By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  April 12th at 01:00 AM  | 

I’m seeing some real panicked shouting online about CISPA, a new bill that some are calling “the new SOPA.” It’s absurd. The bill may not be perfect. It could have flaws. But the argument being hammered against CISPA again and again is that it may be used against copyright infringers who abuse networks. So? The only reason to oppose that is if you wish to | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  March 24th at 03:30 AM  | 

Ah, the FCC. If The FCC wanted to do incentive auctions to free up spectrum for wireless Internet, they could just do it. They wouldn’t need to set up a task force to talk about the National Broad band Plan to consider it, while instead getting involved in unrelated things like making its own security rules. We need FCC reform. Just say yes to Coase. | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  February 14th at 03:00 AM  | 

Yup, I’m back. And I have roughly a week’s worth of stuff to cover, so let’s go. Top story seems to be that The Obama/Holder Justice Department has no problem with Google’s vertical integration takeover of Motorola Mobility. Interesting. I also await word on whether Google will drop all aggressive patent lawsuits, as they claim to use patents only defensively. Some people never learn. Google | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  January 18th at 04:47 AM  | 

We celebrated Monday when House Majority Leader Eric Cantor effectively signaled the death of SOPA, the Stopping Online Piracy Act. Cantor said the Internet censorship bill would not see a vote until there was consensus on the matter. As long as Darrell Issa, Justin Amash, and Jason Chaffetz are on the case there will be no consensus on sweeping Internet censorship, so Cantor’s position basically | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  December 22nd at 03:30 AM  | 

It seems like forever ago that Marsha Blackburn challenged Free Press to transparency in the group’s funding. Why should it take eight months to respond if Free Press has nothing to hide? Keep the Web OPEN. It’s a simple statement, but it’s one I support. The difference between SOPA and OPEN has been made clear to many thanks to Darrell Issa’s leadership. It’s unclear with | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  December 20th at 01:30 AM  | 

Top story tonight is of course the major win by the triple alliance of George Soros and his front groups like Public Knowledge, Sprint Nextel, and the Obama administration’s dual agency of the FCC and the DoJ. Yes, AT&T has given up on acquiring T-Mobile. I believe they will now have to pay a sizable fee to T-Mobile as compensation. This is bad news for | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  December 15th at 03:30 AM  | 

Ordinarily I use Tech at Night to cover a variety of topics that come my way, and I have them in my queue for tonight. But with over 30 items to consider and integrate, most of them on SOPA, I’m shelving the rest for Friday, and discussing just one topic tonight: We must defeat SOPA in the House. It is entirely unacceptable, and I believe | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  December 10th at 02:30 AM  | 

There’s a new story developing. I’ve touched on it now and then, but the pieces are coming together. The FCC temporarily blocked the AT&T/Qualcomm deal to let AT&T buy spectrum using the excuse that they wanted to evaluate it together with the AT&T/T-Mobile deal. Well, the latter deal has been withdrawn from the FCC, so now what’s the hold up? It turns out that the | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  November 29th at 12:30 AM  | 

What do AT&T, LightSquared, and the late Super Committee have in common? Spectrum. AT&T is the big story right now, too. They know the fix is in, with Sprint, Eric Holder, and FCC all ganging up on them as a team effort. The Obama administration is all but running guns to Sprint in this effort. So, the firm is trying to slip the noose by | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  November 24th at 03:30 AM  | 

Let’s be thankful the Internet isn’t yet censored by a bill like SOPA, as it is Thanksgiving on the east coast as I write this. How many unions must back this bill and its Senate counterpart, PROTECT IP, before Republicans wise up and kill it? Remember, once you give the government censorship power, uses will be found for it. For the children! It’s just another | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  November 8th at 03:10 AM  | 

Oops. It’s midnight as I type this out. I just remembered I’d better do Tech tonight, so here goes. Fortunately I already did my reading! Urgent in the Senate this week is the upcoming vote on Net Neutrality repeal, which was already passed by the House. We need 51 votes, not 60. Less Government has a list of Senators to contact with this urgent message: | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  November 5th at 03:00 AM  | 

There’s been a push lately to attack punitive, unfair taxes on wireless service, one that Erick Erickson signed onto, and was advertised at RedState. Ironically I only found out about it because I saw the ads while working on the code side of the site, but that’s how it goes sometimes. Anyway, that movement seems to have gotten a win, as the House passed the | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  November 3rd at 02:45 AM  | 

Wireless competition continues to grow, as Cricket edges closer to 4G LTE. I’m losing track of how many 4G providers we’re starting to rack up. So yes, the people who tell you smaller and regional carriers are not an acceptable substitute for national carriers? They’re selling you something. That something is an attack on federalism via the Sprint/Soros/Obama/Holder attack on AT&T and the rights of | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  October 18th at 12:30 AM  | 

Sorry if you missed Tech at Night on Friday. I was under the weather. But I’m back, and with so much to review. How about legislation, good and bad? Well, mostly bad. Senate Democrats continue to push for senseless regulation of 4G Internet speeds, hindering vital new technology to increase high-speed Internet competition in America. Worse, Democrat Anna Eshoo is piling on in the House. | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  October 8th at 03:00 AM  | 

Net Neutrality goes to court. Great news, too: Verizon’s preferred venue won the lottery, and the Net Neutrality fight will happen in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. This is, of course, the same circuit that slapped down Net Neutrality last time in Comcast v FCC. Oh, but here’s a big surprise. Despite the FCC claiming previously that “We look forward to defending our open | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  October 4th at 12:00 AM  | 

So, LightSquared. Some say that in some nebulous way, the firm is getting unreasonable and possibly illicit support from the Obama administration. I still don’t see it though, especially after listening in on a briefing of LightSquared’s today. The briefing discussed in depth the issues LightSquared has had with GPS manufacturers. LightSquared that they’re trying hard to be a “good neighbor” and have worked with | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  September 27th at 03:30 AM  | 

Up late tonight. Spent the better part of the last 8 hours setting up my new computer*. Lots of data to transfer around and all that. But fortunately there aren’t many new developments lately to talk about, so let’s go. I’m going to start with LightSquared. Out of the blue, it’s been repeatedly claimed that LightSquared is “the next Solyndra,” and that some nebulous form | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  September 20th at 01:30 AM  | 

I’d like to start off tonight’s edition by saying that I enjoy some of the pushback I’ve been getting in this Tech at Night series. It’s fun when someone comes here, telling me I’m all wet, then ending up admitting they’re enamored of the whole Obama regulatory apparatus. It feels good to have my pro-liberty, pro-growth, small-government positions validated like that. So to the multifaceted | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  September 17th at 02:30 AM  | 

We’ve lost some battles lately. That’s what happens when we let a radical Democrat become President. We let Patrick Leahy’s America Invents Act pass, imposing on America a Euro-style patent system that rewards lawyering, not being the first to invent something. We let the FCC pass an illegal Net Neutrality power grab, and that will have to go to court soon. We’re even seeing some | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  September 13th at 03:30 AM  | 

Competition, growth, and innovation are all important for the American wireless Internet market. We need more, better, and cheaper service if we’re going to move in large numbers to wireless Internet, as some are predicting. This means competition and growth in the 4G sector is vital to our future economic health. And that, in a nutshell, is why I think it’s essential that the government | Read More »