right side of tech

Libertarian approach to net-neutrality

russ — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:17:10 +0000

I’m not sure I would call myself a Libertarian but I do agree with many ideas espoused by Libertarians. I enjoy my daily dose from the Cato Daily Podcast. So I was intrigued by this article on the Armed and Dangerous blog: “Net neutrality: what’s a libertarian to do?” In the article the author gives a pretty good explanation of both sides. One side is the telcos defending their monopoly and claiming to innovate. On the other side you have big government Liberals ready to regulate at will. At the end of the day it is the regulation of these telcos what has caused the problem. I’m always frustrated that no one seeks to fix the root cause. Instead they want to try and treat the symptoms. It isn’t impossible to fix the root cause but someone will have to make unpopular decisions. Since no one in Washington has the courage to do so I’m sure we will continue to languish as we are now with increased regulation and lack of innovation. Perhaps the white space that is being opened up will be the savior to save us from our corrupt political system.

Now California wants a bailout

russ — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:57:32 +0000

It seems that ever since our heroes in Washington voted to bail out the banks we are seeing every one and their mother begging for a bailout. We have liberals everywhere looking to bail out the auto industry to keep the UAW happy. Now it seems some in California are looking for some of those bucks to fill in the $28 billion dollar deficit they have dug themselves.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, a Los Angeles Democrat, has drawn up a partial solution anyway: Federal money.

Use some of those Wall Street taxpayer $700 billion bailout bucks on California!

Bass has urged the federal government to hand over the money to states — well, her state anyway — as well as those rich Wall Street banks in another coastal state. Why should New York get it all?

With federal money it won’t really cost anything, see? And she won’t have to explain voting for more taxes back home come next election. It’s the least Americans can do for the sunshiney state they love to hate.

Why is it everyone wants to be like California again? Nice weather but you can’t export that and I kinda like Austin’s weather. They can keep their liberal spending policies to themselves.

Will Obama stay “Opensource”?

russ — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 05:12:31 +0000

Alex Castellanos a Republican political media consultant compared Barack Obama’s rise to the business model of opensource software.

(Obama) said his campaign began with a simple idea: “Change begins from the bottom up.” That’s not the way the U.S. government works. The seminal essay–this is a little wonk-speak here–in computer software architecture is called The Cathedral and the Bazaar. And the cathedral is the old way of doing things. It’s the way Microsoft builds software. We’re going to do it our way, worship at our church or you don’t get to do it at all.

But the open-source movement in computer engineering is people get together from all over the world and build computer software bottom-up. Is Barack Obama going to be the old top-down industrial-age cathedral leader, or is he going to be the fellow we heard tonight, this new generation of leadership that is very bottom-up for the communications age?

The question at the end I think is being answered. Obama is seeking many of the old Clinton people to work in his administration. Further he showed he is more married to the old Washington with his selection of Joseph Biden as VP. The only change that is happening is more of the same old Liberal class envy and socialist programs.

Whitespace usage approved

russ — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 04:46:42 +0000

So the FCC has approved the use of Whitespace spectrum between TV channels. Use of the Whitespace might allow for blanket wireless internet coverage or other services. It also appears the device must be location aware and sense when other licensed devices are operating. I am very interested to see what comes from the use of this spectrum. GigaOm reports the possible combination of WiMax, WiFi and other radios on a single chip. Seems this would provide anywhere connectivity.

Change.gov: Can I have you name, e-mail and address?

russ — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 04:29:28 +0000

I was reading a post by Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air about the change.gov site spread out in the press on the transition. He points out and rightly so that this site seems more like an advertisement site than a typical government information site. Additionally if you want to send comments you have to provide full name, e-mail and optionally your address and phone number. Why do they need this? Are they worried about spam? I doubt it. Instead I’m sure this will be used for some sort of propaganda push by the Obama administration. I agree with Ed this seems like a misuse of the .gov domain.

The Obama effect on technology

russ — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:36:53 +0000

So I was reading an article over on CNET about “An Obama presidency: Good, bad news for technology“. This got me thinking first about the idea of a CTO for the nation. I’m not big on more government and this seems like an unnecessary position. I’m not knowledge about IT in the government but in business we have a CIO that is responsible for the internal IT. Normally the CTO addresses the technology of the companies offerings. Supposedly this position would be someone that would act as an adviser on how the government should “support” technologies. The interesting thing is many big technology names are being kicked around. I think we will find a high degree of frustration and turn around in this position. Washington is backed by people from all different directions and they will find legislation challenged and killed regularly. People like Google’s Eric Schmidt are not used to being told no and challenged on their plans.

I think we are headed towards a big government regulated internet service and a further decline in competition among service providers. Even if Obama’s administration is able to get money devoted to greater availability of broadband we’ll find it fully funded by the Government with private industry fully benefiting from this arrangement. It will be expensive and provided by companies offering poor service.

Don’t expect any help on the DMCA as I think Hollywood has the Dems fully in their pocket.

Let the socialist reign begin

russ — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:26:36 +0000

I’m sad to see it happen but it appears that Barack Obama has won and can begin the socialization of America. I can only hope that people will see how bad his plans are when placed into action. Sad day indeed.

Vote!

russ — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:05:49 +0000

It’s that time go out and vote. We must stop Obama’s socialism. I’ve voted early now it’s your turn.

McCain opening up SNL

russ — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 04:27:57 +0000

This skit with John McCain opening up Saturday Night Live with Tina Fey (as Sarah Palin) was hilarious and I think this shows a more personal side of John McCain. A must see!

Jerry Pournelle on the Polls

russ — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 04:24:40 +0000

Jerry Pournelle has a great post on the polls and the election. I have enjoyed hearing him on TWiT. I have to say while I’ve been into computers for over 20 years I’ve never read his stuff. The more I read the more I like him. Enjoy!

[h/t Instapundit]