I’m on antihistamines and hoping I’m not getting too sick, so this is going to be less… focused than it usually will be. Hang on.
Let’s recap the CISPA situation. Anonymous is proving why we need it (though BGR is delusional for thinking Anonymous was “attacking North Korea” when it hacked Twitter accounts, though BGR does sometimes go gaga for radical propaganda). China is, too. But the administration is opposing CISPA on “privacy” grounds. Hold that thought.
The Obama administration is not opposing and may back government mandates for “wiretapping” Internet communications – that is, government-mandated backdoors into encrypted communications. What was that about privacy, again?
At least Republicans are still serious on the matter, looking at the large scale of thefts and spying going on. Make no mistake: this is aimed at China. In theory it would affect Iran, but we already embargo them, so this affects China.
Anarchist morons might think that government can’t take down a “peer to peer” system like Bitcoin, but again, they’re morons. They’ve let the Magic: The Gathering Online Exchange (MtGox) become a dominant market, and guess what? They have to deal with regulated banks to work with real currencies, which means if they and other Bitcoin exchanges get stuck on a list like OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals list for laundering money for organized crime and/or terrorism, bye bye convertibility.
The EU says Google is using its patents offensively against Apple which is impossible. Google says it only uses its patents defensively. They can’t lie!
As I said before, I think Mike Enzi and co. have ruined any chance of MFA passing the House. The toxic, anti-competitive rhetoric being driven by the big-box retailers has made this a polarizing issue. They’ll need to try again next Congress with a tighter, smaller bill that only ratifies the compact. And leave behind that stupid ‘fairness’ rhetoric about picking winners and losers in the marketplace.
What’s dumb is that it’s not even true. Amazon is winning because of better pre-tax prices, better service, better selection, and better convenience. With Amazon Prime you basically get a home video streaming service, and free 2-day Amazon shipping on top of that. Best Buy isn’t losing to that because of sales taxes, folks.
Let’s hope the next FCC chairman, likely to be Tom Wheeler, is good and doesn’t try to harm innovation.