I don’t know what the context was, but still funny to hear Howard going off on the FCC …
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Posted in: Miscellaneous
In the mix of yesterday’s FCC Broadband report release and today’s FTC Privacy Roundtable and Senate hearing on expanding FTC rulemaking authority, there’s a lot going on in Washington that impacts online commerce. And we heard particularly pointed comments about the future of .com at yesterday’s 25 Years of .Com Policy Impact Forum.
A panel about the Internet and privacy that highlighted how the the future of .com may be less about commerce and more about commissions – particularly the Federal Trade Commission.
Kara Swisher (D: All Things Digital) and Fred Wilson (a VC at Union Square Ventures) dug deep into online privacy issues. They decried the supposed privacy abuses of online companies, particularly by Google and Facebook. And while Kara is smart and well-informed, Fred Wilson was flippant, scattered, and skin-deep with many of his assertions—including when he accused Facebook of pulling off “the greatest privacy heist in history, and they got away with it!”
He’s referring to the changes Facebook made last December to the way users control their privacy settings (NetChoice defended Facebook’s actions on our blog). Facebook made some recommended changes based on where it sees its service going. Users (like me) could change these if they wanted. Some people complained that Facebook changed the default settings, which modified how users previously set some of their preferences.
But does changing the recommended defaults when giving users a choice constitute a “heist?” Only based on whether a user likes it or not. There certainly wasn’t any fraud or misappropriation. Or measurable consumer harm. Still, we heard from pro-regulatory privacy groups that filed a complaint urging that the FTC unleash it’s enforcement hammer.
There are legitimate debates on whether Facebook’s switch in privacy settings was clear and easy enough to understand for most users. But overblown rhetoric on privacy harm is hard to square with other concerns about breaches, ID theft, and other abuses of data. Continue reading →
Comments Posted in: Miscellaneous
Brian Stelter of The New York Times reports today that “C-Span has uploaded virtually every minute of its video archives to the Internet”:
The archives, at C-SpanVideo.org, cover 23 years of history and five presidential administrations and are sure to provide new fodder for pundits and politicians alike. The network will formally announce the completion of the C-Span Video Library on Wednesday.
That’s just incredible. But, as I recently noted in my essay on, “C-SPAN, Civic-Minded Programming & Public Interest Regulation,” what’s more incredible it that this amazing, unprecedented civic resource has been provided to Americans at zero expense for the American taxpayer. Many people fail to realize that C-SPAN is a private, non-profit company that is provided as a public service by cable industry contributions. It receives no government or taxpayer contributions whatsoever. From 1979-2009, total license fees paid by cable & satellite companies to support C-SPAN totaled $922 million.
So, next time you hear someone whining about how the private sector fails to provide “public interest programming,” ask them why the government didn’t think of C-SPAN first. And don’t let them forget how, when C-SPAN first got off the ground, many in Congress fought the idea of public access to the inner workings of government. Thank God some folks in the private sector kept the heat on for access, while also keeping the monetary support flowing for the massive investment necessary to keep this unprecedented public resource alive and growing.
Visit C-SPAN’s amazing — and easily searchable — video archive today: www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary
Comments Posted in: Media Regulation, Miscellaneous
I published an opinion piece today for CNET arguing against recent calls to reclassify broadband Internet as a “telecommunications service” under Title II of the Communications Act.
The push to do so comes as supporters of the FCC’s proposed Net Neutrality rules fear that the agency’s authority to adopt them under its so-called “ancillary jurisdiction” won’t fly in the courts. In January, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard arguments in Comcast’s appeal of sanctions levied against the cable company for violations of the neutrality principles (not yet adopted under a formal rulemaking). The three-judge panel expressed considerable doubt about the FCC’s jurisdiction in issuing the sanctions during oral arguments. Only the published opinion (forthcoming) will matter, of course, but anxiety is growing.
Solving the Net Neutrality jurisdiction problem with a return to Title II regulation is a staggeringly bad idea, and a counter-productive one at that. My article describes the parallel developments in “telecommunications services” and the largely unregulated “information services” (aka Title I) since the 1996 Communications Act, making the point that life for consumers has been far more exciting—and has generated far more wealth–under the latter than the former.
Under Title I, in short, we’ve had the Internet revolution. Under Title II, we’ve had the decline and fall of basic wireline phone service, boom and bust in the arbitraging competitive local exchange market, massive fraud in the bloated e-Rate program, and the continued corruption of local licensing authorities holding applications hostage for legal and illegal bribes.
Comments Posted in: Antitrust & Competition Policy, Broadband & Neutrality Regulation, Miscellaneous, Open Source, Open Standards & Peer Production, Telecom & Cable Regulation
Sorry to use the blog as a job board, but I wanted to let readers know that the Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF) has a couple of positions we’d like to find good people to fill:
- Senior Economist: PFF is looking for a skilled economist (PhD-level preferred) with experience in the high-tech arena or network-related industries. Our senior economist would be responsible for assisting other PFF analysts on various projects and priorities, but would also be free to pursue other objectives.
- Vice President, Development & Outreach: PFF is looking for development director to oversee outreach to supporters and other third parties, and to help us grow the organization.
- President: Yes, you read that right! After less than 6 months on the job, I’m already tired of management and want to get back to full-time policy wonkery! If you know of someone who would make a great leader, has strong free-market credentials, and extensive experience in the field of high-tech policy and media/communications law, please let me know. I’m quite ready and willing to hand over the keys to someone else so I can spend all my time fighting the good fight to defend free minds, free markets, and free speech!
To apply, please send a resume and cover letter to Adam Thierer (athierer@pff.org). Or, if you have any ideas on good candidates, please let me know that, too.
Comments Posted in: Miscellaneous
But I Don't Love You, Elmo
I have decided what my swan song moment in the field of public policy will be. For some time now I’ve been considering retiring from the public policy world since I am really quite sick of political BS in Washington, but I’ve always wanted to go out in style. So, here’s what I plan to do to end my career next week. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has just announced that he will be delivering a major policy speech outlining how the agency’s new National Broadband Plan will benefit children and families next Friday at 10:30. According to the press release, the Chairman will be joined by Sesame Street’s Elmo when making the announcement.
So, here’s my plan… I will go to the event , rush the stage as Genachowski goes up with Elmo, grab Elmo, pull out a fake gun, put it to Elmo’s head, and then shout: “Stop regulating the Net and free speech rights now or the Muppet gets it!”
An ugly scene will no doubt follow in which several of my old friends at Common Sense Media, who are co-hosting the event, will try to talk me down from the cliff by asking me hand over the gun and to “think of the children.” But I’ll rush out the back door of the auditorium with Elmo in tow and escape in my getaway car. (I plan to live in mountains in rural Idaho and skim money off of the FCC universal service fund & the E-Rate program since I know how to rig the system from reading years of GAO reports on fraud and abuse of both!)
OK, so you get that this is all sarcasm, right? I don’t want to Secret Service showing up at my door on the grounds that I am threatening a Muppet. And I certainly don’t want to live in Idaho. But, seriously, what is the deal with politicians appearing with puppets? That’s always freaked me out a bit. I will never forget attending a congressional hearing about children’s television issues back in 1993 and watching a surreal exchange between Rep. Ed Markey and Lamb Chop, the sock puppet. Really, a woman with a sock on her hand (Shari Lewis) delivered testimony to Congress. No, seriously, it really happened. Check it out: Continue reading →
Comments Posted in: Humor, Miscellaneous
Very cool little video here by Jess3 documenting Internet growth and activity. Ironically, Berin sent it to me as Adam Marcus and I were updating the lengthy list of Net & online media stats you’ll find down below. Many of the stats we were compiling are shown in the video. Enjoy!
- 1.73 billion Internet users worldwide as of Sept 2009; an 18% increase from the previous year.[1]
- 81.8 million .COM domain names at the end of 2009; 12.3 million .NET names & 7.8 million .ORG names.[2]
- 234 million websites as of Dec 2009; 47 million were added in 2009.[3] In 2006, Internet users in the United States viewed an average of 120.5 Web pages each day.[4]
- There are roughly 26 million blogs on the Internet[5] and even back in 2007, there were over 1.5 million new blog posts every day (17 posts per second).[6] Continue reading →
Comments Posted in: Miscellaneous
I wasn’t going to pay $35 piece for a couple of 3-foot HDMI cables—the shortest Radio Shack carries—when all I needed were 1-foot cables.
So on Adam’s recommendation I went to Blue Jeans cable, where 1-foot cables are $8.75.
Ordered on Friday night. Shipped Saturday. Arrived Monday.
What more do you need to know? I’ve got a set-up with noooo cable clutter.
Blue Jeans cable is a good outfit, sez this happy customer.
Comments Posted in: Miscellaneous, Technology, Business & Cool Toys
Planet Moron.com has taken a humorous look at the FCC’s pending National Broadband Plan (“We’re Digitally Distressed At How Much This Is Going To Cost Us.”) It’s quite entertaining. They note:
If you are like most Americans, three questions probably pop into your mind:
1) Am I paying for this?
2) Seriously, am I paying for this?
3) Because if I’m paying for this, I’m going to be really ticked off.
Indeed, it’s probably going to cost us a lot more than we can possible imagine, especially with all the lawyering and lobbying that will accompany it. Oh well, that’s Washington for you–we pay $2 bucks to get $1 worth of benefits. I’m voting for the National Elevator Plan instead.
Comments Posted in: Humor, Miscellaneous
Every Tuesday, Washington, DC’s local NPR station (88.5 WAMU) carries a “Tech Tuesdays” program as a regular part of The Kojo Nnamdi Show. This week’s show, which was guest hosted by Marc Fisher of the Washington Post, was on “Regulating the World Wide Web: A View from Abroad.” It was a wide-ranging and very interesting discussion about the future of Internet governance and regulation, featuring:
- Evgeny Morozov: Yahoo! Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University; Fellow, Open Society Institute; and author “Net Effect” blog on ForeignPolicy.com
- John Morris: General Counsel, Director of the Internet Standards, Technology and Policy Project, Center for Democracy and Technology
- Olivier Tesquet: Reporter, Slate.fr (France)
Listen here. It’s worth your time.
Comments Posted in: Miscellaneous
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.
