Weekend Wrap Up–Bad Moves Edition

It has been a busy week, at least if your job is spinning jaw-dropping stupid stunts.

Bad Move Number One.  I think that people have a right to talk about “conflict of interest” in an honest way when you approve one of the largest mergers in US history, then four months later go to work for the company you approved the merger for.  Meredith Attwell Baker, one of the two Republican Commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission decided to take a lobbying position at Comcast. But, as we all know, one did not have anything to do with the other. 

Bad Move Number Two.  You know it’s a bad move to plant smears on your corporate opponent when the PR company you hired to do so suddenly says “Wait a minute, this isn’t right”.  But Facebook went ahead and did it anyway.  Really, Zuck?  Do you really feel that people are going to leave Facebook for whatever the flavor of the month Google is pitching to be relevant in the social market? 

Bad Move Number Three.  Rupert Murdoch decided to create his own version of Wikileaks, called “Safehouse”.  Yeah, I know, it took me a while to stop laughing on this one.  Of course, unlike Wikileaks, if the heat gets to be too much (you know like someone asks “who sent you this?”), they will sell you down the river to the authorities.  Really, the man is known for spreading lies concerning just about everyone on the planet and we are supposed to believe that if it is posted in “Safehouse” then it must be true?  They say that two positives don’t make a negative.  Yeah.  Right.

Bad move Number Four.  Something that really has something to do with technology, although it doesn’t look like it on the surface.  The political season is once again upon us and unfortunately, we are going to have to put up with political ads.  So far, we have a tie for what are the worst political ads ever, and we have only just begun, so the only place you’ll see them is either on “Web Soup” or the internet.  Really, Newt Gingrich has no reason to be turning out this cheese.  He has been in the game too long to think that this pile of excrement is actually good for him.  But Dan Adler’s ads are starting off by being, well, different.  And by Different, I mean just WTF?  I mean, Patty Duke, in the Muscle Beach weight lifting area telling constituents “Dan Adler gets sh*t done.” and a second ad that makes as much sense as the first.  I don’t know whether the guy is serious or is trolling the southern half of California. BTW, his campaign manager is Sean Astin, he of LOTR fame and Patty Duke’s son.  So there is no excuse for these either.

Just remember, folks, technology is a tool.  Unfortunately, so are many people. 

Drip, Drip, Drip

Wikileaks: Forget about Ghadaffi’s Ukrainian nurse, Russia’s Batman and Robin, or that someone thinks that the Italian Prime Minister is an idiot. We all ready knew that. How about some of the leaks that make you go hmmmm?

Like the set which deals with the massive computer attack on Google and other companies that was revealed back in January? Apparently Google was correct when they said China was behind it. But we kind of figured that as well.

Then how about the cable that had Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah suggesting that Guantanamo Bay prisoners be tagged with a Bluetooth monitoring device because it works so well with animals? At least the reply from White House counterterrorism advisor John Brennan politely replied “horses don’t have good lawyers,” and that the idea probably wouldn’t fly in US courts. A voice of sanity.

At least for a moment. The cable dealing with gathering biometric information generates some wonder. After all, as a diplomat, you’re being asked to gather “fingerprints, facial images, DNA, and iris scans.” How is never really told. I don’t think an iris scan is something that diplomatic protocol allows. I don’t know how I would get it, unless it meant plying your fellow diplomat with plenty of liquor and then getting a scan after he has passed out.

Of course stealing passwords, encryption keys as well as details on “commercial and private VIP networks used for official communications.” goes right along with those protocols, I guess. It’s a great way to build trust. But some have pointed out, the same happens from other capitols; the only difference is that our disguise has been the one ripped away. To paraphrase an old cliche, those who live by secrets die by them as well.

Better than a NASCAR Jumpsuit

I have been saying of late that legislators in Washington should start wearing NASCAR type jumpsuits with the logos of their corporate sponsors on them.  You know, just so you know what congressman is owned by what company. 

Since no one wants to do that (after all, Italian silk suits don’t translate to NASCAR all that well), Wired magazine and MAPLight.org has the next best thing; the Political-Influence Tracker, a simple widget that does the work for you. 

You see, data is a wonderful thing.  Campaign-finance disclosure laws require that certain forms get filed, eventually. You take that data, mix with the voting records and you start to see a picture.  Sometimes good, sometimes not.  But telling, nonetheless.

Maplight.org is a non-profit, nonpartisan group that takes raw contribution data,  mashes it with voting records and corporate statements of support and opposition to legislative initiatives, and allows you to see what is going on.  The underlying data is provided by the Center for Responsive Politics, and updated every 24 hours, reflecting the most recent available numbers.

Now in the example that I checked, I used the congressman in my District, Ed Pastor.  The contributors are not surprising, as Honeywell, Raytheon, and Boeing have offices in the area.  Now to let you know, this is not a deep research tool.  It is merely promotional, a way to get you interested.  And if you’re a political junkie like I am, this is too much fun.  Try it with you local congresscritter.  You might be surprised. 

WordPress Tags: Government, politics, data, NASCAR

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Who Saw This One Coming?

Ah yes, the unicorn called Net Neutrality.  Plenty has been written about it, people have spoke about it, and the moment someone starts to do something about it…

Yeah, you know what happens.

Now for those of you who do not know what it is I’m writing about, Net Neutrality is based on a simple thoughts.  From Wikipedia:

A neutral broadband network is one that is free of restrictions on content, sites, or platforms, or on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and on the modes of communication allowed, as well as one where communication is not unreasonably degraded by other communication streams.

That’s a mouthful, so let me break it down.  Let’s say I’m a user of Time Warner’s Roadrunner cable system.  I want to communicate with someone who uses a Comcast system.  Net neutrality says we should be able to communicate, play games, pass home videos back and forth without having to worry that Comcast will slow down or even block my access because I’m using Time Warner or vice versa.  This would also apply to me wanting to visit certain websites that may hold views that Time Warner opposes (hello freedom of speech issues).

Now of course, there are some who say that the telecommunications companies would never do such a thing, while we have watched telcoms intentionally slow down peer to peer transmissions (Comcast), while others have instituted a cell-phone style billing system of overages, free-to-telecom "value added" services, and anti-competitive tying (known as "bundling") and pay by the gigabyte service.  All in the name of transmission “quality”

So onto this stage comes the current FCC chairman, Julius Genachowski giving a speech in which he outlined the FCC’s plan to enforce Net neutrality.

From Genachowski’s speech: "Broadband providers cannot discriminate against particular Internet content or applications, nor can they disfavor an Internet service just because it competes with a similar service offered by that broadband provider. The Internet must continue to allow users to decide what content and applications succeed."  That bit seems to have been directed at Apple and ATT.

And within twenty four hours, six Republican senators  introduced an amendment that would block the Federal Communications Commission from implementing its recently announced Net Neutrality policy.  A response within twenty four hours, from Republican Senators, no less.  As my Grandmother was fond of saying “must have touched a nerve.”  

It would seem almost farcical, but it is reality.  After all, ATT is based in Kay Bailey Hutchison’s home state of Texas.  Did I mention she’s running for governor as well?  Co-sponsors are Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), Sen. John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA).  All one can say is that they haven’t met a Democratic action they didn’t hate, so it really is no surprise that they would sign on because it is all politics for these show ponies.  The part of Genachowski’s plan that ISPs are most opposed to, according to PCWorld , is that it would apply to mobile carriers as well — cell phones, Blackberries and the like. Bandwidth for wireless is not infinite, and some carriers have argued that they need to shape some traffic on their networks in order to make sure there is space available for everyone.

But by the way things look, the only shape the telcos want to see are the shape of dollar bills.  So pull up a seat, and get ready to Tweet because this is going to be a fight.  Oh yeah, and you might want to make sure your voice is heard like a wingnut at a town hall healthcare meeting. 

Now Playing: Counting Crows – Recovering the Satellites – Angels Of The Silences

WordPress Tags: Internet, Net Neutrality, freedom, telecommunications corporations