I skipped Tech at Night on Friday because I was preparing for the Extra Life event. Saturday NSA listening in on foreigners using Google is part of their job, folks. So if the Germans or anyone else don’t like it, even if they get the traitor Edward Snowden to help them censor and regulate their own Internet, my answer to those nations who don’t like the NSA is still: “Come and take it.”
Though it’s still apparent that the ‘leaks’ coming out such as this about Pope Francis are being crafted (not chosen, crafted) to sound plausible, attempting to push our buttons and play to our prejudices. Snowden’s accusations and ‘documents’ surely include the best fabrications Snowden’s Russian paymasters’ money can buy.
Don’t forget, though: metadata is harmless to collect, as it involves collecting only that data which is already public.
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Tech at Night is coming when it’s plenty light out this afternoon, because I need to start getting some sleep in preparation for my 25 hour broadcast as part of the Extra Life children’s hospital charity event.
The FCC got two new commissioners this week, a good one in Michael O’Rielly, and a likely bad one in Tom Wheeler. This came only after Ted Cruz got the answers he was looking for. Then again, under Barack Obama that’s the best we could hope for.
It’s very rare that I agree with a gun grabber like Dianne Feinstein but come on, she’s annoying the right people by calling out Snowden as the traitor he is.
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How busy and important is FCC? They have time to worry about fluorescent lights in every small business in America, it seems.
More proof kids don’t belong on the Internet: the anarchoterrorists of Anonymous are now recruiting 12 year old elementary school students to commit crimes for them. Please take note, everyone. The Internet is a dangerous place that is not safe for kids.
That said, beware ideas for government-directed national cybersecurity plans or regulations, such as those proposed often by Democrats. They can’t even secure the Obamacare website, let alone tell you how to secure yours. Share information only. Pass CISPA, not new mandates.
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Crime in Bitcoin is big money. $28.5 million more worth if Bitcoins have been taken from the Silk Road racket. Other things are big money in Bitcoin too, such as those on Reddit who are paying young women to take their clothes off and put the video on the Internet, a great personal risk to themselves.
It’s no wonder Bitcoin people are trying to run offshore to countries like China hostile to liberty and the rule of law, even as they try to hide their tracks accessing US markets with conspiracies like Tor.
It’s also no wonder the anarchists have seized upon recent events to try to demonize the NSA.
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Sorry I missed Monday. That night it just slipped my mind and I went to bed!
The purpose of patents is to encourage useful works. That’s not just my idea. It’s in the Constitution. That’s why anti-patent troll legislation makes sense. Apparently more and more people are agreeing, because patent trolls are starting to lobby against it. Though I still say the best way to fight patent trolls is to stop issuing so many bad patents to begin with, by taking away that source of funding from USPTO that gives them an incentive to give too many patents. Give them a fixed budget.
Look, I’m fine with the kind of non-specific transparency of FISA warrants Google is loking for but ACLU trying to help terrorists isn’t interesting to me at all.
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Seen on RedState Friday: Geoffrey Manne talks about FCC rigging the spectrum game, which is such a shame since spectrum auctions are one of the greatest regulatory innovations we’ve seen.
I bet you heard all there was to hear about Ted Cruz after the shutdown ended? Nope. He’s taking on the President’s nominee for FCC Chairman, Tom Wheeler. He wants answers, and he’s entitled to get them.
Bitcoin and crime just seem to go hand-in-hand.
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Next time you wonder why there is such a push to pick winners and losers with regulation, remember that industries like broadcast TV don’t like to become buggy whip makers, so they have to go after firms like Aereo who innovate and threaten traditional revenue streams.
Which is why, as much as I do agree that there are a number of piecemeal copyright reforms we should make, I disagree that fixing radio regulation isn’t a good idea. We have a system in place now called ‘compulsory licensing’ which is designed to rig the marketplace. Getting to a free market is a valuable thing. Copyright is probably too strong, but this isn’t where we need to trim it back, at all.
Let’s walk and chew gum at the same time. Let’s take on targeted copyright reform as Derek Khanna suggests, while also deregulating radio/music licensing.
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Here we go again, a group of organized criminals seeks to attack innocents. “First sentence, then trial.” I’m looking forward to when prison sentences are given out to these people of Anonymous. Hacktivist is apparently a code word for ‘anarchist terror cell.’
I mean, just like Tor users (who are getting traced as well as they’re getting arrested), we just keep on arresting Anonymous cells.
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I know, it’s two weeks in a row the Friday tech got pushed the the weekend. Sorry.
The war on Tor crime continues as the Silk Road arrests go on and on and on. Next up, find the killers for hire?
Oh look, Edward Snowden and the Glenns Greenwald are in cahoots again. Even as the new push is on to claim he gave no data to the Chinese and Russians. I guess he needs that cover to try to get asylum?
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How desperate do you have to be? The radicals at Public Knowledge are trying to take credit for Republican initiatives. To claim a lefty was the ‘thought leader’ behind phone unlocking is ridiculous. That was Derek Khanna. Even Washington Post says so.
AT&T is wishing for a modern FCC so that they can innovate with the IP revolution. Instead FCC is threatening the economy by stalling, and for the basest of reasons: to try a power grab.
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