Blog - Page 24

Over at Discovery Blog, Bruce Chapman discusses the Obama administration’s great interest in digitizing health records even though the technological and legal infrastructure isn’t in place to protect patient privacy. There appear to be new technologies to prevent such problems and at reasonable cost, but the overall problem of vulnerable computer security–on medical records or national security–is not a minor threat for the country as a whole or for our citizens as individuals. It won’t solve itself. It needs high priority notice by government and businesses alike. If people have to fear: Their doctor may discover a chronic condition, some unfortunate piece of family health history or a youthful indiscretion The information is added to their digitized record The digitized Read More ›

“We’re looking, of course, at ways to extract payments from the consumers of our news — micro-payments, subscriptions, memberships, licensing, even voluntary donations,” Bill Keller, executive editor of The Times, said last week. Online newspaper publishers traditionally have wanted us to give them our credit card information so they can charge recurring subscription fees. Or they want us to give them our credit card information so they can charge us $3.75 or some such fee to view individual articles. They’re no different from every other online vendors, who don’t want to pay another middleman to help them handle transactions. Do consumers object to paying for online content, as many fear, or perhaps do consumers just view giving out their credit Read More ›

A paper by M. Chris Riley and Ben Scott for Free Press (“Deep Packet Inspection: The End of the Internet As We Know It?“) concludes that improper use of DPI technology — which enables Internet service providers to inspect the content of messages in real time and which is currently used to priortize time-sensitive traffic when networks become congested — will have dire consequences for innovation and consumers. Yes, DPI can help alleviate problems of congestion in a network, thus improving the user experience. But the same DPI technology — the same electronics equipment, in fact — also allows providers to monitor and monetize every use of the Internet … Riley and Scott believe this is bad for consumers for Read More ›

A paper by James Valvo published by Americans For Prosperity notes, Easily the biggest problem with municipal projects is that they commit taxpayer money to projects that nearly always run over budget for construction, are not financially sustainable once they are built and rely on future subsidies to provide so-called “free service.” As is always the case when governments enter the free market, distortions in price, customer service and availability hinder competition and ruin what could otherwise be a profitable venture. See: Municipal Broadband’s Record of Failure: A Profile in Market Intrusion.

The Miami Herald worries that phone bills will rise in Florida if legislators reduce the Public Service Commission’s authority to regulate land-line phones with “extras” like call-waiting, or caller ID (basic land-line phone service only — with no extras — would remain regulated by the PSC). … Under current rules, phone companies are limited to annual rate hikes pegged at 1 percent above inflation for basic service. The bills would allow rate hikes to max out at 20 percent on a single day’s notice. In fact, the 20 percent cap has been on the books since 1995 (Fla. Stat. §364.051(5)(a)). Florida has one of the nation’s most antiquated statutes for regulating phone services. All of Florida’s neighboring states in the Read More ›

Government subsidies typically result in waste, fraud and abuse. A recent audit of Georgia’s Universal Access Fund contained the hardly surprising findings that one or more small rural telephone companies were reimbursed for a $15,000 dinner, a $20,000 Christmas party, a new roof and the housekeeping expenses for a cabin in North Carolina and other questionable expenses. Remarkably, the Georgia Universal Access Fund distributed $1.7 million in 2003 to five companies and $10.2 million last year to 15 rural phone companies. Georgia legislators were quick to react. In the House of Representatives, a bill (HB 168) which would terminate the fund passed by a vote of 124-41. The bill is awaiting its fate in the state senate. The legislature is Read More ›

Senate Commerce Chairman John D. Rockefeller, IV (D-WV) this week conducted a hearing entitled “Cybersecurity — Assessing Our Vulnerabilities and Developing An Effective Defense” during which he signalled that cybersecurity will be a major focus of the committee. Mentioning his experience as a member and former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Rockefeller commented I know the threats we face. Our enemies are real, they are sophisticated, they are determined and they will not rest. I do not believe it is only the job of the Intelligence Committee or our national security and defense agencies to protect us from the threats we face. This committee can and must play a very proactive role in keeping Americans safe. * * * Read More ›

The FCC has big plans for a national broadband strategy, according to Acting FCC Chairman Michael J. Copps It is my intention that at our next full Commission meeting, on April 8, we will kick-off an open, participatory, public process with a far-reaching Notice of Inquiry to marshal the data and expertise we need to make sure we meet our legislatively-mandated date of one year for presenting Congress and the American people a national broadband strategy worthy of the name. * * * * And we will endeavor to ignore no sector of our national life. Stop to think about it for a moment. What doesn’t broadband impact as we look to the future of America? Not just the basic Read More ›

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert laments in “Miracles Take Time” that Barack Obama has only been president for six weeks, but there is a surprising amount of ire, anger, even outrage that he hasn’t yet solved the problems of the U.S. economy, that he hasn’t saved us from the increasingly tragic devastation wrought by the clownish ideas of right-wing conservatives and the many long years of radical Republican misrule. So he is trying. He has potential. His heart is in the right place. And don’t forget he is a symbol. It’s not just that the administration is still grasping for a blueprint for relieving the banking problem, the impact of which may be spiraling (a report in the same Read More ›

Originally featured in The Claremont Review: In the current financial and political circus, with Fabian fantasists and climate cranks in control of economic policy, the mainstream media join Ivy League sages in condemning Adam Smith’s invisible hand. Free market ideology has blinded conservatives, say many sophisticates, to a crime wave on Wall Street, as Adam Smith gives way to Bernie Madoff as the epitome of capitalism. For perspective on what is going on, however, we should contemplate the view of Richard Armey, the crusty cowboy who long served as Republican majority leader and economic guru in the House, who pointed out to me more years ago than I want to recall, that economics has more hands and feet, visible and Read More ›