By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  February 9th at 01:30 AM  | 

Been a while since we started with some Google. Taking fire from two directions right now: I’ve pointed out that we need to watch them to see if they end up as politically even handed as they now claim to be. Microsoft is also after them by attempting to discredit their privacy policies.

Here’s the problem though. Microsoft’s ad campaign assumes people actually care about privacy. They don’t. Their actions in the marketplace indicate otherwise. That’s the real reason people don’t care about long privacy policies. Which is also why the only net effect of a California simplified privacy policy rule, would be to drive job creators out of the state.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  February 7th at 03:00 AM  | 

The anti-copyright crusaders are going to try to use this latest DMCA horror story as a reason to eliminate DMCA. I disagree. Of all the DMCA uses that go on in this country, most of them fly under the radar. How many are correct? Probably most. Will mistakes happen? Yup. Are copyright holders overzealous? Yup. Is this reason not to strengthen the system? Yup. But it’s not reason to repeal it. It’s a tradeoff and a compromise.

Of course, the real motive of DMCA critics is to open the Internet to mass copyright infringement on free services like Wordpress.com, Youtube, and others. These are the same people who think abusers should be able to to onto MIT’s network and abuse MIT’s JSTOR access to commit mass, premeditated copyright infringement, and then blame MIT, JSTOR, and the government for the crime.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  February 2nd at 06:30 PM  | 

…and topple the government there, here’s the actual reason. On January 28, 2013, the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) authorized the small, Caribbean country of Antigua and Barbuda (Antigua) to suspend its obligations regarding American intellectual property rights. As a result, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda will be able to authorize the sale of products of innocent holders of copyrights, | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  January 29th at 03:00 AM  | 

Sorry for the lack of Tech on Friday. I was sick and doing my best to sleep it off. I’m at about 95% now, so let’s catch up.

How do I know privacy regulation and legislation are bad ideas? Nobody actually cares. Sure, they talk like they care, but until people start taking proactive steps and act like they’re taking it seriously, I know it’s just talk. Just like how everyone says they hate Congress, but love their own representation.

So yeah, if you’re moaning about Google on your Blogger site, and emailing to your friends about it from your Gmail account, and using Google Maps to get directions to your privacy rally… I don’t take you seriously.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  December 18th at 01:30 AM  | 

Hello again. Having been traveling from Wednesday to Friday for my employer, I did my best to get this out Friday night, but I crashed about a third of the way into my backlog of links. Then over the weekend my email server died. So, we catch up with Tech at Night on Monday!

We’ll start with the International Telecommunications Union. Reports came out that ITU anti-liberty proposals were backing off, but the effort is going in the wrong direction. A big chunk of the Anglosphere is against it, including the Obama administration.

The President is getting credit for this position from industry and House Republicans, but consider this: if the ITU’s secretary general didn’t see the Obama opposition coming then just how muted were Obama’s efforts to fix the treaty to begin with? This is a failure of the President to lead internationally.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  December 8th at 10:30 AM  | 

Gotta love it: I go to take a nap before Tech at Night but… oops, somebody forgot to press the Start button on that 2 hour timer. So, suddenly it’s Tech at Saturday Morning!

So yeah, we’ll start with a story that actually got me mad: the ongoing story of that now-famous RSC paper on copyright. There are conflicting reports out there, but most I’m seeing suggest there’s a real change going on at RSC, the same way there’s been a purge of a certain wing of the party elsewhere in the House.

I’m disappointed by all of this. If the RSC is going to oppose copyright reform the same way most of us oppose anarchic anti-copyright views, then the RSC is aligning itself with the most extreme perpetual-copyright views held by groups like MPAA. If there is to be no compromise, then I cannot work with them either, since my views have been declared to be in opposition to RSC.

Purges have consequences. It’s time we stopped pretending RSC is anything but an organ of the RSC establishment now. They’re clearly not speaking for the conservative reform wing of the GOP, as they once did long ago.

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

Jim Cicconi doesn’t think the ITU treaty will be that bad for business, but the more I think about it, the worse this could be for liberty. This could be the time that big government worldwide gets together to clamp down on the free exchange of information online. That’s why there is strong and growing opposition to what is brewing there.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  November 27th at 01:00 AM  | 

It’s funny how the same House Judiciary Committee that took up SOPA is now taking up IRFA, opposed by a growing list of groups including Taxpayers Protection Alliance, ATR, CAGW, and ACU. SOPA of course would have grown government in the name of strengthening copyright. IRFA makes government meddle more in a way that weakens copyright. And not in a good way, either: IRFA would not encourage innovation or content creation. It just favors Internet broadcasters over everyone else.

Also yeah, the RSC paper on Copyright that I backed before it was wrongly pulled, it is not a statement against property rights nor is it against copyright at all. If the side favoring ever-lengthening copyright cannot argue honestly with us, and has to mischaracterize those of us who favor an approach to copyright that balances the interests involved, then that to me suggests a deficiency in their position.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  November 21st at 05:00 AM  | 

I said earlier this week that I wouldn’t comment on the RSC’s pulling of the copyright paper until I studied it. Well, I studied it, and they were wrong to pull it. Of course, for saying that, I’m being called some radical opposing the free market.

Meanwhile I’m getting called an ignorant tool of the big media companies because I oppose further market meddling in the form of IRFA.

It’s rare that a bill rises in awareness quickly but then dies hard. But by the time I’d even heard about the new Patrick Leahy power grab, this time spying on emails allegedly, he’s already given up on it. Score one for small government, at least.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  November 20th at 12:00 PM  | 

The Republican Study Committee backed off on copyright reform after publishing what was an important paper on the topic. The excuse is that the paper needed further review, but what I fear is that the paper actually went further than rent-seeking allies of squishy centrist Republicans are willing to go. I have no evidence to sustain this. It’s just my gut feeling. The paper went out, industry groups had to have seen it, given all the attention it got. Over the weekend they complained, and down the paper went on Monday.

I have a copy of the paper, and if we go point by point, it’s hard to find a real reason to oppose it though. So if there is another reason, I’d love to hear it.

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

So you may have heard that the Republican Study Committee pulled the copyright piece I spoke highly of over the weekend. I don’t have anything to say about this just yet. I’m going to reexamine the piece, to see if it had issues I didn’t notice in my quick read over the weekend. I’m also going to try to figure out just what’s happened. Then I’ll have more to say.

Copyright is ramping up, though. Darrell Issa is getting frisky against DMCA, and is going to push legislation. I don’t know if I support such a bill. The DMCA has issues, but for the most part it was a solid compromise that has served us well. It must not be changed lightly.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  November 6th at 02:00 AM  | 

It’s technically Tuesday morning on the east coast, not Monday night, as I write this. So, happy Election Day. Remember to Vote. Vote, and get five friends and family members to vote.

So, let’s remember that the Obama administration is still pushing its scheme to solve cybersecurity by expanding government. Now, experts in the field are scoffing at the word ‘solve’ there, but think about it: They’re telling us that we’ll have a ‘Cyber Pearl Harbor” if we don’t pass their bill/accept their Executive Order. That implies that with the bill, the danger is gone. So they’re entirely unrealistic about this.

Meanwhile, what are they actually doing with their current tools? The Russians are on the move, Anonymous still has functioning elements. At least Canada may be seeing a way forward.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  November 3rd at 04:35 AM  | 

Surprise:Obama’s cybersecurity plans don’t actually fix anything, they just expand government. And yet the administration shamelessly attempts to use the crisis of storm Sandy to try to achieve this end.

At this point the administration’s cybersecurity efforts are as delusional and straw-grasping as its global warming efforts. Though what’s sad is that unlike global warming, there actually is a kernel of truth there that we as a nation could be acting on, but Obama is distracting us with his attempts to expand government.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  November 1st at 02:00 AM  | 

Hello all. I was without power for 25 hours after Sandy, and so I’m a bit behind. So tonight’s edition of Tech at Night is going to be put together a bit quickly. Sorry about that. By the way, while obviously a hurricane can take out wireless towers, wireless was vital for keeping me in touch with the world when I was without power at home. It was great. I’m not sure exactly what good FCC monitoring could do though, except to use a crisis to expand the role of the state.

Watch as the administration plays games: on one hand it tries to use Iranian attacks on banks as an excuse to legislate cybersecurity mandates, instead of attacking Iran back, while on the other hand it opposes cybersecurity mandates at the ITU! How about we oppose all cybersecurity mandates, guys?

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  October 27th at 02:30 AM  | 

Regulation must keep up with the needs of modernization. That’s a point new FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai came to RedState to make, particularly with respect to the Internet transformation going on in telecommunications. As the world “goes IP,” and puts everything on the Internet, regulators must adapt. Make sure to read it. Ajit Pai would have a particularly important role as a reformist regulator should Mitt Romney win.

Regulation today just doesn’t make much sense sometimes, a point Broadband for America makes. The point about ‘edge’ vs ‘core’ of the Internet is important. The firm that sits between you and Google is as important to you as Google. They’re all pieces of the puzzle.