Oops. It’s midnight as I type this out. I just remembered I’d better do Tech tonight, so here goes. Fortunately I already did my reading!
Urgent in the Senate this week is the upcoming vote on Net Neutrality repeal, which was already passed by the House. We need 51 votes, not 60. Less Government has a list of Senators to contact with this urgent message: repeal Net Neutrality! Democrats are listed there, but Scott Brown needs to hear from us, too!
The bad Net Neutrality rules are a symptom of greater problems at the FCC and demonstrate a need for greater reform, but we have to start somewhere. Let’s start with repeal.
With one Republican and one Democrat quitting at the FCC, Barack Obama has two nominees going to the Senate. I can’t imagine a Democrat more against liberty and small government than Michael Copps, who was entirely in the pocket of the fringe Soros-funded “Media Reform” groups, so the Democrat can’t be a downgrade. But interestingly, Chuck Grassley is using this as an opportunity to look for any favors given to LightSquared by this administration.
I can’t say I mind. I’d love for the LightSquared question to be resolved, one way or the other. I want spectrum in use for high-speed Internet!
PATENT WARS: Motorola’s win against Apple in Germany may be short lived. I wonder, though: Will the peace-loving Soviet Google promise to drop all suits against Apple if they acquire Motorola Mobility? Google claims its patents are defensive.
I’m with Robert McDowell: Unlicensed spectrum is handy but We don’t need more of it. We’re currently running at a shortage of wiress Internet-friendly spectrum. Unlicensed commonses aren’t what we’re short of. We need incentive auctions to convert television spectrum into high-speed Internet, not unlicensed mush.
AT&T is doing limited 4G LTE roll outs, as are Cricket and other providers. That’s competition, folks, and that’s why Verizon is starting to budge on its pricing. We need government out of the way. This is a functioning market.
The forces of big government are worried though, which is why they’re trying to censor AT&T’s speech against the Eric Holder/Sprint Nextel/George Soros alliance suing the firm.