2011 December InfoTech & Telecom News

The December issue of InfoTech & Telecom News reports Michigan legislators are considering a bill that would force online retailers to collect from Internet customers the state’s 6 percent sales tax.

Also in this issue:

• Online search-engine giant Google has come under antitrust investigation. The U.S. Senate, Federal Trade Commission, and Department of Justice are asking whether the company’s business practices present unfair barriers to entry for competitors.

• President Barack Obama’s telecom regulators rejected a Portland, Oregon television broadcaster’s request to test technology that could free up spectrum for broadband deployment.

• More states are imposing Internet sales taxes, succeeding only in taking money from taxpayers’ pockets and driving out Internet retailers.

• The National Labor Relations Board prevented five people from being held responsible for obscenity-laden Facebook tirades against a coworker in Buffalo, New York, ruling the employees are immune from termination for harassment.

• The devices inspired by Apple founder Steve Jobs are everywhere to be found among the Occupy Wall Street crowd, but not the man’s true legacy as an innovator--a legacy Sam Walton of Wal-Mart also has provided.