Hello again. Having been traveling from Wednesday to Friday for my employer, I did my best to get this out Friday night, but I crashed about a third of the way into my backlog of links. Then over the weekend my email server died. So, we catch up with Tech at Night on Monday!
We’ll start with the International Telecommunications Union. Reports came out that ITU anti-liberty proposals were backing off, but the effort is going in the wrong direction. A big chunk of the Anglosphere is against it, including the Obama administration.
The President is getting credit for this position from industry and House Republicans, but consider this: if the ITU’s secretary general didn’t see the Obama opposition coming then just how muted were Obama’s efforts to fix the treaty to begin with? This is a failure of the President to lead internationally.
I cannot agree with the case for IRFA, a bill aiming to make life easier for the Pandora radio service. I’m all for deregulation and copyright reform, but not re-regulating in order to help out one kind of company.
Speaking of copyright, Verizon found a line to draw between disallowing their network as a copyright infringement haven, and in doing the dirty work of copyright industry lobbying firms.
Let’s move on to patents. I long since stopped covering PATENT WARS since I think the point is made: the post-Obama, America Invents Act era of patents is even more litigious, costly of industry, and restrictive of innovation. Unsurprisingly, the President’s ABA-favored bill did not fix it. It’s almost like the ABA favored legislation that made more work for lawyers, instead of making the system more efficient for everyone else. Real patent reform is now being attempted through the courts.
The Anontards vs Westboro Baptist. Real Commies v Nazis stuff. I want to pull a Patton though and roll into Moscow after we take down Berlin.
And now a whole lot of quick hits. I hate to do it this way, as there are important stories, but I’m playing catch up here.
Mike Rogers is talking tough on Spectrum. Spectrum is finite. Reducing government reserved use is important to us.
This is your reminder that conservatives are the leaders on innovation and technology. Not just Republicans, but the conservatives.
Dish Network gets the spectrum approval LightSquared did not, to build a wireless Internet service.
Government is going around creating false paper trails online, and they want us to trust them on regulation and cybersecurity.
Here’s an interesting twist: a Democrat has come out for an interstate sales tax enforcement deal. Up until now it’s been just conservative Republicans backing the plan, because they’re the ones who don’t want to pass new or higher taxes. They just want to enforce the sales taxes already on the books.
Here’s a big story possibly brewing: FCC may try to use “Text-to-911” as an excuse to regulate the Internet.
Kim Dotcom is a fugitive who walks free in New Zealand because he promised the government he’d use his illegally obtained cash to give free Internet service in the country. For shame.
Iran’s nuclear program is again under electronic attack. Good.
Look, I’d never complain that Google is legally evading taxation, but it’s dishonest for Google to do this while working to raise taxes on the rest of us by working to re-elect Dear Leader Obama. Google’s behavior here marks Page, Brin, Schmidt, and co. as amoral individuals.
More amorality at Sprint, as Sprint acquires spectrum by buying Clearwire after blocking a similar deal by AT&T.
Here’s a neat post Fisking to death some statist blather in favor of corporatist regulation of the Internet.
Chinese People’s Liberation Army-run ZTE is lobbying in DC.
And finally, it’s time we stopped taxing wireless like it’s a luxury. Let’s make it more affordable for all.