Free Republic

Ready to pay more for Internet access? Me neither. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what we can expect under the “net neutrality” rules being pushed by President Obama. “Net neutrality” may sound harmless, but there would be nothing neutral about this change. Currently, broadband providers such as Verizon, AT&T and Comcast are treated differently than traditional telephone companies and electric utilities. They aren’t subject to “common-carrier” rules that prohibit them from varying rates and services. In short, they can offer -- and charge -- what they want. That’s good for consumers, because it means that in order to compete, they’re always trying...

The fallout from President Barack Obama's push to reclassify internet access as a public utility was immediate, and no one reacted faster the nation's telecom giants. Most issued remarks that characterized the move as a huge mistake, but AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson went one better -- as if on cue, he announced that the company was throwing the brakes on its fiber network rollout because it didn't make sense to sink a ton of money a network infrastructure when no one knew "under what rules those investments will be governed". Long story short, he wants AT&T to wait to build...

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Al Franken (D-Minn.) are squaring off over whether new net neutrality rules would hinder or help the growth of the Internet.After Cruz last week called net neutrality “ObamaCare for the Internet,” Franken over the weekend said that the Texas Republican had the issue “completely wrong.” ADVERTISEMENT The Texas senator “just doesn't understand what this issue is,” Franken said.On Monday, Cruz’s office fired back with YouTube videos and Vine clips that it said explains how tough Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules would “calcify” the Internet and prevent people from using it as a platform for innovation.Cruz...

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Thursday took a step toward improving Internet speeds in America, requiring providers to offer download speeds of at least 25 megabits per second to classify as "broadband." The new restrictions also require 3Mbps speeds for uploads to classify as broadband Internet. Internet service providers face the more severe restrictions after the FCC determined that U.S. broadband deployment is not keeping pace with the rest of the world. The new benchmark speeds are a large improvement from the previous requirement of 4Mbps download and 1Mbps upload to classify as broadband. The FCC said that the...

WASHINGTON (CBS SF) – The Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday to change the definition of what constitutes high-speed internet, adopting a standard 2.5 times the current national average.

Um...do you mind? Please don't take this the wrong way but you're starting to creep me out. Yeah, I know you are just doing your job but what possible reason could you have to follow me here? Are you checking on how wide my stance is? Whether I will write something nasty on the wall? What? But since you are here, could you at least make yourself useful and find me some toilet paper. This stall is out. Bathrooms are the final realm of privacy. So far as is known, even Winston Smith did not have Big Brother on the...

Are you starting to forget just how creepy government agencies can be when they decide to spy on average (law abiding) citizens? Well, this should help refocus your distrust of big government. According to AP News:The Drug Enforcement Administration abandoned an internal proposal to use surveillance cameras for photographing vehicle license plates near gun shows in the United States to investigate gun-trafficking, the agency's chief said Wednesday.Um, good… Also: “What the heck?”So the DEA was planning on tracking everyone that went to a gun show? Wow… Nothing like being innocent until proven guilty, right? It might be time to start borrowing...

Canada’s leading surveillance agency is monitoring millions of Internet users’ file downloads in a dragnet search to identify extremists, according to top-secret documents. The covert operation, revealed Wednesday by CBC News in collaboration withThe Intercept, taps into Internet cables and analyzes records of up to 15 million downloads daily from popular websites commonly used to share videos, photographs, music, and other files. The revelations about the spying initiative, codenamed LEVITATION, are the first from the trove of files provided by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden to show that the Canadian government has launched its own globe-spanning Internet mass surveillance system. According...

Over a year ago we brought you the story of Mr. Filippidis and his family, a Florida Driver who was pulled over by law enforcement in Maryland. The traffic stop would have been typical except for the fact the responding officer demanded, at random, Mr. Filippidis’s firearm. Mr. Filippidis did not have his legally owned -CCW permitted- hand gun, it was home in Florida. Nor did Mr. Filippidis ever say he had a firearm – yet the officer was insistent Mr. Filippidis owned one, handcuffed Mr. Filippidis, and strip searched his vehicle on the side of the road. Numerous Maryland...

The U.S. Department of Justice secretly spies on millions of cars by gathering and storing information about motorists in order to build a national database to track movements, according to a new report in the Wall Street Journal. The database was originally used by the Drug Enforcement Administration to hunt vehicles involved in drug crimes by tracking license plates, but according to the WSJ, the program expanded to hunt for criminals sought for crimes that were non-drug related. DEA officials have been on record saying they track vehicles near the U.S.-Mexico border to help fight drug cartels, but the new...

The United States intelligence community funded, nurtured and incubated Google as part of a drive to dominate the world through control of information. Seed-funded by the NSA and CIA,Google was merely the first among a plethora of private sector start-ups co-opted by US intelligence to retain ‘information superiority.’ The origins of this ingenious strategy trace back to a secret Pentagon-sponsored group, that for the last two decades has functioned as a bridge between the US government and elites across the business, industry, finance, corporate, and media sectors. The group has allowed some of the most powerful special interests in corporate...

Doctors’ house calls are considered a thing of the past, but not in the appointment book of Dr. Carrol Frazier Landrum, an 88-year-old physician from Edwards, Mississippi. The good doctor will see you no matter who you are, where you are, or how much money you have — as long his 2007 Toyota Camry can deliver him to your location. But now his state’s medical board wants to see him gone. Dr. Landrum, a WWII veteran, was forced to make a change after crime drove him from his Edwards, Mississippi, office two years ago, and he couldn’t find another space...

The Attorney General told a House subcommittee they’re considering “gun-tracking bracelets” as a “common sense” way to reduce gun violence.

If you have a recently issued credit or debit card, there is a very good chance it has an RFID chip in it that will transmit your card information to any nearby reader. Many of the newer model smartphones are RFID enabled and make it possible for someone standing next to you in line at the grocery store or at the train station to steal your identity and your money. Just wanted to raise awareness of this risk and create an opportunity to share ideas on how to mitigate this risk. I disabled the chip in my cards with a...

On Monday, former CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson revealed details of a $35 million lawsuit against the Justice Department and the U.S. Postal Service for the alleged hacking of her computers. This led to a new round of snark from Politico’s Dylan Byers, who suggested on Twitter Attkisson was taking the wrong approach: #Realtalk: If you believe U.S. gov hacked your computers this isn’t the way you go about doing it… if you want publicity, on the other hand— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) January 5, 2015 This raises an obvious question. What is the right approach under the circumstances? Sharyl Attkisson pointed...

Did the Obama administration put a journalist under surveillance for reporting critically on its activities? Former CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson says yes — and she wants $35 million in damages from the Department of Justice for it. Attkisson filed a series of legal motions today that claim the DoJ hacked into her computer and attacked her professionally: In a series of legal filings that seek $35 million in damages, Attkisson alleges that three separate computer forensic exams showed that hackers used sophisticated methods to surreptitiously monitor her work between 2011 and 2013. … In the lawsuit and related claims against...

New Year’s Day will usher in hundreds of new laws in California, including a landmark law that allows undocumented individuals to receive a driver’s license. In all, California will add 930 new laws, most of which will go into effect Thursday. Some of the most talked-about laws won’t take effect until July, such as a statewide ban on plastic bags, required sick leave for employees and a requirement that new smartphones come with antitheft technology.

One of the U.S. Army’s giant surveillance blimps will rise to 10,000 feet above Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland on Friday for a three-year test. A second aircraft will begin testing in January. The Army’s Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS), which is built by Raytheon, will be tested for its ability to identify incoming enemy aircraft. “This will enable senior defense officials to support a determination whether to transition JLENS capabilities to an enduring mission at the conclusion of the three-year operational exercise,” the North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement on...

Facebook is working on software that could prevent users posting unflattering photos of themselves. Combining image recognition and artificial intelligence, the system would be able to distinguish between drunk and sober pictures. It would ask: "Are you sure you want your boss and your mother to see this?" The plan was revealed by the head of Facebook's artificial intelligence research lab. Speaking to Wired magazine, Yann LeCun said he wanted to build a Facebook digital assistant. In the future, this assistant might also be able to help identify when someone else has uploaded a picture of a user without permission,...

The Internal Revenue Service, which claims to be so understaffed that it can’t bother to collect unpaid taxes, or search backup tapes for Lois Lerner’s “missing” emails, apparently has plenty of time to read the comment threads on conservative blogs that have been critical of the agency (Hi there, IRS agents!). William Jacobson, one of the best-informed and most effective critics of the agency, writes on Legal Insurrection: Hey, remember the Reader Poll we did about whether it was okay to follow and try to interview Lois Lerner in her neighborhood? Do you approve of media confronting Lois Lerner in...