Good evening. I’ll level with you: I’m exhausted. All summer I got virtually no exercise because, as it turned out, I’ve developed asthma triggered by the air pollution that gets worse during the summer here in inland southern California. So I’m ramping back up my weight lifting, and as I adapt, it’s wearing me out. So tonight I’ll be brief.
The push continues for Republicans to listen to us and and join to pass legislation preventing the FCC from implementing devastating, systemic regulation of the Internet through the Title II reclassification power grab. Roll Call describes the troubles on this front with Congressional Republicans hesistant to touch Net Neutrality at all.
Honestly I’m glad we’ve pushed the debate to the point where Net Neutrality is so radioactive that no Republican wants to get anywhere near it, but we all must remember that the FCC remains under Barack Obama’s control, not ours, even if we win the election. Action must come sooner, not later, to ensure the FCC respects our need for an open Internet with free and active investment from private business.
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Previously we covered Chris Bowers working over at Daily Kos on a linking scheme to manipulate Google’s search service. Now we come across a new attack on the company, a plan to manipulate click tracking the firm does to figure out what links are most interesting to its users. Of course, the Daily Kos folk want to smear Republicans using Google.
Again, we look to Google to see if they will penalize the firm for attacking it, or just wink, nod, and do nothing. They went after Kay Bailey Hutchison’s campaign for Governor over manipulative tactics. A failure to act against Daily Kos shows bias on Google’s part, no more, no less.
I’m actually mentioned, though not by name, in this Politico piece, and I stand by that position. Google needs to be fair and delist Daily Kos until these tactics are ceased.
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Alright I admit it. I’m kicking off tonight’s Tech at Night with this article from NationalJournal.com because it mentions me. I like feedback.
But seriously it’s an important overview of Net Neutrality with respect to the conservative grassroots and the TEA party. Our side has been resistant to any action (Because as Digital Society points out, we don’t support action for its own sake), but the Obama FCC just might not give us any choice on that.
In fact, the FCC’s express words for months have been telling us that we won’t have a choice on that. The runaway FCC must be slapped down before they claim broad powers with Title II reclassification, and Congressional leaders have to take the lead on that.
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One goal’s already been hit, but they’re raising the bar. Retire Boxer.
My latest projection has this a competitive race, right on the second tier roughly. She’s running ads on television statewide and she’s fighting hard. This is an expensive state and she could use the help. The NRSC is also putting money in, so we’re not alone in helping out.
Remember: national Democrats were so worried about this state that Barack Obama flew out here twice for two separate fundraisers for Boxer. This is a rare and special chance, and I’m excited.
Apologies for missing the last two Tech at Nights. But unlike the paid staff of the well-funded Free Press, every word I’ve ever written here on technical issues has been on my own time, for free, because I care about the issues. And when work overwhelms me, as it did last week as a huge deadline approached, something had to give. And what gave was what I had to do at night when I just wanted to sleep.
So we start tonight with an update on the Waxman Net Neutrality bill. I wrote of it before in support of it, and proved prophetic as Henry Waxman used Republican opposition to justify radical, illegal FCC action on the issue.
It’s not too late, though. We can still build momentum to stop the FCC’s end run around the Congress, the Courts, and the Constitution. We need to talk up the Waxman bill because it is more limited than any other major proposal we’ve dealt with during this debate, because it would strictly, expressly forbid the FCC from doing the disastrous Title II reclassification which would give the FCC broad powers, and it’s just possible that the Congress taking the baton on this would encourage the FCC to back down until the process runs its course.
Politics matters, and there’s going to be a lame duck session. We can judo the Democrats on this, and use their bill in a bipartisan way to get the Congress behind a clear majority of the nation against massive Internet regulation. But we have to step up to the plate, ignore the Waxman name, and use the decent language of his proposal to make it happen. It’s time to put country first.
Especially when it gives even Barack Obama an out from a divisive issue, even as it gives American an out from regulation potentially more devastating to our economy than Obamacare, if it chokes off the Internet, one of our high growth, high potential areas.
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Hello. The longer the Democrats are in Washington, the more the mask slips with respect to their true beliefs regarding freedom online. They claim they don’t want a government takeover, they claim they don’t want to regulate content, they claim they don’t want a kill switch, they claim they want to respect privacy, but time and again all of these issues just keep coming up.
Witness the new disaster coming out of the White House which would force private firms like Facebook, Skype, and RIM to assist the government with spying on you. They are to cripple, deliberately, any safeguards they have on your privacy to make it easier for government snoops.
Remember: already nothing prevents them from listening in on the Internet. What they are demanding now is a huge expansion of power to require encryption in America to be crippled for the benefit of domestic Internet spies. Or at least, that’s the phrasing the left used throughout the Bush administration, so I’m going to throw it back in their disingenuous faces every single chance I get.
Remember when fining Janet Jackson’s breast was the worst thing going on in Washington with respect to this stuff, and how horrible that was? As the sign goes, “Miss me yet?”
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Good evening. Welcome to the special, totally planned, and not at all a fallback because I wore out after a week of catching up after the RS Gathering, Saturday edition of Tech at Night. I did want to make sure we all read about this poll by Hart Research Associates which shows over 75% of likely voters (MoE should be about 3.4 for a sample of 800) saying that the Internet works.
Further, support for regulating the Internet is trailing badly at 51 against to 37 for, which means per my handy analysis tool I wrote myself for Unlikely Voter, there’s only a 1% chance per this poll that likely voters actually favor regulating the Internet. This poll is a clear and convincing rejection of the entire FCC/Free Press agenda.
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During the California Senate primary, my major criticisms of Carly Fiorina were that she had no public track record to back her on the issues, and that as a novice campaigner she was liable to make mistakes and lose a winnable race. During the race I didn’t quite give her the Tom Campbell treatment, but I gave Chuck DeVore all the support I could.
During the Nevada Senate primary, the major criticism of Sharron Angle were that she was liable to make mistakes and lose a winnable race. She received so many attacks not just during the campaign, but even after when Danny Tarkanian and Sue Lowden came out to criticize her campaigning. At least Chuck DeVore endorsed Carly Fiorina without delay or weasel words.
Meanwhile few said a word about Mark Kirk being unelectable. After all, he’s a veteran House member from a district analysts rate as favored by Democrats. He was supposed to be the safe, comfortable, sure path to a win. And yet he is the one who made a critical mistake that turned his sure pickup into a tie.
And of course there’s Charlie Crist. The popular incumbent Republican governor of Florida was supposed to be just the man we needed in a state that went for Barack Obama, a seasoned politician with the ability to reach out to Democrats and Obama voters and win that state easily. Except now Kendrick Meek is taking his votes from Democrats, Marco Rubio won over Republicans, and he’s falling apart a second time after shivving the Republican party with his spiteful Independent run.
Sometimes we’re all just plain wrong about a candidate, and a person who wins a primary has more of what it takes than outsiders ever expected.
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Another quick one tonight. I’d feel bad, but the Net Neutrality situation is so important that the current developments by themselves are worth noting. And here’s the key fact right now: It is confirmed that Net Neutrality will not be on the agenda at the FCC’s September meeting. They’ve talked for months, but they’re going to talk some more.
My theory is that Google has pulled out the rug from everyone, the White House is considering going along with the plan as it can be said to meet the President’s campaign promise (transparency online, no discrimination on the public Internet, no two tiers of public Internet traffic, you name it). Another theory is simpler: public and industry support for the Free Press plan is collapsing, so the FCC has to throw out that idea and start over.
Even if Free Press pet Commissioner Michael Copps says the sky is falling. Again.
P.S. Remember when I said that Eric Schmidt sounded like he belonged in politics? he’d better work on his image a bit before he tries. He’s just too much of a target right now after he’s made so many outrageous remarks denying Americans should have privacy.
Good evening RedStaters. I spent all weekend battling a monster cold, so I’m still a bit thrown off, and so didn’t even try to get tonight’s installment of Tech at Night in before midnight Eastern. In fact it’ll be a reach to get this done before midnight Pacific, but such is life.
RedState diarist ladyimpactohio (follow her on Twitter at @ladyimpactohio) already scored one big win by peeling the Gun Owners of America from the Free Press radical Net Neutrality coalition, but the right is already at work on the next target: the Christian Coalition. Dick Armey and FreedomWorks are leading this fight, and I’m glad of it.
Way back when I started covering this issue, I said there were three names on the Save the Internet (Free Press front group) list that bugged me: Gun Owners of America, Christian Coalition, and Glenn “Instapundit” Reynolds. If we can peel off at least two of three, I’ll be happy.
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