Tech at Night: Getting proven right on CISPA, again, as Obama proves to be anti-privacy.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  May 9th at 12:30 AM  | 

I’m on antihistamines and hoping I’m not getting too sick, so this is going to be less… focused than it usually will be. Hang on.

Let’s recap the CISPA situation. Anonymous is proving why we need it (though BGR is delusional for thinking Anonymous was “attacking North Korea” when it hacked Twitter accounts, though BGR does sometimes go gaga for radical propaganda). China is, too. But the administration is opposing CISPA on “privacy” grounds. Hold that thought.

The Obama administration is not opposing and may back government mandates for “wiretapping” Internet communications – that is, government-mandated backdoors into encrypted communications. What was that about privacy, again?

At least Republicans are still serious on the matter, looking at the large scale of thefts and spying going on. Make no mistake: this is aimed at China. In theory it would affect Iran, but we already embargo them, so this affects China.

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Tech at Night: Why we need CISPA. Enzi defends the Sales Tax compact.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  April 13th at 01:30 AM  | 

CISPA is still the top issue right now. The new version is getting broad support in industry, it appears. Again: the attacks America faces against our government and industry would be acts of war if done on the high seas, but are continuing consequence-free just because they’re online. Francis Cianfrocca points out what is needed: a framework for sharing information about threats. Not massive regulations, which won’t help. Not blaming the victim, which will make the bad guys laugh.

In Internet Sales Tax Compact news, Mike Enzi is feeling the heat to defend his bill to his constituents, and is making reasonable arguments for it. “If we don’t collect that revenue, they’ll have to find a new source.” Ding. “This is a states’ rights bill and it would require the states to act before anything could happen.” Ding. But we shall see if it can pass the House. I do wonder if the terrible “fairness” rhetoric from the big box retailers has poisoned the well.

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Tech at Night: Odds and ends on security and regulation

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  April 3rd at 11:15 PM  | 

Here we go again. The Weekend-at-Bernies-ificatoin of Aaron Swartz continues. He made an example of himself to become an anti-copyright martyr, and now we’re supposed to degrade property rights online to give him his way anyway. Pass.

Computer Fraud and Abuse is a problem, but foreign threats are an issue, too. That’s why we also need to pass CISPA which started off as the low-regulatory, small-government alternative to the Democrat power grab, if you recall. Funny how the so-called libertarians only rally agains the GOP proposal, and stayed silent against Lieberman-Collins last time.

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Cyprus Deal Takes 40% of Depositor Cash

By: Brad Jackson (Diary)  |  March 25th at 10:05 AM  | 

On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss the the deal struck in Cyprus, how it’s similar to Obama’s GM takeover and Larry Kudlow’s change of heart on Ben Bernanke.

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Tech at Night: Sales tax deal is dead. Silly video privacy law gone. Obama makes life harder.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  January 3rd at 02:30 AM  | 

Hey La-Mulanites! I’m Neil, and let’s play Tech at Night.

Anyway. Yeah, I took a break, as you may have noticed. It turns out between Christmas, New Year’s and the Fiscal Cliff, not much happened for me to cover, anyway! So let’s get started.

Two legislative notes: the outmoded video privacy law passed, while the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act is dead in the water. I always said its best chance was President Romney and a Republican Senate, but now that’s not happening. Poor Amazon, bargaining with states on the assumption this would happen.

And in case you forgot, a Cybersecurity executive order would be a bad thing, per Marsha Blackburn and Steve Scalise.

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Tech at Night: Hurricane Sandy thoughts, Cybersecurity inconsistency from the administration

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?

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Tech at Night: Obama, not Google, politicized regulation. FCC needs a new direction.

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

Google is a target now. The EU is threatening to do its people a disservice by trying to fight Google innovation as hard as they fight Microsoft innovation. Because here’s the thing: people who voluntarily use Google software are not at all the same as people who were snooped on by Google Street View vans. They’re not victims. They’re people choosing to sign their privacy away. The EU, in attacking Google, is restricting choice for Europeans.

Meanwhile, in the US, I have to disagree with Scott Cleland on Google’s FTC issues. Regular readers know I’m hard on Google when it’s warranted: in the Wi Spy mess, and in the Safari hack, I supported regulatory action against the firm. But the antitrust and Search Neutrality disputes are stupid, and are themselves political power grabs. The Obama regulators are themselves political power seekers. Google is not politicizing any process. Obama and his people already did.

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Ukraine Election Breaking Ground

By: Breeanne Howe (Diary)  |  October 17th at 10:56 AM  | 

In less than 2 weeks, Ukraine will hold a historical election with 36.7 million registered voters going to the polls.  Their parliament, Verkhovna Rada, recently adopted a new electoral law that is more in line with international standards and builds on Ukraine’s successful efforts to move towards Westernization.  The election, set for October 28th, will be a mixed voting system with 250 members of Verkhovna | Read More »

Ukraine Continues To Seek Independence

By: Breeanne Howe (Diary)  |  October 8th at 12:00 PM  | 

As tensions continue to rise in the Middle East, so does the price of oil and concerns that energy supplies from the region may be disrupted.  U.S. dependence on Middle East oil has long been a topic of concern, with little being done to alleviate the situation.  Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said that he will move forward with the Keystone XL pipeline project that | Read More »

The EU and the UN Want to Raise Your Taxes

By: Brad Jackson (Diary)  |  September 20th at 10:03 AM  | 

On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by David Williams to discuss efforts by the EU to tax American airlines, the UN plans to tax tobacco in the US and the growing movement here at home to tax online purchases.

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Tech at Night: A good old FCC roundup on Independence Day

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  July 5th at 12:00 AM  | 

It’s Independence Day, which was very nice for me since I kept on resting and feel just about healthy now. No Tech on Monday thanks to my cold that wiped me out since Sunday. Unfortunately Google decided today was the day to celebrate a song that, while American, was specifically designed to carry political meaning as well as to reply to the Christian and patriotic | Read More »

Tech at Night: Steve Scalise on a roll, Privacy hypocrisy, We’re proven right on AT&T/T-Mobile

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  May 31st at 03:30 AM  | 

Gotta love it when Tech at Night is delayed because Comcast, despite telling me they’d auto-bill my card, choose not to do the auto-bill and instead just shuts off my Internet out of the blue. Lovely. So anyway, I’m unfortunately now low on time to create lengthy narratives, so we’ll do what we can. So, Steve Scalise, a rising tech star in the House, is | Read More »

Tech at Night: Cybersecurity, Retransmission Consent, Challenging Mike Lee on Google Antitrust

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  May 22nd at 02:00 AM  | 

So, Cybersecurity. I’ve spent so much time talking about why the Lieberman-Collins Cybersecurity bill in the Senate is terrible, and anti-PROTECT IP champion Ron Wyden has taken up the opposition as well, but there is need for some enhanced ability of government to coordinate against and to attack Internet security threats. Here’s a Reddit post that should scare people about the kinds of ongoing criminal | Read More »

Do Welfare States Incur Odious Debts?

By: Repair_Man_Jack (Diary)  |  May 9th at 12:00 PM  | 

We think single currencies really require single governments…There’s nowhere in the world that has more of a single currency without having more of a single government. British PM David Cameron (HT: The Daily Mail).

Socialism Comes to France

By: Brad Jackson (Diary)  |  May 7th at 10:00 AM  | 

Download Podcast | iTunes | Podcast Feed On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech discuss the defeat of Nicolas Sarkozy in France, the Greek Election, and how a left-ward turn in Europe could impact the US. We’re brought to you as always by Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We | Read More »