It seems like forever ago that Marsha Blackburn challenged Free Press to transparency in the group’s funding. Why should it take eight months to respond if Free Press has nothing to hide? Keep the Web OPEN . It’s a simple statement, but it’s one I support. The difference between SOPA and OPEN has been made clear to many thanks to Darrell Issa’s leadership . It’s unclear with Christmas coming just when SOPA will be picked back up, but I’m hoping by then OPEN will continue to gain support as the proper alternative. LightSquared is going on the offensive. In this four-cornered battle between that firm, Congressional Republicans, the Obama White House and FCC, and GPS manufacturers, LightSquared looks rather lonely. And yet they’re going on the offensive: denying that GPS deserves special protection in the current spectrum battle, and is now pushing the FCC to make a decision , citing claims that GPS makers were warned years ago by the FCC to be prepared for LightSquared to make terrestrial use of its spectrum. I know I will continue to get pushback on this. I’ll be told it’s not fair for LightSquared to use its own spectrum to enhance a 4G market that desperately needs more entrants after the government finally wore AT&T/T-Mobile into giving up. I just wish Obama and the FCC would simply answer Chuck Grassley’s questions and show genuine transparency so that we could make a decision and move on. I know: Obama, transparent? It’s a long shot but I can dream. Meanwhile, Maxine Waters wants to scare off criticism of the FCC by going after people who file comments. What First Amendment? And the worst part is she calls this FCC Ethics reform. Speaking of AT&T/T-Mobile aftermath, Heritage reiterates that the administration got it wrong , but what’s coming out now is that I was right all along on one key point. Yes, T-Mobile USA is a victim here. AT&T will pay them a few billion (with a b) dollars as compensation for not getting the deal done. But they still have no 4G, no iPhone, failing market share, and no Plan B . Make sure to thank Barack Obama, Julius Genachowski, Eric Holder, and George Soros for doing Sprint a favor by reducing competition, keeping 4G prices that much higher. If you’re wondering where my weekly Daily Caller link is, well, I never quite got it to gel, and they could tell, so it never ran. I’m still learning how to get into a proper groove submitting to them. I’m sure a whole one or two of you are disappointed at getting slightly less of my amateur ramblings this week.
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Tech at Night: Free Press finally answers Blackburn, SOPA vs OPEN, FCC Reform
I’ve said before that the case against the AT&T/T-Mobile deal makes no sense . Not only does the historical record suggest that the merger will increase competition, but the actions of key players are the opposite of what we’d predict if the merger were expected to reduce competition and raise margins. There’s something more to it, though. That something is astroturf pushing a basic agenda of an expanded government role in the media. Why yes, the same forces were behind Net Neutrality that are now behind the anti-AT&T coalition, in addition to Sprint who wants to keep prices higher and competition lower, by preventing AT&T and T-Mobile from getting together and being more effective. As Amanda Carey says at the Daily Caller: The new coalition is called NoTakeover.org , and was launched soon after the announcement of the merger with the support and backing of Sprint. It also includes many of the pressure groups that took part in the net neutrality battle: Public Knowledge, Media Access Project and New America Foundation. But while NoTakeover.org is passed off as a public interest group looking out for consumers, it recycles the same media reform activists. One of its features is called the “ Angry T-Mobile Customer-of-the-Week, ” where average citizens are able to blow off steam and explain why they’re against the merger. The first angry customer was someone named Ben Byrne. But Byrne is far from the average consumer. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Creative and Technical Manager of the media reform group Free Press. Byrne did not return TheDC’s request for comment. Funny how we just linked in Free Press, the final part of the Marxist Media Reform band, with the rest of the gang already involved with No Takeover. Public Knowledge is openly OSI/George Soros-funded. Free Press won’t disclose its funding despite promising the House to do so. But, astroturf and deception are all the opponents have, because as AT&T points out, they don’t have the facts on their side : Unfortunately for merger opponents like Sprint, facts matter . We have presented a detailed fact-based showing of the enormous benefits of this transaction to consumers, workers, rural Americans, and others. It is for that reason that I am confident that we will win approval of this transaction. And as we move forward with the process, we will continue to focus on the facts. AT&T shows that Sprint knows the market is strong and healthy, but is skewing the facts for corporate gain at the expense of the public. I’m all for free competition and the profit motive, but using government to try to harm a competitor is out of bounds in my book. The deal must go through. Astroturf and bad behavior must not be rewarded.
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The nonsensical, astroturf campaign against AT&T and T-Mobile
Even as Mary Bono Mack and Republicans fiddle with the pointless SAFE Data act that won’t actually do anything to prevent or even to deter online crime, the Internet burns with a string of further attacks. The Senate was hit twice , and the CIA was hit as well . I thought we were the party that likes to solve crime by putting the criminals in jail? Why don’t we drop this reporting theater and get back to catching criminals blackmailing the US government and private enterprise? Seriously? We want to jail kids who upload music to YouTube , and create a Communist China-style Internet censorship blacklist, but we’re blaming the victims of online attacks? Firms already have incentive to give out warnings and to protect their long-term reputations. Are they going to have to pick up the law enforcement slack the government has left behind, too? Yes, the AT&T/T-Mobile deal must go forward without government intrusion. Major media outlets are starting to see things I’ve been saying a while, about the effect the deal will have on competition. After all, the mergers already done have left our wireless the best in the world . Key is just how much more competitive our market is. Average revenue per minute in the US is around 70% lower than the rest of the OECD. As a result, Americans use 824 minutes a month. The next closest competitor is Canada at 373. No wonder the UN wants Internet access as a human right . In other countries the market just isn’t competitive, thanks to massive government regulation, and nobody can afford it! Meanwhile, in California, the Democrats are breaking the law by passing new taxes and tax increases by majority vote , including the Amazon Tax job killer. I’m tired of this state. The case continues to grow that Net Neutrality was passed by a biased FCC predisposed to regulate and grab power on line, taking marching orders from the radical neomarxist group Free Press, turning all its hearings and public feedback into a sham process.
With fourteen articles to run through tonight, a near record, I don’t have time to waste. We’ll start with Joshua Trevino bringing us Bill Peacock on the Texas Amazon Tax . Texas SB 1 contains the tax Governor Perry already vetoed this session, and it needs defeated again. Says Peacock: “Gov. Perry was right to veto the Amazon tax bill, and he’d be right if he did it again. Staying focused on downsizing Texas government is the only way to keep Texas as the top job producing state in the nation.” In national bills that need stopped, patent reform still looms over our heads . This bill,t he America Invents Act, removes patent protection from the person who first invents a thing. Instead, patent protection goes to the person who first files papers with the government for the invention. Is it any wonder that patent mills like IBM, and lawyers groups like the ABA have fallen in love with it? Another bad bill by Patrick Leahy is PROTECT IP, which would create a national censorship blacklist of sites deemed to threaten copyright or trademark interests. It’s so bad that even the LA Times has come out against it , which is notable given that the MPAA is a major force behind the bill. However Senate Republicans have rolled over and let it advance. We’ve got to get the House to do better and defeat this. Senator Leahy isn’t stopping with the AIA or PROTECT IP, either. Now he’s continuing the terrible practice of targeting crime victims with laws seeking to punish the victims of breakins. So terrible. As I said Monday night, we need to put the perpetrators in jail, not hassle the victims. To keep the focus on the victims actually rewards the criminals by putting pressure on their enemies. I hate to say it but Senator Schumer may have the right idea . Now, Schumer may be targeting drugs with his plans to go after Bitcoin, but as I previously covered cyberterror groups like Lulzsec also use the currency to fund their operations. Remove some financial incentives to break the law, and only good can come of that. Now I’m not saying I necessarily approve of the specific plans Schumer has, but conceptually I much prefer going after the funding sources of crime than going after the victims. In other cybersecurity news, not surprisingly I disagree with Google. Google supports efforts by Democrats to expand the role of Government online to place laws and regulations on security outside the role of critical infrastructure. However I believe it’s only in critical infrastructure and civil defense that there’s a justification under the Constitution and in common sense for the government to have a role at all. And speaking of civil defense, I’m staying out on that limb and supporting efforts to hand out spectrum without auction . I mean, of the four names voting no on the bill (Olympia Snowe, Jim DeMint, Pat Toomey, and Marco Rubio), I have no problems with three of them. I respect them, but I disagree. Not all policy decisions are easy. Civil defense spectrum and the post-9/11 recommendations are one of them. the fringe of copyright are another . I favor copyright, and I’m not about to support eliminating it specifically for foreign works just because it inconveniences some ivory tower academics and performers. I’m all for broad-based, fair copyright reductions, but not special case giveaways. On the other hand, some issues are easy, and it’s nice to get a big win in them. So I’m celebrating a win by House Republicans Fred Upton and Greg Walden who have reached and agreement with the FCC to remove the Fairness Doctrine from the books. No more will it linger, threatening free speech. Elections have consequences. Quick hits to finish out the night: Attention continues on Free Press’s failure to cooperate with Marsha Blackburn’s investigation into the neo-Marxist front group’s funding. Free Press’s Derek Turner testified that “Absolutely, I’d be pleased to, yes,” when asked to submit the group’s funding sources. Meanwhile, the world waits. Greg Walden is warming up on AT&T/T-Mobile and the Universal Service Fund . He’s smartly not showing his cards early, but I’m expecting he’ll be a strong ally going forward of those of us who favor small government online and off. Who’s responsible for blocking tethering apps on Android ? Verizon or Google? Either way, critics of Apple who have held up Google as promoting an open platform alternative have egg on their faces. Google’s embrace-and-extend of online standards continues with its new AuthorRank proposal for tracking authors of online works. I’m not saying it’s a bad idea, but we do need to watch for why Google wouldn’t go through open channels to propose new standards, instead of promoting them by corporate fiat.
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Tech at Night: A lot of tech legislation I hate, and a big win against the Fairness Doctrine
I’ve been meaning to write about Sprint and the alliance it’s making with the shady, fringe left. Well, since that alliance is against AT&T, and trying to bring government down on AT&T, they’ve started to do the work for me with their myth busting posts. Part 1 takes down fringe left group Public Knowledge and its testimony to the Senate. AT&T illustrates how absurd it is to criticize the firm for planning to run three networks in parallel: “2G” GSM, “3G” UTMS/HSPA, and “4G” LTE. Guys, this is why we need more spectrum: innovation and growth. But, the radical left would rather we all suffer just to lash out for socialism. Tech transitions take time. AT&T points out that when the FCC-mandated end of life came for “1G” analog cellular service, there were a million of their customers still using it. Just imagine how many people would be disrupted if the radical left imposed an arbitrary end of life for GSM! AT&T’s myth busting Part 2 takes on Sprint directly . You may recall that Sprint went to the FCC demanding cheap and easy access to its competitors’ networks (via “data roaming”), a request the FCC granted, resulting in Verizon suing. Well, Sprint previously argued that this access, even before the FCC order, was sufficient to make it unnecessary for Sprint to improve its own network, while now Sprint argues the AT&T/T-Mobile deal must not go through because it allegedly endangers its access to buy service for its customers. Says AT&T: “For whatever reason, Sprint has chosen to lease rather than to build. But that is a strategic decision by Sprint, not a reason for government regulation or intervention here.” Speaking of competition, Chuck Grassley wants to smother LightSquared in the crib and deny Americans that much more competition. Pair of quick hits to close out the night: Our old neo-Marxist friends at Free Press are so far left that they’re being excluded from the Sprint/fringe left coalition against AT&T. Wow. Even the left is realizing that “Free Press is utterly unworthy of consideration or affiliation.” Unfortunately the FCC is still infected with the radical ideology Free Press has been flogging: Wouldn’t it have been fantastic if the FCC had adhered to the PRA – and engaged the process before, rather than after? Wouldn’t it have been even more fantastic if the FCC had adhered to their legal limits – and never in the first place voted themselves wired and wireless Internet Overlords? Indeed it would have.
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Tech at Night: AT&T smacks down Public Knowledge and Sprint, FCC and Free Press exposed
