Oh boy, I’m tired tonight. It would be so tempting to give Tech at Night a pass tonight but I have clothes in the dryer anyway, so let’s go.
Let’s talk about Net Neutrality. In fact, let’s talk about who’s funding the voices supporting Net Neutrality. Bob Parks of Black and Right and posting right here at RedState did some digging and found that CREDO Mobile is funding some Net Neutrality advocates. And the Net Neuties claim they have no Evil Corporate Interests™ behind them. Never let them forget that the FCC acting on this issue is the FCC choosing to favor one set of corporations over another. And the losers are those that invest in the Internet… and we all know what happens when we punish investment in the internet: we get less of it in the future.
That’s why we’ve got to minimize the damage done by the FCC this month. We need a light, light, light touch if we have to have regulation at all.
Former FCC Chairman (under Bush) Michael Powell believes the FCC will pass something this month, and I agree. The question is what will they pass? Interestingly, Computerworld points out that Free Press’s pet commissioner Michael Copps is saying, in a stunning view into his bizarro-land mind, that because the law prohibits the FCC from making mild regulations (per the Comcast v FCC case the FCC lost), the only legal option the FCC has is to go whole hog and try a total Internet takeover via Title II. We’ve got to hope he’s talked off of that ledge.
Quick hits to close out the night: Google is getting proactive against copyright infringement and is in fact skewing the process of copyright claimant vs Google services user. Google is going to start assuming that DMCA claims by preferred copyright holders will be legitimate, and so will shoot first and ask questions later. Users of Google services should take note.
Verizon LTE deployment is here and pricing is available. Verizon expects to have 85% of the country (I don’t know if that’s by geography or by population, but I’m assuming population) under LTE 4G coverage by the end of 2012. Not only does this mark a new era of ‘broadband’ competition in America, as wireless providers are starting to show up with serious competition with wired service, but I think that fans of the iPhone might be interested. I fully expect an LTE-friendly iPhone to come out as Apple’s entry into the Verizon market. Maybe in the fall of 2011?
Google continues its efforts to change you and control how you operate online with an embrace-and-extend approach to standard keyboard layouts. They’ve issued a fatwa against Caps Lock. Molon Labe, Google. Molon Labe.