Thursday, January 22, 2015

Tech at Night: It’s time to settle the Net Neutrality debate

1/22/2015
Neil Stevens


It’s time to settle the Net Neutrality debate. For years the left has been pushing a list of reasons to support government action, and the Thune/Upton bill addresses them.
The extremists will complain, but it’s time for the rest of us to address these popular issues and move the heck on already.
The plan is becoming known as Title X, creating a new regulatory framework for FCC to follow for the Internet, permanently protecting us from FCC overreach which would place the Internet under the 1930s-era phone regulations of Title II.
Naturally rent-seekers want more regulation to benefit them, but since when do Democrats listen to industry lobbyists?
We can’t trust the radicals on this. They’re proven liars on municipal (state-run) Internet, and they’re lying about Net Neutrality, too. So let’s ignore the lies, and pass a narrow bill which addresses all the common fears out there, and no more.

The founder of Silk Road, the Tor-based black market that has since been shut down, best known for being a massive drug ring, keeps suggesting new crazy theories about who really owned it.
Mary Bono, who appears to have seamlessly moved from squishy RMSP member of Congress to pro-regulatory industry lobbyist, wants to re-victimize the victims of online attacks by focusing legislative efforts on putting new burdens on victims, instead of catching the offenders. This is a bad idea.
Issues to watch in the coming Congress: Internet Sales Tax and Patents. The Sales Tax bill last Congress I believe was an overreach in the Senate that had no chance to pass the House. With Republicans controlling both chambers, a narrower bill could pass both, one that empowers states to work together to collect existing owed taxes, without placing burdens on people in states that don’t wish to participate.


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