Brendan I. Koerner

Technology has been a popular scapegoat in recent years, shouldering the blame for everything from Columbine (all those violent video games) to the economy's recent nosedive (all those nefarious dotcoms). So it was scant surprise when technology was labeled a minor culprit in the horrors of September 11. When word leaked that Osama bin Laden's suspected minions likely encrypted their electronic messages, communicated via free e-mail accounts, and even made their fateful airline reservations on Travelocity.com, the hand-wringing commenced. If… more

Early last December, as the postelection fracas neared its end, the conservative Progress and Freedom Foundation hosted a one-day Washington conference on the future of communications. The event drew a Who's Who of telecom lobbyists, elite members of prestigious K Street firms that represent companies like Verizon, AT&T, and Viacom, The top draw was a keynote speech by Michael K. Powell, a member of the Federal Communications Commission who was widely expected to become the agency's next chairman.

The high-powered… more

To say that Brian Dalton has "issues" is to put it mildly. His own mother calls him "a lonely misfit kid," a 22-year-old high school dropout with a nasty case of attention deficit disorder and lousy job skills. The tragic topper, though, is Dalton's pedophilia, an obsession that netted him a 1998 child-porn conviction for downloading verboten pictures. Despite that legal scrape, he has yet to squelch his truly stomach-churning fantasies, which involve the caging and rape of 10-year-old girls.… more

Were the Republican Party to design its ideal up-and-comer in a Gattaca-style genetics lab, the result would look and sound a lot like Michael K. Powell. A scion of Beltway royalty, Secretary of State Colin Powell's only son is that rarest of political gems -- a black Republican diehard free of the kooky far-right vibes that dog Alan Keyes and J.C. Watts. John McCain loves him, as do a number of starstruck Democrats bewitched by his lineage and smarts. For… more

Media executives and TV addicts alike have been celebrating the advent of interactive television, like TiVo and Microsoft's UltimateTV. But the technology has the potential of… more

AOL is muscling its way into online journalism. Be afraid

May 16, 2001 was a typically eventful day in the never-ending news cycle. George W. Bush unveiled a… more

Introduction

Newly installed Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi swept to power on the strength of a slightly radical slogan: "Reform with no sacred cows." Tired of a decade-long stretch of stagnant economic growth, Japan aches to regain the vitality and prosperity of its 1980s heyday, when Japanese banks fueled construction around the globe and the yen was mighty. To Koizumi, the ensuing collapse was largely the result of Japan's unwillingness to adapt, its stubborn insistence on adhering to outmoded institutions and… more

"Last night, I stayed up until 6 o'clock figuring out how to do this," says Riley "Caezar" Eller, a slender and bookish 27-year-old. Scribbling furiously on a dry-erase board covered with boxy … more

Technology pundits foresee the day when low-cost wireless devices provide lightning-fast data connections, a future they've labelled with the buzzword "unstrung". Bulky PCs and dial-up modems will … more

When you think "First Amendment martyr," you don't exactly think AT&T. It's a safe bet that few executives at the telecom giant … more