Yes, we beat SOPA, but the problem of foreign infringers is still around. And we’re not just talking about online copyright infringement, either. Copies of clothing, purses, gadgets, you name it: foreign free riders are a problem. It’s an important tradeoff to find, so an open process for the Darrell Issa OPEN Act is a good one. A slow, consensus-based approach is also smart, so I’m glad consensus is what Eric Cantor and John Boehner are demanding from a bill on this topic.
The alternative is picking winners and losers. That’s not good for government to do, even if it’s been a problem for a long time, to the annoyance of Frédéric Bastiat.
Speaking of picking winners and losers, FCC Spectrum management is falling apart. The more the FCC controls who’s bidding, and how the winners of the auctions will use that spectrum, the less efficiently we allocate and use that critical, limited resource.
So naturally what are we looking at? Hassling Verizon for doing what it has to instead of fixing the FCC. Seriously: People who say that any Republican would be anywhere near the problem Obama is, simply need to look more closely at just how awful the Obama regulators are. They are completely out of control. We need to defeat Barack Obama and restore some sanity at FCC, FTC, EPA, and the rest.
Google and Facebook will obey Indian censorship laws. Singling out Twitter for abuse over foreign censorship laws never made much sense, folks.
Programming note: due to CPAC and my traveling cross country to it, this will be the only Tech at Night post this week.