Technology Liberation Front
techliberation.com · Group blog · on HN since 2008
Technology Liberation Front is a group blog on tech policy from a free-market view, covering net neutrality, telecom, copyright, and regulation.
What HN saysHN links it in debates on net neutrality, Title II regulation, Google Fiber pole access, and whether software is rented or owned.
46HN people shared it
16linked it in comments
41stories submitted
74story points
9 months agolast shared
2008people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1The end of software ownership2 people · 1 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 2What google fiber says about tech policy fiber rings fit deregulatory hands2 people · first shared 2013
- 3Heres why the obama fcc internet regulations dont protect net neutrality2 people · first shared 2017
- 4Dropbox: A Privacy Black Box1 people · 10 points · first shared 2009 · discussion on HN
- 5Why the Future of AI Will Not Be Invented in Europe1 people · 6 points · first shared 2022 · 4 comments on HN
- 6Mythbusters Takes on the FAA1 people · 5 points · first shared 2008 · 2 comments on HN
- 7Grouping Recent Net Books: Internet Optimists vs. Pessimists1 people · 4 points · first shared 2008 · discussion on HN
- 8Should We Teach Children to Be Entrepreneurs, or How to Pay Licensing Fees?1 people · 3 points · first shared 2018 · discussion on HN
- 9How Much Carbon Does It Take To Keep Ben Bernanke Alive?1 people · 2 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
- 10Google+ Stumbles Over Identity1 people · 2 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
- 11Bitcoin Going Mainstream: Here is Why Cypherpunks Shouldn't Worry1 people · 2 points · first shared 2013 · 1 comments on HN
- 12Domain Name Seizure and the 'Limits' of Civil Forfeiture1 people · 2 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 13SESTA’s First Amendment Problems:what a legal challenge might look like1 people · 2 points · first shared 2018 · discussion on HN
- 14Revisiting the Bitcoin bubble1 people · 2 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
- 15DOJ Spectrum Plan Is Not Supported by Economic Theory or FCC Findings1 people · 2 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
shalmanese · 2015-05-31
Doing some googling, it appears independently in a number of places but generally apocryphally.
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?377387-The-Etiquette-of-Nipple-blu…
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jsgeq/would_the_fcc_censor_…
http://techliberation.com/2006/11/07/nipple-indecency-is-complicated/
If someone could dig up a youtube, that would be great.
otoburb · 2015-01-08
>The current wireless cell phone industry is a much better comparison, because it's already regulated under Title II.
Quoting from the posted article and jiving with my memory: "[...] the FCC explicitly exempted wireless data networks from Title II in 2007"[1].
More specifically, I think only mobile voice services are regulated under Title II[2]. Mobile data (aka mobile broadband) is exempt, provided the FCC follows their own declaration made in 2007.
[1] https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-30A1.pdf
[2] http://techliberation.com/2014/11/19/the-myth-that-title-ii-regulation…
cera · 2010-09-28
That is a great site, thanks for sharing.
There is another website with a Kato-centric viewpoint that talks about recent copyright issues. This article is specific to whether you 'rent' or 'own' software. He specifically talks about how renting software is actually better, and is a very interesting viewpoint.
http://techliberation.com/2010/09/20/the-end-of-software-ownership/
Thanks for the compliment on the letter too.
wmf · 2009-05-30
I'm not sure what this has to do with privacy. If anything, anonymous trolling is more private, not less.
Web annotation has been done and discussed, as has anonymous "stupidity of crowds" decision making.
http://131.193.153.231/www/issues/issue4_10/margolis/index.html
http://www.avantart.com/personal/nototv/saynototv.html
http://www.outpost-of-freedom.com/jimbellap.htm
It seems to me it has the potential to be very culturally disruptive -- to the point that there would be a lot of pressure to tweak the first amendment in order to ban the site.
Somebody has a big ego. In reality, not enough people bother to install browser plugins to matter. Also, the first amendment may not be as strong as you think, with laws already in the works trying to stop cyber-bullying:
http://techliberation.com/?s=bullying
rayiner · 2021-03-05
In fact the law requires access to telephone poles. In one state Google got into a fight with incumbents over a policy where Google’s installers would be allowed to move incumbent’s equipment already on the poles to make room for its own, instead of following an existing process for having the incumbents move their own equipment. That’s probably a good idea assuming indemnification is in place, but Google wasn’t being denied access to the poles.
On the other side of the scale, Google Fiber has had the carpet rolled out for it in many places, for example being given for example free leases to public property for installing fiber huts: https://techliberation.com/2012/08/07/what-google-fiber-says-about-tec…
> Google received stunning regulatory concessions and incentives from local governments, including free access to virtually everything the city owns or controls: rights of way, central office space, power, interconnections with anchor institutions, marketing and direct mail, and office space for Google employees. City officials also expedited the permitting process and assigned staff specifically to help Google. One county even offered to allow Google to hang its wires on parts of utility poles – for free – that are usually off-limits to communications companies.
See also: https://hbr.org/2018/09/why-google-fiber-is-high-speed-internets-most-…
> But we believe Google Fiber’s most significant impact was to…
ChuckMcM · 2011-03-31
I think that once again someone inside of Amazon understands the information economy pretty well. This does seem like a lawsuit 'honeypot' (talk about mixed metaphors) since it cannot help but provoke a response (see mp3.com [1])
The thing that confuses most people is the emerging doctrine of information sale. What the music companies would like to be true, is that selling you a CD (or an MP3) is equivalent to selling you a ticket to hear the performance once. And as you could not reasonably expect, having bought a ticket to a musical performance, to be able to change the venue for that performance, the industry would like to equate that absurd request to transliterating a recording into a different medium or access method.
Consumers on the other hand have expressed a strong belief that they "own" that instance of the music and that transliterating it, listening to it from different devices, and/or putting it on a mix tape and having it play as background music for their housewarming party are all 'well within their rights' of things they can do with what they own.
The legal tool is of course copyright and many cases have focused on what exactly does it mean to make a copy (which would have been more obvious had the original case against magnetic tape gone the way of the record labels) and what is fair use, and what is the greater good.
The motivating force is of course money. Given the physical challenges of having copies and even with tape carrying them around, the…
tbrownaw · 2026-02-04
I assume someone somewhere has a dataset for technology diffusion broken out by country or at least region? Like so[1], but as a table and not limited to just here.
Perhaps that sort of thing could be useful enough to justify the extra bytes?
[1] https://techliberation.com/2009/05/28/on-measuring-technology-diffusio…
polski-g · 2018-06-11
Its important for everyone to know that the existence of non-existence of the Obama-era NN rules had no bearing on what most people think net neutrality did. (read: Those rules did nothing for consumer protection). ISPs were free to opt-out of those rules if they so chose to do so.
https://techliberation.com/2017/07/12/heres-why-the-obama-fcc-internet…
jayess · 2017-12-15
It's not me, it's the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that you have a quibble with, then.
Look up US Telecom Association v FCC (2016)
https://techliberation.com/2017/07/12/heres-why-the-obama-fcc-internet…
https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/06F8BFD079A89E1385…
What? The break the internet movement didn't mention that part? That censorship by ISPs was ok under net neutrality?
https://www.attpublicpolicy.com/consumer-broadband/the-surprising-to-m…
dredmorbius · 2017-10-20
A thing is made auditable and verifiable by auditing and verifying it.
Google are already under at least one privacy-related consent decree.
https://techliberation.com/2011/03/30/the-ftc’s-google-buzz-privacy-se…
https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-proceedings/102-3136/google-inc-…
pessimizer · 2014-04-28
yanw · 2011-06-24
How about this then:
http://techliberation.com/2011/06/24/the-ftc-makes-its-google-investig…
Either way the investigation is lacking in merit.
gojomo · 2010-12-27
The FCC once did enforce a 'fairness doctrine' on broadcasters, and some Democrats occasionally discuss bringing it back.
Meanwhile, some jurisdictions (moreso in Europe) have considered creating a government-enforced 'right of reply', forcing websites to link to opposing viewpoints. And Obama advisor Sunstein has at times advocated (but wisely pulled back from) the same cross-linking and 'sidewalks' mandates that Shafer imagines being implemented:
http://techliberation.com/2009/01/08/what-impact-will-cass-sunstein-ha…
So Shafer's scenario isn't that far-fetched.
mseebach · 2010-02-25
Mobile carriers defend their right to make mutually binding contracts with their client, just like any other business.
http://techliberation.com/2010/01/26/what-is-all-this-nonsense-about-s…
dspeyer · 2009-05-28
There was a big media frenzy back when Google first announced its edge-caches physically located in ISP server rooms:
http://techliberation.com/2008/12/16/edge-caching-vs-preferential-trea…
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/The-Wall-Street-Journals-Google-Hat…
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122929270127905065.html
http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2008/12/net-neutrality-and-bene…
Why has everyone forgotten?
jauer · 2013-04-10
TFA talks about favorable deals for telcos. Telcos have received one-time incentives to do things that they may or may not have done, depending on who you read. The recurring incentive is usually to keep phone service working in rural areas.
What Google got (at least in KC) that AT&T wants is no franchies fee (typically cable companies and fiber providers pay the town a percentage of their revenue for the right run lines), no pole-attach fees, and cheap/easy permitting.
The impressive thing that Google has accomplished is not delivering Gig to the home. It is convincing cities, in a budget crisis economy, that the mere presence of gig is important enough to not only give up a traditional revenue stream (franchise fee) but also to give up cost recovery charges like pole-attach and permit fees. Apparently they still have a 5% fee in Olathe, but I'd bet they have other concessions that make up for it.
This: http://techliberation.com/2012/08/07/what-google-fiber-says-about-tech…
and this: