Regulatory Capture

Beyond Revolving Doors and Against Regulatory Nihilism.

A Soviet editorial cartoon featuring an ogrish capitalist in top hat and tails yanking a dollar-sign-shaped lever that ejects a tiny bureaucrat from a seat; ranks of bureaucrats behind him wait their turns, grinning idiot grins.

The Murder of Net Neutrality Was Wild

Here’s a story about “regulatory capture”: Donald Trump appointed Ajit Pai, a former Verizon lawyer, to run the Federal Communications Commission, which is in charge of regulating companies like Verizon. Verizon — and the other big telcos and cable operators — wanted to kill Net Neutrality.

Net Neutrality is the idea that your ISP should send you the bits you request as quickly and reliably as it can. That means when you click a link, your ISP does its level best to get that link for you.

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Pluralistic: 06 May 2021

Today's links

Scammers recycled covid nose-swabs: Indonesia had 1.6m infections and these supervillains helped export them.
Ed-tech apps spy on kids: Disciplinary Technology, SDKs, censorware, and education.
NY AG attributes Net Neutrality fraud to telcos: 18 million fraudulent comments filed in the FCC docket.
This day in history: 2011, 2016, 2020
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 17 Jan 2021

Today's links

Fighting fiber was the right's dumbest self-own: "We don't have to care. We're the [phone company|social media monopolist]."
This day in history: 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, 2020
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 09 Jun 2020

Today's links

John Oliver's comprehensive explanation of the rot in US policing: It's in every bone and organ.
Cox violates the Geneva Conventions: The throttling will continue until morale improves.
Paramount's Unproduced Screenplays: A core sample of 1,000 ideas from the vault.
Police budgets are out of control: "More than the city spends on health, homelessness, youth development and workforce development combined."
Auditing Omniballot, a terrible e-voting system: Paper ballots, marked with pencils, accept no imitations.
Who are Dark Basin?: Outing the cybermercenaries who attacked Net Neutrality and anti-Exxon activists.
NYPD's structural racism: Bulk of NYPD human rights complaints come from Black and Latinx youth.
IBM kills facial recognition program: But the problem with facial recognition isn't just "bias."
Nutrition labels for IoT: Only works if there's competition.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 04 Jun 2020

Today's links

Minneapolis racists threaten arson over BLM signs: A modern cross-burning.
White House recants "antifa bricks" conspiracy: American Surkovs.
Rave for "Poesy the Monster Slayer": "Some children fear monsters at bedtime, but Poesy welcomes them."
Autodetecting autogenerated text: The answer to the machine is the machine.
AMC's bankruptcy is the first domino in monopolist collapse: When monopolism bites Disney in the ass.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 03 Jun 2020

Today's links

Dems can and MUST fight police violence: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil…
Save Uncle Hugo's: Crowdfunding for Minneapolis's beloved, torched science fiction bookstore.
Ella Jones is Ferguson's new mayor: The city's first Black mayor.
Why protests become violent: Cops keep mashing the "be violent" button.
PPE vs riot gear: Revealed preference, revealed.
Zoom wants to help the FBI spy on you: Encryption is a luxury good.
Trivial-to-spoof UK contact tracing: A gift to identity thieves and fraudsters.
AT&T; will punish Disney+ viewers: Can you hear me now?
K-pop fandom pivots to human rights hacktivism: Flooding the zone with fancams.
This day in history: 2005, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 27 Apr 2020

Today's links

Indie booksellers during the pandemic: Better news that you might expect.
Podcasting Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town: "A glorious book unlike any book you've ever read."
Billionaires thriving on our pandemic losses: Plutocracy is comorbid with pandemic.
Pandemic proves ISP data-caps were always a pretense: Rent-seeking vs capex.
Hospital cuts healthcare workers' pay, pays six-figure exec bonuses: Denver Health Medical Center shows us who really matters.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 24 Apr 2020

Today's links

Save Forbidden Planet NYC: Keep NYC weird.
Which guillotine is right for you: Current Affairs's guide for the perplexed.
A labradoodle breeder is in charge of America's vaccines: An actual labradoodle could do a better job.
"Inject disinfectant" vs both sides-ism: We report, you decide.
US healthcare fails insured people too: A laundry list of gaps and errors.
Masks work: Lasers reveal your revolting, spittle-flecked utterances.
US telcoms sector isn't doing better than Europe's: Net Neutrality's murderers want you to believe they saved the American internet.
Amazon uses its sellers' data to figure out which products to clone: And they lied to Congress about it.
Facebook let advertisers target "pseudoscience" and "conspiracy": Son of "jew-haters."
Security expert conned out of $10,000: If you think you're too smart to get phished…
California Adventure, Minecraft edition: New maps for the Imagineering Fun server.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 13 Mar 2020

Today's links

Announcing the third Little Brother book, Attack Surface: And a new Little Brother/Homeland reissue, with an intro by Ed Snowden!
Where I Write: A column for the CBC that's really about how I write.
Stream 200+ global news channels: Each hand-picked, no registration required.
AT&T's CEO fired 23,000 workers and gave himself a 10% raise: Life on the easiest setting.
Chelsea Manning is free: But she's been fined $256K for refusing to testify to the Grand Jury.
Rep Katie Porter forces CDC boss to commit to free testing: Literally the most effective questioner in Congress.
Trump's unfitness in a plague: It's not because he's an ignoramus, it's because he's a nihilist.
Malware that hides behind a realtime Covid-19 map: Peter Watts' prophecy comes true.
Locked-down Siennese sing their city's hymn: A cause for hope in the dark.
This day in history: 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

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Pluralistic, your daily link-dose: 26 Feb 2020

Today's links

Brave autolinks 404s to the Wayback Machine: The internet's time-traveling, privacy respecting, ad-busting browser.
Clarence Thomas admits he blew it on Brand X: A very safe mea culpa from the man who helped kill Net Neutrality.
Medicare for All would be the biggest take-home pay increase in a generation: Even if my taxes went up by six figures (!), I'd still save money.
The Smithsonian publishes 2.8m hi-rez images into the public domain: Tired: "It belongs in a museum!" Wired: "It belongs to the world!"
McMansion Hell visits 1971: Before "lawyer foyers" there were "paralegal foyers."
This day in history: 2005, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic, your daily link-dose: 26 Feb 2020"