Harry Reid may be on a mad dash to bring the radical Liebmerman/Collins/Rockefeller cybersecurity bill, but a broad spectrum of Republicans continue to fight. Democrats may have toned down its Internet Kill Switch provisions, but still is a massive power grab online, and the new SECURE IT act is a much better idea. What I absolutely love about SECURE it is that it hits all the key points: It strengthens criminal penalties for breaking into servers. It strengthens criminal penalties for breaking into servers (Yes, I said that twice on purpose because it’s that important). It creates private sector information sharing incentives without regulating the private sector at large . It turns inward and gets government to audit its own practices. These are all the right ideas and none of the wrong ideas. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin is speaking only the common-sense truth when he says “This bill recognizes that industry is at the center of any solution. It’s a sensible step forward that allows industry to invest in innovation and job creation rather than compliance. Imposing a costly and bureaucratic regulatory regime is the wrong approach to national security. New regulations will slow down innovation and investment while companies wait years for the government to introduce outdated standards. The regulatory process simply cannot keep up with the rapid pace of technology.” It tells you just how basic and correct this bill is when it has co-sponsorship from such a broad spectrum of the caucus: Ron Johnson as mentioned, John McCain, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Chuck Grassley, Saxby Chambliss, Lisa Murkowski, Dan Coats, and Richard Burr. Support Ron Johnson and the team. We want this bill passed. The common-sense alternative to the power grab cybersecurity bill. Even extreme libertarians are cautious about the bill instead of strongly opposed , which I think we all can see is a big deal for a bill about strengthening national security. So it’s no wonder Harry Reid is promising to give the bill a fair chance . This could be the one that passes, especially if Greg Walden’s new House cybersecurity efforts make it clear that this is the one that can get through both chambers and to the President. Criminal enforcement does matter. Why else would Anonymous online terrorists attack the Interpol webpage after an Interpol-led effort rolled up a 25-man Anonymous cell ? When we arrest them and jail them, it hurts them. We need to do this more, and we need to make sure the penalties sting. PATENT WARS: Well, again, this time it’s trademark wars. Apple is going after the EPAD in China after having won the iPad battle. Why would we be in a rush to raise taxes on Facebook , an innovator and driver of job creation in this economy? Don’t believe me that they create jobs? Just look at Zynga and all the other companies around that exist because of Facebook and its popularity? Should we have a whole FCC blackout regulation in place solely as a gift to major sports leagues that make billions of dollars? Probably not. Kim Dotcom claims he’s as innocent as Saddam Hussein in defending his since-raided Megaupload operation. Look, the DMCA model of working with copyright holders is a reasonable one. If he wasn’t doing it, then he had it coming. Thanks to George Soros, Public Knowledge, Gigi Sohn, and the rest of the anti-AT&T/T-Mobile team, AT&T is now having to stab we (as I’m one) unlimited data plan holders with throttling and caps. Lack of spectrum hurts, kids. And yet some of these people are going to complain that AT&T is doing what it has to after being the target of a team effort by Barack Obama and George Soros. And they’re going to target AT&T’s next plan, too which is very simple one. AT&T would like to give wireless App developers he opportunity to subsidize data use by their apps, calling it the ’800 number model’ applied to mobile data. Some people are scared to death of this, because competition could force some data-heavy services to consider data costs when designing their apps. But it’s a great, innovative, market-based way to help people on metered data plans manage their use. Government shouldn’t interfere. Some say we need a national sales tax compact to keep states from having to raise other taxes as the sales tax model breaks down. I’m not sure if it’s a bad thing to just have a smaller, simpler tax code, but it’s a fair point to consider. Some states may overreact, using the sales tax situation as cover for raising revenue. Tech at Night continues to be on a shifted schedule this week thanks to my being detained last Friday and Monday.
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Tech at Night: Ron Johnson backing GOP’s SECURE IT Act, Anonymous fails again
The big stories this week continue to be LightSquared and cybersecurity. Even as House Democrats complain about government doing too much, incredibly , we see that Senate Democrats are so inflexible that John McCain is in a gang of Republicans to fight the Democrats on the cybersecurity bill. Consider that. That’s how extreme Harry Reid, Joe Lieberman, Jay Rockefeller, and Susan Collins are on this. John McCain is putting together a team to make a Republican bill with Kay Bailey Hutchison and others, rather than sign on with a Democrat on a bill. Danger, Will Robinson! Harry Reid is that much of an extremist! Reid is rushing to pass it, but details come out anyway, such as an attack on FOIA . Transparency! Not. Speaking of transparency, the firm that the Barack Obama FCC has remained oddly silent on, and that insists the FCC should remain silent on, is ready to go on the offensive . It almost seems like LightSquared bet the company on this, and will go down swinging. They may end up making a spectrum trade though , which if workable would be interesting. There is good news, though. The tax deal has essentially forced the President to go along with some FCC spectrum reform . With current technology, spectrum is a finite resource that we must manage for the greater good. That means getting into the hands of the people who can use it the best, and we can decide that with market forces. Spectrum auctions create jobs though, as we’ve seen with LightSquared, Some spectrum needs to be held aside for national security, civil defense , and first responders. PATENT WARS. Well, Patent and Trademark wars. China steals iPads in its fascist bias against the foreign Apple claim . Turns out though that Amazon’s recent actions in China were not anti-Apple and were unrelated to the trademark battle. Apple is on the winning side in another country, though. Apple is winning over Motorola Mobility (the firm being acquired by Google, so soon this will be a direct Apple-Google war) over Motorola’s apparent infringement of a slide-to-unlock patent. I believe Google will solve this by using another gesture for unlocking a phone. Oh yes, and another Google/Apple thing to pas the popcorn on: Google tries to track you even when your iPhone tries to stop it . Google is almost certainly lying through its teeth when it claims that it’s not tracking anything at all. That’s what Google does, it’s their core product: the synthesis of information to sell targeted advertising. That’s why they made the huge stink about unifying your accounts across sites and unifying the privacy rules for them. But this an industry matter. The inflated egos on Capitol Hill need to take Will Riker’s advice to the fake Jean-Luc Picard: “Shut up. Close your mouth and stop talking.” Nobody wants to hear them talking to hear themselves talk, and nobody needs any legislation. Mary Bono Mack: You’re still my representative. I so badly wish you’d find something productive to do. We don’t need a privacy nanny. We really don’t. Government regulation is harder to avoid and more dangerous than anything Google is doing. Google is optional. You people aren’t. The fact is people want to sell their privacy. It’s just not that valuable to them. Firms off the Internet have worked that angle for years . And guess what? When people can buy a little of your privacy, they can sell you stuff cheap, or even free . You have a choice. Use it, or not. Leave government out of it. The Anontards keep hitting webpages . Anonymous is even a failure at life than the Occupations. These social outcasts, jerks and losers who tell themselves they have Asperger’s Syndrome so that they don’t risk killing themselves for being just total wastes of human flesh, they are unbathed, semi-literate, lazy fools who can’t have a conversation and barely even try. And they deface webpages! Inconveniencing innocent third parties, costing the taxpayers (including their parents, I’m sure) without actually accomplishing anything. Joy! Again, Add the SEC to the list of runaway regulators being cheered by George Soros-funded front groups like Free Press. We have to beat Obama. I’m sorry, but you’re blind if you can’t see that there’s a striking, huge, wide gap between this radical socialist and any Republican. That’s right. Any Republican. Yes, including the one you don’t like. I don’t care. Read, study, and watch this. The EPA, the FCC, the FTC, the SEC, they’re all packed with radicals who believe themselves above the law. Next they’re coming after school lunches. Just watch. This administration is dangerously out of control.
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Tech at Night: Cybersecurity battle sends McCain to find Republican help, LightSquared fights, Obama regulators are dangerous!
I meant to talk about the cybersecurity bill on Monday as it’s a big story. But, it’s gotten even bigger since. You see, a broad spectrum of Republicans is coming out against it. Names like Kay Bailey Hutchison, John McCain, Mike Enzi, Saxby Chambliss, Jeff Sessions , and even Lisa Murkowski are against the crazy Rush Harry Reid and the Democrats are putting on the bill pushed by Joe Lieberman, Jay Rockefeller, and Susan Collins. And they’re right to oppose it. The case is overblown , and even if they claim the Internet Kill Switch is gone , it’s still a power grab. We’re at the point where Dianne Feinstein is a voice of reason , as she promotes voluntary data sharing, a plan Tech at Night has previously supported when also proposed by Dan Lungren in the House. Yeah, seriously. If you know California political history you know how funny it is that Republican Lungren and Democrat Feinstein now have another thing in common. But I think they’re both right on this. The way we’ll get more secure is to share more data and to prosecute the offenders. In other major news, the FCC has rejected LightSquared’s proposal to build a terrestrial wireless LTE network. Long time readers will remember that at first I leaned heavily toward LightSquared on this matter. I did and do think that in isolation, their case was strong that they should be able to do what they planned, and use their spectrum in a new way to improve wireless competition in America. But, Grover Norquist may disagree , I now suspect it was the right call. I’m skeptical of LightSquared because I think Chuck Grassley was asking the right questions . Rather than prejudge the matter, he wanted transparency from the FCC, and continues to demand it even though the FCC is trying to sweep this under the rug. With both the FCC and LightSquared objecting to Grassley’s transparency demands, one does have to wonder if something is there. LightSquared says it will fight on , and I don’t see why they shouldn’t. This is a big deal for them and, frankly, it’s a huge deal for universal Internet access in America. I expect they’ll lose, but they’ve got to try. China’s war on iPads continues in the name of Proview International. Now, I don’t know if Proview International is controlled by the People’s Liberation Army or Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Amazon’s even been bullied into the act , at least in China. Meanwhile, Chinese companies ignore our property rights all the time. Where’s the enforcement? Where’s the Administration to stick up for America? Where is Barack Obama? Hiding under the bed like the gutless wonder he is, that’s where. And where’s the Congress? Hyperventilating over non-stories against Apple, while the free market already solved the privacy problem . Quick links: I’m skeptical of some of the anti-AT&T reports , but if AT&T is arbitrarily throttling unlimited users instead of just letting them out of their contracts, then I object (as someone under contract with AT&T with an unlimited data plan, so in theory this affects me most directly). They shouldn’t be able to get the best of both worlds: changing the conditions while keeping people from punishing them for that by leaving to a competitor. Do fraudulent phone users have a reasonable expectation of privacy ? The courts seem to be saying no. I think I agree. Crime in itself should not be a free pass to commit more crime. Will new technologies threaten broadcast television ? I sure hope so, especially if we keep on pushing incentive auctions to transfer spectrum from broadcast television to wireless Internet. GSA opens up to competition , allowing people to switch from Blackberry to Android or Apple iPhones. RIM weeps. The SEC of all things gets into the Net Neutrality wars . See? Every single Obama regulator is working in concert to expand government, picking winners and losers in the marketplace. FCC spectrum auction reform may get passed as a rider on a tax deal . Hooray! Note that according to The Hill’s article, Democrats are openly complaining that they want to rig auctions to pick who wins them, or at least who doesn’t win them. Picking winners and losers. Corrupt from top to bottom.
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Tech at Night: Harry Reid’s rush to pass an Internet power grab. LightSquared LOSES at the FCC thanks to Chuck Grassley?
David Brog: ” Dana Milbank loses it ” ” Obama’s Views on Gay Marriage ‘Evolving’ ” ” John McCain Chastises 2012 Republican Field for Isolationism ” ” Huntsman Is Set to Run as Outsider on the Inside ”
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The Daily Grind: Obama Evolving
With a looming fight over raising the debt limit and how to get a handle on our $14 trillion debt, there is one issue that keeps popping up in Congress as a blatant example of government redundancy and pure waste: catfish inspection. Yes, you read correctly. There is a brewing fight over the regulation of catfish. Special interest groups slipped language into a bill that would move the regulation of catfish from the Food and Drug Administration to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong. This new regulation shift will place unnecessary regulations on businesses, drive up prices for consumers and spend at least $30 million in redundant costs … In the first year alone. Retired Chief of the FDA’s Seafood Processing and Technology Policy Branch Bryon Truglio recently wrote in The Hill : The inspiration for this rush to spend $30 million (to start) of hard earned taxpayer dollars on a non-existent problem is a group of lobbyists and a trade association representing elements of the American catfish producers. This group has bullied Congress into moving catfish regulation to the USDA, making it harder for their foreign competitors to enter the US market. This move is a win for US catfish producers, but ultimately, a loss for American taxpayers and consumers… There is no room for politics in food safety. If the public was better protected by moving catfish to USDA, I would be the first person to speak up. Science makes clear that Americans are safe from catfish. Whether they are safe from politicians looking to use tax dollars for pet projects remains in question. The General Accounting Office calls the program redundant, wasteful and recommended that it be cut. Watch here as Senator McCain questions Cass Sunstein, the Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, about how this program will waste $30 million of taxpayer money.
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$30 million of pork–-err, catfish–worth killing
