Tech at Saturday Morning: Google’s FTC problem; Panetta unhinged on cybersecurity
By: Neil Stevens (Diary) | October 13th at 12:30 PM |
Funny how Google says they can’t fix Googlebombs when the fact is, Google is constantly improving its search algorithms. After all, the Bush-era Googlebombs of WhiteHouse.gov disappeared pretty quick after Obama was elected.
Stuff like this is why I don’t expect Google’s regulatory problems to go away in the event of a Romney win. Google has left its systems open (Blogger, Search, Youtube) for the left to abuse the right, and has been slow to react. It’s going to be very easy for the left wing of the GOP to get talked into expanding government to come after them, unfortunately.
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Tech at Night
Tech at Night: FCC’s own snooping scandal? Also, Collins turns on Obama on cybersecurity
By: Neil Stevens (Diary) | October 11th at 12:30 AM |
Remember the Google Wi-Spy Street View scandal? A seemingly-harmless survey of the country turned into a massive snooping operation, and the FTC smacked them for over 20 million dollars. Well, not only is FCC now wasting money with a survey of Internet speeds, but it turns out that the FCC program runs the risk of warrantless snooping of its own!
We need strong, reformist regulators to be appointed in the next administration to stop stuff like this.
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Tech at Night: We need to attack the core problem of state-run cyber attacks, not grow government
By: Neil Stevens (Diary) | October 8th at 11:30 PM |
So, more cybersecurity. The government is starting to recognize state actors online, which makes sense given that enemies like Iran aren’t shy about it. That’s good. Recognizing fact is a prerequisite to making good policy. But I think trying to dictate to private business is the wrong idea. Huawei and ZTE may be organs of the People’s Liberation Army, which would make it a good | Read More »
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Tech at Night: FCC forced to do the right thing on content; FTC all wrong on Google antitrust
By: Neil Stevens (Diary) | October 6th at 03:30 AM |
Even the Obama regulators occasionally do things right. It was right for FCC to let the regulation die that forced cable companies to license original content to competitors. Though as The Hill points out, it may have done so out of a fear that the courts would force the issue anyway, not out of any desire to deregulate. Naturally House and Senate Democrats can’t abide the least bit of deregulation.
But don’t worry, they’re still making mistakes, too. They can’t free up spectrum until 2015, moving at a snail’s pace in a fast moving industry. And FTC’s antitrust attacks on Google are ludicrous. The standard for antitrust is high: if I recall correctly you have to show market power, being wielded, in a way that harms customers. I’m not sure that, relative to Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon, that such points can be made at all.
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Tech at Night
Tech at Night: Obama is dangerously wrong on Cybersecurity; T-Mobile to buy MetroPCS for the Spectrum
By: Neil Stevens (Diary) | October 4th at 01:00 AM |
Everyone else is talking about the debate, but I’m going to touch on cybersecurity tonight. There was a great overview of what the issues and stakes really are on Monday’s Coffee and Markets. Francis Cianfrocca doesn’t post as much as he used to at RedState – he, not government, is building his business – but he sure knows what he’s talking about when it comes to government, military, and critical infrastructure cybersecurity. And he and I are in agreement that the Obama plan is wrong.
Kay Bailey Hutchison is also saying that a new Senate report on the topic also makes the case. “For months now I’ve been saying that it would be a mistake for the Administration to give the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) control over our nation’s cybersecurity. This report affirms my position, and I urge the Administration to take the report into account and not issue an Executive Order that significantly expands DHS’s role in cybersecurity.”
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Tech at Night: Reformist regulators are needed to undo the Obama damage
By: Neil Stevens (Diary) | October 2nd at 12:00 AM |
I don’t think it’s ever too soon for conservatives to start pressuring Mitt Romney to appoint reformist regulators, because the Obama regulators are bad news, retarding innovation and growth. Per Fred Campbell, “If the FCC had adopted the eligibility restrictions proposed by PISC in 2007, the United States would not have achieved the LTE leadership touted by current FCC Chairman Genachowski.”
Also remember, the same White House talking about a power-grab of a Cybersecurity executive order can’t even secure itself. If Barack Obama issues the EO, that’s another thing Mitt Romney must repeal DAy One.
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Tech at Night: Potentially promising FCC moves on Spectrum and the Spectrum Screen
By: Neil Stevens (Diary) | September 29th at 01:30 AM |
Top story: the FCC is moving forward with spectrum auctions, providing incentives for television stations to auction off their spectrum for wireless Internet use. We could see the auctions completed by the end of 2014.
Everyone admits there’s a spectrum crunch, and on the right and left of the FCC they say it’s a difficult question of how to transfer spectrum to alleviate it. Greg Walden is right though that this is good “if implemented well.” Bruce Mehlman of iia calls it “a terrific start” and that’s also true.
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Tech at …. Night? : Racist spectrum? ; How to undo the Obama damage
By: Neil Stevens (Diary) | September 27th at 09:30 AM |
Oops. Went to bed before putting up Tech at Night last night. Sorry about that! Special morning edition instead!
Even as House extremists are effectively calling it racist to free up spectrum in America, the IIA has it right that we need the FCC to be serious about this.
So here’s an action point for anyone interested: tell Mitt Romney that he needs to appoint strong, reformist regulators not just to stop the bleeding in all regulatory agencies, but actually to roll back the disastrous Obama years. Repeal and replace. It’s not just for Obamacare anymore.
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Tech at Night: Obama administration contradicts itself on Cybersecurity, House looking at Sales Tax issues
By: Neil Stevens (Diary) | September 24th at 11:00 PM |
As if it’s not bad enough that Barack Obama and the DHS are planning to defy the Congress and rule by decree on Cybersecurity, we’ve now got Jay Rockefeller using intimidation to try to apply a chilling effect to any opposition to the leader.
The dumbest part? Even as one part of the administration pushes cybersecurity, another pushes for back doors, which is a massive reduction in security, never mind the government spying angle.
Hoo boy. Steve Womack in the House is jumping into the sales tax debate, proposing a similar plan to the Streamlined Sales Tax-backing Marketplace Fairness Act already in the Senate. I expect one of these to pass under President Romney.
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Tech at Night: Obama and FCC power grabs in Cybersecurity and Spectrum; FCC spying
By: Neil Stevens (Diary) | September 22nd at 06:30 AM |
Wow: For a year FCC was tracking the movements of its speed testers without telling them! Privacy! Transparency!
Meanwhile the administration continues to try to do things on its own, without bothering to check that part of the Constitution that says how a bill becomes a law. Remember, the Lieberman-Collins Cybersecurity Act failed in the Senate. It has no business becoming an executive order. It also turns out that they are also looking to grab power when it comes to spectrum, which isn’t great news given the FCC’s obstruction and opposition to the use of efficient market allocation.
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Tech at Night: Will Cyber-Libertarians learn this time around?
By: Neil Stevens (Diary) | September 20th at 12:00 AM |
I like Moe’s title here: The cyber-libertarians discover that liberals are not cyber-libertarians. The question is, will they learn, or like bad scientists will they ignore the results of the experiment and vote Obama again?
Especially as the President’s team is shameless in its openly plotting to defy the Congress’s rejection of the Cybersecurity Act by Lieberman and Collins.
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Tech at Night: BRAINS; White House admits cybersecurity rule by decree is coming
By: Neil Stevens (Diary) | September 17th at 11:30 PM |
Chuck Schumer is introducing the BRAINS Act and it’s not even about zombie preparedness. Come on, get on the ball guys. Well, it’s actually a bill about getting smart people into the US from other countries. However, rather than lock them down and distort the market with H1-Bs, we’ll give them a path to a green card. Sounds good to me. Though I also like Lamar Smith’s eliminating of the diversity lottery.
And the administration admits rule by decree is in the works for cybersecurity. Night and day. That’s the difference between Mitt Romney and Barry Obama, folks.
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Tech at Night: No Cybersecurity Executive Order, Please. Or any new regulation, really.
By: Neil Stevens (Diary) | September 15th at 02:00 AM |
Look, 11,000 pages of regulations have been added under Barack Obama. Consider that the Federal Register only needed 71,000 pages total in 1975. These regulations are being added without transparency, as well.
This is too much, and he wants to grow government further with an executive order on Cybersecurity, which is rightly opposed by a group of Senators in the Wall Street Journal. Enough is enough.
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Tech at Night: FTC slays the Myspace Beast; Obama planning rule by decree on Cybersecurity
By: Neil Stevens (Diary) | September 13th at 03:30 AM |
It is done! Privacy is saved in America? The huge looming threat of Myspace has been defeated by FTC! Don’t you feel so much safer now that the dynamic, active regulators of the Obama administration have clamped down on a competitor of Facebook?
Shame on me. Remember when I went with the claim that Anonymous took down GoDaddy? Well, It may have been an opportunistic claim.
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Does that star-spangled banner yet wave?
By: Neil Stevens (Diary) | September 11th at 02:00 PM |
“On September 11, 2001, acts of terrorism took the lives of thousands at the World Trade Center in New York City, in a grassy field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and here at the Pentagon.”
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