Keeping politicians' hands off the Net & everything else related to technology
Geese are flying overhead. Leaves are orange. The election is over. A historic moment. And I will be optimistic, and hope that although the economics of the moment seems to be a return to things past… to the 1930s, it will turn out to be otherwise, for a good bit is known now that was not known then, whatever one’s ideology. Continue reading →
The Google Policy Blog announced today that the proposed advertising deal between Google and Yahoo! will no longer be pursued. The DOJ has thrown up too many roadblocks and both companies have decided it’s better to move on than to try to convince regulators to change their minds.
Google seemed to go out of its way to calm regulators and other advertisers who they anticipated would be concerned by the deal given Google’s perceived market power. The policy blog notes that:
Both companies agreed to delay implementation of the agreement to give regulators the chance to review it. While this wasn’t legally necessary, we thought it was the right thing to do because Google and Yahoo! have been successful in online advertising and we realized that any cooperation between us would attract attention.
Of course, this preemptive step didn’t help to stop competitors from running to Washington regulators to ask for the deal to be crushed. Instead, it seems to have helped them deny Yahoo! crucial ad revenue. The Policy Blog notes that the deal “Would have allowed Yahoo! (and its existing publisher partners) to show more relevant ads for queries that currently generate few or no advertisements.”
This is probably the best point to be made in all of this. Yahoo! knows it’s not going to be a leader in search anytime soon, but it’s a leader in many content areas. Its Yahoo! Mail service alone has over a quarter of a billion users, dwarfing Google Gmail.
Transitioning to a content-focused company is probably the best move for Yahoo!, a move that will be much harder without the ability to monetize its more esoteric content as well as search queries.
Once again, in trying to maintain some conception of what competition has been, antitrust regulators have prevented the competition of the future from forming as quickly as might have.
Julian Sanchez will be liveblogging the election returns tonight – poor soul – for a new infotainment outlet: Ars Technica’s Law & Disorder blog (or journal, if you prefer). The inaugural post lays out what it’s about.
He’s as smart and informed as they come, Julian is, so you’d be well-served to keep one eye on Law & Disorder.
Here’s a more interesting election than the one being held today. But I still wouldn’t vote for either of the candidates!
Today was a big day — and not just because there was an election going on! As I mentioned yesterday, the other big news was that the U.S. Supreme Court was hearing oral arguments in the potentially historic free speech case of Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. Again, all the background you need can be found in my post yesterday, so here I will just be summarizing my general thoughts about how the oral arguments played out this morning.
Unfortunately, because no electronic devices or even notepads are allowed in the courtroom, much of what I am relaying here is from memory or from the notes that I surreptitiously scribbled on a tiny piece of scrap paper when the guards weren’t looking. (And yes, I have been reprimanded before for taking notes in the Court!) The transcript has just been released, however, so you can read it through and judge for yourself. Anyway, here are some general thoughts:
WASHINGTON, November 4 – When I heard yesterday that the Supreme Court had declined C-SPAN’s request for immediate release of the audio tapes from today’s oral argument in Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations, I thought I would have to wait for months.
I will have to wait months for the audio-tape, of course, but the other part of the story is the Supreme Court now releases the transcript of oral arguments on the same day. It has already done so on the SCOTUS site. And (surprise-of-surprises), the transcript identifies the individual justices who are asking questions!
This is probably old hat to those who follow the high court on a day-in-and-day-out basis. It’s been a few years (I think Brand X was the last case) since I’ve heard one live. But this is a true revolution in transparency, and very helpful for those who want to follow what goes on at the Supreme Court.
The Cato Institute is holding a book forum Thursday on David Friedman’s book Future Imperfect: Technology and Freedom in an Uncertain World.
David Friedman, author of such books as The Machinery of Freedom and Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life, now looks at a variety of technological revolutions that might happen over the next few decades, their implications, and how to deal with them. Topics range from encryption and surveillance through biotechnology and nanotechnology to life extension, mind drugs, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence. One theme of the book is that the future is radically uncertain. Technological changes already begun could lead to more or less privacy than we have ever known, freedom or slavery, effective immortality or the elimination of our species, and radical changes in life, marriage, law, medicine, work, and play. “If it can be done, it will be done,” David Friedman has said. “So the interesting thing to me is not what should you stop but how do you adapt.” We do not know which future will arrive, but it is unlikely to be much like the past. It is worth starting to think about it now.
Friedman is a great thinker. It will be a stellar event. Register here now.
WASHINGTON – November 4 /TLF News Service/ — The recently announced Alcohol Liberation Front event, Thursday, November 6 from 5:30pm on at Gazuza (1629 Connecticut Ave NW), has already roiled the social media world, but organizers pledge to carry on despite the ALF 7 controversies.
“I ain’t a quitter. People ask me to quit. ‘Stop Tweeting – it’s hurting my eyes,’ they say,” said someone other than Brooke Oberwetter, ALF 7 organizer. “But I ain’t a quitter. I’m keepin’ on keepin’ on. ‘Keepin’ on keepin’ on’? Did I just invent that! Better Tweet it!”
Trading on shares of privately-held Facebook remained suspended on the major markets today after it was revealed that the platform doesn’t permit the names of events to be changed. A typo rendering ALF 7 as ALF 6 on the Facebook event page threatens to bring down the social networking giant.
“Facebook won’t let me change the event name,” roared an enraged Berin Szoka on the Facebook page announcing the event. “I pledge to do everything in my power to destroy Facebook,” he didn’t say.
Meanwhile, one pageview of the Facebook event page displayed an ad that caught TLFer Jim Harper as an outrageous effront to the law of trademark. The image at right, displayed exclusively here on TLF and anywhere someone deems it appropriate, shows a screenshot of an ad that may violate Apple’s rights in the iPod trademark.
“It’s not outrageous. Don’t say that. I just think that calling a shaver the ‘iPod of shaving’ has the potential to cause consumer confusion as to the source of the shaver by suggesting that it’s an Apple product. There are so many mistaken allegations about trademark law – this could be a real trademark violation, and it’s worth pointing out.”
Asked if he would be an expert witness in any case brought by Apple, Harper replied, “You’re not funny, you know. You’re writing this yourself, by yourself, and not interviewing anybody. Oh yeah. You’re being ‘meta’ or something. Whatever. How stupid.”
“Sourpuss” Harper will be one of the attendees at the Alcohol Liberation Front event, Thursday, November 6 from 5:30pm on at Gazuza (1629 Connecticut Ave NW).
As Adam noted last week, he’ll be debating Jonathan Zittrain, author of The Future of the Internet–And How to Stop It, at the New America Foundation this Thursday afternoon at 3:30. Since it seems like a number of TLF readers and contributors will be attending, we’ve decided to piggyback off the event and continue the discussion afterwards with Alcohol Liberation Front 6. After the NAF panel is over, we’ll be headed to Gazuza (1629 Connecticut Ave, NW), probably arriving shortly after 5:30 or so. JZ, Adam, and some of the TLF gang will be joining us, and we hope you will too.
WHAT: Alcohol Liberation Front 7
WHEN: Thursday, November 6 from 5:30pm on
WHERE: Gazuza (1629 Connecticut Ave NW)
WHO: Adam Thierer, Jonathan Zittrain, TLFers, and you! See who else is coming at our Facebook event page.
(Special thanks to one-time TLF contributor and libertarian folk hero Brooke Oberwetter for organizing this event.)
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.
