In times like these, surfing the web might seem like one of life's cheaper entertainment options. But the next time you fire up your home computer, consider this: If some Internet service providers get their way, the meter could be running while you're shopping, emailing or reading news reports like this one.

Outgoing Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is pushing for action in December on a plan to offer free, pornography-free wireless Internet service to all Americans, despite objections from the wireless industry and some consumer groups.

AS PRESIDENT-ELECT Barack Obama begins to put together his government, one question reigns supreme. How can he possibly deal with the economic crisis and the war in Iraq, and still have anything left over for the social justice initiatives that are so dear to many of the Democrats who elected him?

Indian IT services company, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), plans to commercialize its WebHealthCentre, an online portal for medical consultations, healthcare information, and telemedicine.

By the year 2012 the total broadband capacity in the U.S. may be so far behind the demand curve that users will begin experiencing Internet brownouts – unless as much as $55 billion more than already budgeted can be found to beef up the infrastructure.

The drive for a national broadband strategy just got a new wrinkle. How about an entirely new question for the debate over broadband access? What if the individual subscriber were brought into the ownership equation?

Nemertes Research continued to throw cold water on the future of the Internet this week, releasing a study projecting that demand for bandwidth on the Web would exceed its capacity by 2012.

New congressional leaders as well as policy makers in the Obama administration are expected to press for fresh limits on media consolidation and require phone and cable firms to open their networks to Internet competitors, lobbyists and industry officials say.

The U.S. government may be poised to reverse course on its market-only approach to rolling out broadband and a smart electricity grid to all corners of the country, advocates said Thursday.