Virginia Attny Gen to Sue FCC Over Net Neutrality

-By Warner Todd Huston

Up to this point, the far left has won the war for branding on the issue of Net Neutrality. Even many conservatives and Republicans have been fooled by the “freedom of the Internet” lies that the left has spun with NN. But the Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli of The Commonwealth of Virginia means to change all that by launching a lawsuit to stop the government take over of the Internet.

First off this claim from the left that they only want to keep the Internet free and open is simply an outright lie. What they really want is two fold. One, they want all capitalist ventures removed from the Internet, and two, they want government to have 100% control over the Internet and they want the Internet treated sort of like a public utility.

The simple fact of the matter is that if government has 100% control over the Internet “free and open” is impossible. Even if this government control starts with no rules over content (and it won’t start that way), it won’t be long before the federal government starts mandating what is on the Internet, starts banning content that it doesn’t like, and starts laying out requirements for those websites lucky enough to be allowed to stay in operation.
Continue reading


Virginia Attny Gen to Sue FCC Over Net Neutrality”


Why We Can’t Trust Government on Technology

-By Warner Todd Huston

Free market advocates have for years been fighting the anti-capitalist left over government control of the Internet, a battle that has reached a temporary plateau when Obama’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) arbitrarily decided that it was in full control of the Internet and by fiat implemented the left’s long-sought net neutrality rules. This isn’t the only technology kerfuffle that the federal government is involved in, either.

Another techno-mess has been raging over a contract being considered by the Department of the Interior for its new email/messaging system using a cloud computing solution. The fight has been between Microsoft and Google and the results tends to prove that the government is as tech stupid as a Luddite on steroids. It tends to show that the government simply can’t be trusted with technology issues, whether net neutrality or otherwise.
Continue reading


Why We Can’t Trust Government on Technology”


Warrantless Searches By Police of Your Cell Phone

-By Warner Todd Huston

News during this past week a story made the rounds that police in Michigan may be using a device in random traffic stops that instantly copies all the data on your cell phone and stores it for later use by police. It was said that this data copying is going on without consent and without a warrant. Michigan police are denying this claim, but the ACLU posted a letter warning them against this policy regardless. The fear here is, of course, that copying cell phone data without a warrant is a violation of the Fourth Amendment’s proscription against illegal search and seizure.

This device copies everything that is on your phone. Your contacts, your emails, your texts, other instant messages, what aps you use, web bookmarks and usage, GPS location info… every bit of data stored on your phone is instantly copied into the device and into the data base maintained by police.

Famed blogger Glenn Reynolds, a lawyer by trade, seems to think that it is obviously a violation of the Fourth and that current law can even be used as precedent to assure that fact. Others are not so sure.
Continue reading


Warrantless Searches By Police of Your Cell Phone”


Another Democrat That Hates the US Constitution

-By Warner Todd Huston

Making it easier every day to assert that Democrats hate the U.S. Constitution, once again we find a Democrat in Congress expressing disgust with the law of the land. This time extremist, left-wing Democrat Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D, CA) was heard complaining to a lefty radio host that many of her new colleagues are just too darned concerned with whether or not the actions of Congress are Constitutional.

Last week Sanchez was on the low-rated Stephanie Miller radio show complaining that many of the 87 new freshman congressmen were too worried if what they were voting on passed muster with the supreme law of the land.

“Everything to them is unconstitutional,” she whined. “It’s unconstitutional, it’s unconstitutional, it’s unconstitutional.”
Continue reading


Another Democrat That Hates the US Constitution”


Does Government Own Your Remotely Backed Up Computer Files, Your Emails, or Your Cell Phone GPS Info?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Did you know that there are no laws to prevent government agencies from raiding your computer’s remotely hosted back up files, your third party emails, your cloud computing files, or your cell phone GPS location records? Well, there aren’t. As the law stands today government can go into your private computer files or trace your cell phone location without a warrant.

As a result of this lapse in protection form unlawful search and seizure a new group of concerned parties intends to change the law with the Digital Fourth Amendment campaign. (http://www.digitalfourthamendment.org/)

The problem is not necessarily that government is out to steal all our computing information, but that the laws have simply not caught up to today’s technology. The laws that cover how policing agencies and governments can access your emails, computer files, and cell phone GPS records are currently governed by rules that are decades out of date. These rules were written in the 1980s, long before the Internet came along, before cloud computing was invented, before email, and well before cell phones that could track your whereabouts became pervasive.
Continue reading


Does Government Own Your Remotely Backed Up Computer Files, Your Emails, or Your Cell Phone GPS Info?”


From Nat’l Journal, One of the Most Biased Reports Seen in Some Time

-By Warner Todd Huston

Once in a while a purported news report is so biased that it simply must be highlighted. Today’s award for the most biased report goes to National Journal for its left-slanted piece on Obama’s warning to the House GOP that he will veto any budget that cancels his FCC attempt to take control of the Internet away from private industry.

In his very first paragraph for the National Journal, Josh Smith dives straight into the left side of the pool — and in at the deep end yet — by accepting the left’s premise of what the FCC’s net neutrality regulations are meant to do.

The White House threatened on Monday to veto any bill from Congress that would scuttle new rules aimed at keeping internet access free and open. (My bold)

Keeping the Internet “free and open”? That is the left’s fanciful contention of what net neutrality does, sure enough, and National Journal parroted that line as if it is a truthful, straightforward description of what the rules do.
Continue reading


From Nat’l Journal, One of the Most Biased Reports Seen in Some Time”


An Interesting 10th Amendment Case That Doesn’t Seem Like One

-By Warner Todd Huston

Sometimes standing up for the Constitution seems a bit annoying, especially in the case of violent felon Mrs. Carol Bond. Fortunately, standing for the Constitution here doesn’t necessarily release a horrible woman into freedom, but it does help to spotlight some unconstitutional federal overreach. In this case, it also centers on the Tenth Amendment, or the reserved powers clause.

The violent felon in question, Mrs. Bond, was found guilty of using various chemicals to perpetrate an acid attack on her husband’s girlfriend. She was convicted of mixing several noxious chemicals and throwing them on her rival causing minor burns. Instead of just charging her on state charges of assault and battery or other such things, the federal government decided to step in and prosecute her for violating a treaty governing chemicals signed with foreign governments.

Mrs. Bond’s lawyers have brought this case before the Supreme Court of the United States claiming that due to the Tenth Amendment she cannot be tried for violating foreign treaties because the incident happened inside the borders of an American state and, therefore, her home state has jurisdiction and the federal government does not.
Continue reading


An Interesting 10th Amendment Case That Doesn’t Seem Like One”


FCC Chief Still Pushing Net Neutrality Without Congressional Action

-By Warner Todd Huston

With the recent midterm election and the resulting GOP tidal wave that is about to inundate Congress, many people have wondered aloud if net neutrality was dead? Well if FCC Chief Julius Genachowski has his way, net neutrality will be implemented by fiat when he has his agency simply change rules without involving congress at all.

The results of this election doesn’t even seem to be giving FCC Chairman Genachowski the slightest pause. Reports are that he is still working on a proposal for the FCC to take over the Internet and implement net neutrality anyway.

In The Hill, Genachowski is quoted saying that he fully intends to bring these rules to fruition.
Continue reading


FCC Chief Still Pushing Net Neutrality Without Congressional Action”


Don’t Censor the Internet! STOP the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act

-By Warner Todd Huston

The politicians are at it again. They never cease to amaze for their constantly revolving attempts to take over complete control of the Internet and everything connected to it. This time, in the guise of safeguarding copyrighted material, Congressional Democrats intend to introduce into this zombie session of congress the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA).

COICA would give the Attorney General the power to shut down websites accused of illegally distributing copyrighted material by requiring Internet Service Providers to block such sites from its customers.

Certainly, as a capitalist, I am solidly for protections against copyright infringement, but, as is the case with most things that government does, this bill goes that much too far and offers a threat to freedom of expression on the Internet.
Continue reading


Don’t Censor the Internet! STOP the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act”


Democrat’s Anti-Capitalist Net Neutrality Wounded, But Not Dead

-By Warner Todd Huston

Just before election day the liberal blogs were aflutter with news that 95 Democratic Congressional candidates had taken the pledge to support Net neutrality if they were elected. That turned out to be a very big “if.” More like a forlorn hope, if you will.

Of those 95 Democrats, the number actually going to Congress in January will be… zero. There hasn’t been a wipe-out like this since the Redskins beat the Broncos 42-10 in the 1988 Super Bowl. Or since Atlantis was swept into the sea, or something.

As far as Internet policy is concerned, last night’s lesson for Republicans should be clear: Internet “neutrality” regulation is a loser with the public. It’s also a loser with businesses. It’s even a loser with the labor unions. That’s not a surprise. Union leaders can sometimes get realistic very quickly when confronted with a federal policy that will cost their members jobs.
Continue reading


Democrat’s Anti-Capitalist Net Neutrality Wounded, But Not Dead”


Net Neutrality: Free Press Loses a Schtick Contest

-By Warner Todd Huston

Recently Comm Daily (subscription required) reported that an FCC decision on net neutrality was unlikely before its January meeting. While uninteresting in itself the one remarkable line in the story had to be this quote from a senior FCC official:

“While they are busy handing out waffles and making posters, we are focused on creating jobs and protecting consumers.”

The FCC official was referring to Free Press, the group that has been relentlessly attacking the FCC and many Democrats for not jumping off the cliff for net neutrality.

As far as can be determined, this is the first time the FCC has ever called out Free Press for its buffoonery. And it’s about time, too. This may be a sign that the FCC has realized that the far left will never stop attacking them – Free Press’s business model depends on staying to the Left of whatever the FCC does — so it’s pointless to try to make them happy.

Who is Free Press? Taking a look at its Flickr photo stream shows why nobody, Republicans or Democrats, actually take Free Press seriously.
Continue reading


Net Neutrality: Free Press Loses a Schtick Contest”


Net Neutrality Supporters Admit, They Want Property Rights Eliminated

-By Warner Todd Huston

Oh, Net Neutrality sure sounds like a great idea. Why, Net Neutrality supporters only want what’s best for “the people,” right? They only want the Internet to be a playground for all, free of the influence of evil corporations, and they want fees to be reasonable for the lowly masses, right? Turns out, not so much. Fair pricing and open access is the least of what Net Neutrality supporters really care about.

The latest wrinkle in the saga of Net Neutrality pretty much proves that Net Neutrality supporters really don’t care much about a free and open Internet as formulated in most people’s minds, nor do they care if corporations offer the Internet in a “fair” manner. No, what Net Neutrality supporters want is the end of ownership of intellectual property. What they really think is that anything that appears on the Internet should be wholly free of any capitalist ends whatever. That includes anything you create, by the way. They aren’t just against those evil corporations. They are against anyone making money on the Internet. That means you too.
Continue reading


Net Neutrality Supporters Admit, They Want Property Rights Eliminated”


As The Chinese Laugh at America, the Failed Nation…

And now we sit in on a lecture by a Chinese Professor explaining why the United States of America has fallen…

Truly chilling.

Video sponsored by Citizens Against Government Waste.


Chile’s Miners Would Still Be Down There if They Were Democrats

-By Warner Todd Huston

The world is rejoicing that the miners trapped for over a month in the bowels of a mountain in Chile are finally rescued. As the rescue was ongoing President Barack Obama said of the worried families, “the tears they shed after so much time apart expressed not only their own relief, not only their own joy, but the joy of people everywhere.” Touching sentiments. These miners have to be joyful about one other thing: that they aren’t miners trapped in an American mine during Obama’s presidency. If they had been, they’d still be down there unable to wipe the tears from their loved one’s faces.

Chile’s President, Sebastián Piñera, famously set aside the bureaucracy of his country’s regulations and set to work rescuing these trapped men. He threw open his arms and accepted help from as many interested nations as possible allowing their experts and scientists to lend a helping hand. The Herculean task was accomplished and everyone came out alive.

But if we can use the British Petroleum disaster in Louisiana as any indication, if those Chilean miners had had the misfortune to have been in an American mine disaster, they’d still be down there wasting away as Obama twiddled his thumbs, quite unlike Chile’s president.
Continue reading


Chile’s Miners Would Still Be Down There if They Were Democrats”


Office Seeking and the Illinois Recall Amendment

From John Bambenek…

Today is the first day of early voting. Illinois law allows for various days of early voting at locations throughout the state. You can find information on where to vote early at this website under “Early Voting”.

As you know, one of the questions you will see is whether to adopt a state constitutional amendment to allow voters to recall the Governor. I urge voters to vote no on this “worse than nothing” provision that only allows voters to recall the Governor when politicians decide it is ok. Before voters could circulate petitions to gather the one MILLION signatures necessary, they need to get a signed permission slip from 30 legislators, 15 from the Governor’s OWN PARTY, which means no recall would ever get off the ground.
Continue reading


Office Seeking and the Illinois Recall Amendment”


Feds Making NYCity Spend $27M to Change Lettering on Street Signs

-By Warner Todd Huston

So you are a busy federal agency with lots and lots to do. You have roads to build, bridges to reinforce, and infrastructure to shore up, but there is something gnawing at your paper pushing soul. It’s those darn street signs in New York City and others. So, like a good, jackbooted government automaton, you storm down to that offending city and demand it spend $27million to change the lettering on those darn signs. I mean it’s not like you have anything else to do, right?

Well, it may seem like a joke but this is precisely what has happened. The Federal Highway Administration has demanded that New York City and other cities change street signs from all upper case to upper and lower (i.e. BROADWAY to Broadway) and it is going to cost an estimated $27 million of the taxpayer’s money to do it in New York City alone.

The city reports that 11,000 signs will have been changed by the end of this fiscal year and the rest will be done by 2018.
Continue reading


Feds Making NYCity Spend $27M to Change Lettering on Street Signs”


As Obama Pretends at Its Freedom, His Gov’t Plans Takeover of Internet

-By Warner Todd Huston

In an address to the United Nations on Thursday, Sept. 23, President Obama pledged to preserve a “free and open Internet” and would call out nations that censored content.

In a veiled reference to China and other nations that censor the Internet, Obama said that a civil society fosters open government. “Civil society is the conscience of our communities, and America will always extend our engagement abroad with citizens beyond the halls of government. And we will call out those who suppress ideas and serve as a voice for those who are voiceless.”

“We will promote new tools of communication so people are empowered to connect with one another and, in repressive societies, to do so with security,” Obama said. “We will support a free and open Internet, so individuals have the information to make up their own minds. And it is time to embrace and effectively monitor norms that advance the rights of civil society and guarantee its expansion within and across borders.”

Yet even as Obama stood giving high sounding words to a “free and open Internet” and scolding other nations that have oppressive controls on Internet access for their own citizens, Barack Obama’s own government has itself been quietly making plans to take over the Internet from private companies.
Continue reading


As Obama Pretends at Its Freedom, His Gov’t Plans Takeover of Internet”


Net Neutrality Update

-By Warner Todd Huston

If you are as worried as I am about the left’s effort to force ever larger amounts of big government onto our lives, then you should be looking into the issue of Net Neutrality. To that end a few times a week I’ll be posting some links and info about Net Neutrality to help you all get your feet wet on this important issue.

Here are just a few of the latest articles on Net Neutrality for your information:

Draft of Waxman’s net-neutrality legislation leaked amid talks
The Hill, by Sara Jerome

Here is a draft copy of the net-neutrality proposal under development by House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (Calif.), according to an industry source. This version was under consideration as of the weekend. Two non-Hill sources said Monday afternoon they believe the bill will come on Monday or Tuesday.

Rough week marks end of FCC Chairman’s Summer in Hell
The Daily Caller, by Mike Riggs

Among the Washington power set’s favorite past-times is betting on an agency head’s exit date. After all, it’s usually a question of when — not if — he or she is going to burn out, throw up his or her hands in frustration, and get hounded out of the gig. The betting tables are especially hot after a long week for FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.
Continue reading


Net Neutrality Update”


Newest House Net Neutrality Bill Cuts FCC Out of Internet Authority

-By Warner Todd Huston

It looks like House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman, (D-Calif) is so desperate to get a Net Neutrality bill out of the House before the recess that he was willing to strip the FCC authority from it this week. For months he Federal Communications Commission has been angling to take power over the Internet and left-wing Net Neutrality supporters were keen to let them but with the clock running down Chairman Waxman took a different path.

Tech Dose Daily reports that the bill would prohibit the FCC from reclassifying broadband under title II of the Communications Act. But there is a two-year sunset clause that would open up the FCC to reapply for this undue power at a later date.

Waxman apparently hopes to get this version of the bill passed out of committee so that the House can pass the bill before the recess. He hopes then that the Senate can tackle its part of the bill during the upcoming lame duck session.
Continue reading


Newest House Net Neutrality Bill Cuts FCC Out of Internet Authority”


Net Neutrality Update

-By Warner Todd Huston

If you are as worried as I am about the left’s effort to force ever larger amounts of big government onto our lives, then you should be looking into the issue of Net Neutrality. To that end a few times a week I’ll be posting some links and info about Net Neutrality to help you all get your feet wet on this important issue.

Here are just a few of the latest articles on Net Neutrality for your information:

The FCC Again Resumes its Unauthorized Internet Agenda
The Washington Examiner, By Seton Motley

The estimable John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable reports: The (Federal Communications Commission-FCC) is issuing a public notice to “improve the FCC’s understanding of business broadband needs,” calling it the “next step” advancing the FCC’s small business broadband agenda.

Only one problem with this FCC assertion. They’re not supposed to have a small business broadband agenda. Or a broadband agenda. Or any sort of Internet agenda at all.
Continue reading


Net Neutrality Update”


What is Wrong With Net Neutrality?

-By Dave McClure, President and CEO of the US Internet Industry Association

Net neutrality. It sounds harmless enough, right? Wrong. Net neutrality is the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) misguided and misunderstood attempt to regulate the Internet. Net neutrality has taken many chameleon-like shades in the evolution to its current state, but its inherent dangers to the future of the Internet remain. Because of a recent Washington DC District Court decision concluding the FCC did not have the authority to regulate the Internet as it exists today, the FCC has embarked on a quest to reclassify broadband Internet service as it is today and classify it under an outdated monopoly era statute know as “Title II” of the Communications Act in which the FCC does have express authority over Title II services.

The FCC is concerned that broadband service providers will discriminate against content from competitors in order to more readily provide applications that would benefit them. Despite no evidence to this end, the FCC has been successful in generating the fear that without regulation, the Internet will change for the worse. The entire idea of introducing new regulations to preserve the already free and open nature of the Internet is paradoxical. Remember the old adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?” The Internet is certainly not broken; in fact, it may be the “least broken” sector of our economy, with service providers investing billions of dollars into network infrastructure and innovations in the face of a recessive economy.
Continue reading


What is Wrong With Net Neutrality?”


Rep. Waxman Slips in ‘Bad Vitamin’ clause into Wall Street Reform Bill

-By Warner Todd Huston

Nothing says Washington crookedness like a congressman slipping a clause into a bill that has absolutely nothing whatever to do with the main purpose of the legislation. Here we have just another cynical, corrupt bargain made in Washington D.C. with the effort of Henry Waxman (D, Ca) who slipped a little clause into the Wall Street “Reform” bill that is little else but an attack on the healthfood industry. This provision would give Congress more control over all health supplements and vitamins in America and likely lead to many of these businesses shutting their doors.

So often Congress acts like the little kid with his mom in the grocery store. While mom is putting fruits, vegetables, milk, and good marbled beef into the shopping cart, the bratty kid is throwing candy and toys made in China into the basket when he thinks mom isn’t looking. Congress is, of course, the bratty kids of our system. And they need a good whipping.

The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 4173), was passed by the House and is now in the Senate waiting for that body to take action. But while this law is supposed to be saving our economy, Rep. Waxman seems more interested in destroying the country’s vitamin stores. And to that end, he slipped into this economics bill more regulations on the dietary supplement industry.
Continue reading


Rep. Waxman Slips in ‘Bad Vitamin’ clause into Wall Street Reform Bill”