Even as Bitcoin crime and deception continue, the government has decided that yup, Bitcoin investors have to pay taxes just like everyone else. The anarchists have deemed taxation to be “unacceptable”. I’m sure the IRS will take that as an answer, right guys? Pass the popcorn.
Even if the Obama administration’s data use is way up, the answer is not to abolish NSA, or start shutting down programs entirely. Marco Rubio is right that it would amount to unilateral disarmament. I wonder if he reads RedState!
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Barack Obama admitted what we’ve been saying all along: Net Neutrality was an attempt to regulate the Internet. Told you so.
More FCC: Data use continues to go up, and it probably makes sense to remove barriers to investment on expanding our wireless capacity in this country. We still need spectrum, but the build out matters after that spectrum is acquired, as well.
Of course, instead of being sensible the radicals just want to spend more money stupidly.
All this is perfectly good reason to want to gut the FCC by reforming the Communications Act, but again, I just don’t trust the current legislative process to succeed at this in one big bill. When was the last time we had one big bill that worked well? Not in many years. I’d love to be proven wrong, but I’m not optimistic.
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Marsha Blackburn says the White House just isn’t credible on privacy. Is she right? Probably. I also think people really don’t care about privacy. Note the lack of an exodus from Google services even now.
I agree that it’s a very smart idea for FCC to eliminate rules that no longer make sense. Having a law, as opposed to the free market, ban phone use on planes, is a pointless power grab. We must defeat all GOP attempts to pass these laws which would have silenced 9/11 victims on the planes. I’d even suggest both Bill Shuster and Lamar Alexander need primary opponents, as they are exposing their big-government tendencies over this.
See, this is smart. We shouldn’t totally rewrite large bills like the Communications Act. We should implement targeted reform, one step at a time. FCC process reform is surely needed, and can be tackled in a standalone way.
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There are many consistent themes of the Obama administration, but one of the more troubling ones is the duplication of competencies. Just how many agencies do we need creating their own cybersecurity mandates? Yes, yes, Department of Energy wants to feel important. Who cares? Get this stuff under one roof. NSA, GSA, DHS, FCC, I don’t care. Pick one.
Oh look, FDA is apparently looking to get into the act, or will they at least stick to warning and let somebody else actually do the standards-setting?
At least Darrell Issa is hard at work cleaning house internally for government security and IT oversight.
Speaking of cybersecurity, all the NSA stuff makes us reconsider when the Obama administration only slapped Google on the wrist over WiSpy.
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By my records this is the 382nd edition of Tech at Night. This is however the one that was prepared on my 35th birthday (though sorry, I didn’t get it written until Sunday morning).
If they try to ban 3D printers in the name of gun control, remember that they’re killing children if they do it. 3D printing is an important technology and the fascists must not be allowed to use gun control to gut it. But they will try. Just watch.
Oh look, fugitive at large in New Zealand (and I mean large) Kim Dotcom has become a patent troll. Remember: he’s a convicted felon and fraudster, having stolen money and embezzled money. He ran a large copyright infringement ring, which he now has restarted in New Zealand, having paid off the government through promises of ‘investment’ to avoid being deported despite indictments in the US and convictions in Germany and Hong Kong.
Anyone who buys a ‘patent’ from him should himself be investigated for money laundering.
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