze Sales
    posted by cicero on Sunday October 15, @04:19PM
    from the so-junior-doesn't-order-that-$45-california-merlot dept.

    The U.S. Senate voted 95-0 last week to restrict online alcohol
    sales. The purported reason: Beer and wine wholesalers claim it
    would protect children. "This law will put real power behind
    state efforts to enforce laws that require responsible marketing (and)
    ID checks," one lobbyist said in a Wired News article. The real
    reason: Wholesalers fear being bypassed by mail order firms -- that
    would mean losing lucrative markups -- and have handed millions of
    dollars in campaign contributions to Congress. The House has already
    approved the bill, part of an unrelated measure about trafficking in
    sex slaves, and the president is expected to sign it shortly.




http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=00/10/14/1956211&mode=nested

    FCC Wants to Force Net Access on Landlords
    posted by cicero on Saturday October 14, @02:47PM
    from the so-much-for-private-property dept.

    Adam Thierer of the conservative Heritage Foundation writes in
    with a recent article he wrote about the FCC. He's angry about
    a proposed regulation the agency is considering: It requires
    apartment and office building owners to let telcom companies wire
    the place, at a cost to be determined by the Feds. So much for
    private property, eh? Thierer's article is below.