Category: Communications

Facebook to Buy Time-Warner in a Multibillion Dollar Stock Deal

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Not really, but the obvious parallels between the dot-bomb mania of the late 1990s, and this bit of Vampire Squid* inspired pump and dump, Goldman Sachs is investing money in, and creating a (completely fictitious) market cap for Facebook of around $50 billion.

Karl Denninger says that it’s a scam, and that whoever invests in after Goldman will be left holding the bag, while William Cohan at the New York Times runs the numbers:

Despite the high price of its investment, Goldman sees in Facebook a business bonanza, a nearly perfect nugget of investment-banking opportunities. First, Goldman’s cost of capital is close to zero — as a bank holding company, it can borrow from the Federal Reserve at negligible interest rates — so any capital gain it makes on its venture in Facebook will be sheer profit. Second, Goldman has almost certainly locked up the role of lead manager of the inevitable Facebook initial public offering.

Fees for underwriting public offerings are generally about 7 percent of the value of the stock sold. Facebook could easily sell $2 billion of stock or more, generating fees to Goldman and the other underwriters of at least $140 million. The other benefit for Goldman in leading the public offering — aside from major bragging rights — is that it can use its marketing, sales and distribution muscle to make sure the value of Facebook at the time of the offering exceeds the $50 billion valuation at which Goldman invested.

Goldman has also won from Facebook the right to offer an additional $1.5 billion of the company’s stock to its private-wealth clients. According to The Times, Goldman will be creating a “special purpose vehicle” to sell the stock to its wealthy clients and then will charge them a 4 percent initial fee plus 5 percent of any profits. While on paper it seems that these high rollers would be foolish to invest in Facebook at such a lofty valuation, they will still most certainly feel increased loyalty to Goldman for making such an exclusive opportunity available to them. On top of it all, there is the increased likelihood that Goldman will get to manage a good portion of the $12 billion fortune belonging to Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, for yet more fees.

Seriously, we bailed out those contemptible f%$#s for this?!?!?

By way of perspective, DC at the by invitation only Stellar Parthenon BBS noted:

  • Facebook is worth more than, Starbucks ($25 billion market cap)
  • Facebook is worth more than United, American, Delta, JetBlue, and Southwest Airlines combined (About $32 billion combined market cap)
  • Facebook is worth about 25 times more than the New York Times Company
  • Facebook is bigger than Target’s market cap ($43 billion)
  • Facebook is worth about twice as much as Dell ($26.5 billion market cap)
  • Facebook is worth more than Viacom, which owns MTV and Comedy Central ($28 billion market cap)
  • Facebook is worth more than Campbell Soup and General Mills combined ($34.4 billion combined market cap)
  • Facebook is worth more than Boeing ($48.7 billion market cap)
  • Facebook is worth five times more than Netflix, the stock darling of 2010 ($9.3 billion market cap)
  • Facebook is worth more than Nokia, the world’s biggest cellphone company ($39.5 billion market cap)

All this for a company that doesn’t really sell anything, and has a revenue stream that is rather opaque.

Facebook is still privately held, which implies that they really don’t want people to look under the hood until someone really stupid hands them a lot of money.

*Alas, I cannot claim credit for the bon mot describing Goldman Sachs as a, “great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.” This was coined by the great Matt Taibbi, in his article on the massive criminal conspiracy investment firm, The Great American Bubble Machine.

Another Day, Another Obama Sellout

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So, after some arm twisting, the FCC has passed something it’s calling network neutrality regulations.

Surprise, surprise, it’s another cave to corporate interests, allowing for tiered access in wired service, and what amounts to no protection at all for wireless.

The two most prominent consumer protection organizations, Public Knowledge and Free Press have both condemned the deal.

I would also note that the FCC decided not to define broadband back to a telecommunications service (Title II), and instead have elected to have it remain a data service (Title I) which the courts have already slapped down the FCC about, so not only are these rules toothless, they are almost certainly going to be overturned in court.

Once again, the Obama administration has decided to treat the miscreants, in this case the incumbents who have taken billions in subsidies to make the US last in the developed world on connectivity and cost, as partners to be parleyed with, and given them pretty much what they want.

Some Good News (And a Hearty F%$# You to NPR)

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The Congress has finally passed a bill allowing for low power community radio, the Local Community Radio Act, which will allow for expended low power, sub 100 watt, radio stations.

Until the late 1970s, legally licensed low power non commercial radio was a fairly common thing, but then NPR successfully lobbied the FCC to terminate those licenses to eliminate the competition and to open up airwaves for their expansion.

Hopefully, this will allow for a far greater diversity in radio.

Another Day, Another Sellout by an Obama Flunky

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This time, it’s FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski making a proposal that would place a fig leaf on the elimination of net neutrality.

There are a number of problems:

  • It does not cover wireless, except for vague language.
  • Paid priority is acceptable so long as it is not “unjust and unreasonable,” which allows Comcast to gig over the internet video to prop up its cable business.
  • It is likely not legal, since the court of appeals has already said that the FCC has little or no authority to regulate to regulate Title I (information services), and the plan refuses to reclassify the services as Title II (communication services), where there is explicit statutory authority.
  • How actual infractions would be handled are unclear.

I would also point you at comments by the President of Public Knowledge, and would further note that PK, as well as Harld Feld’s commentary on Wetmachine are probably good starting points for developments.

The FCC meeting will be on December 21, and the Republicans on the board, 2 of the 5, have already announced that they will oppose any regulation, so it’s possible that Genachowski will have to move in the consumer’s direction to deal with his more consumer friendly board members.

I Am So Glad I Dropped out of OFA

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What Bender Says, Barry!

I had a post a while ago titled, “I Am Glad that I Pulled My Email(s) from the OFA Mailing List, and the latest bit of lame ass political activism has me even more certain in my decision:

A decade of irresponsible spending led to a projected $1.3 trillion deficit that President Obama inherited upon taking office — putting America on an unsustainable fiscal course.

From Day One, this administration’s top focus has been growing the economy and putting Americans back to work — and that will never change.

The economy is growing again, yet all across America families and businesses have been tightening their belts. The President knows their government must do the same.

Yesterday, he announced a proposal to freeze pay for non-military federal employees for two years — a plan that will lead to $60 billion in savings over 10 years. It’s one of many tough choices the President has made to cut costs in the upcoming budget to begin to put our nation’s fiscal house in order. And it follows directly from this administration’s dedication to stretching federal dollars and reining in the long-term deficit.

Now, if you listen to some talk radio hosts or a few of the talking heads on cable news, you’ll hear a very different assessment of our fiscal policies. These voices ignore the irresponsibility of the past while pinning the blame for “reckless spending” solely on this administration. It would make a good fairy tale if it weren’t so dangerously untrue.

But these voices — as loud as they are — are spreading bunk. Cutting costs and spending responsibly has been a cornerstone of this administration’s record. And we need your help to get the truth out there.

Will you take a few minutes and write a letter to the editor today to set the record straight?

Yep, you got that right, OFA, the DNC run successor to the Obama campaign is asking its members to write letters to the editor supporting cutting the wages of janitors, teachers, law enforcement, and regulators, so that the Republicans can ask for tax cuts for people like the Koch brothers, they Who Must Not Be Named, and the rest of the undeserving rich.

I am so glad that I live in Maryland, because in 2012, if my state is in play, then the Republican has already won the race, so I am under no compunction to vote for him ever again.

Our Annoying World

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My old Palm OS™ phone is wearing out, the keyboard is no longer working, so I got an upgraded phone, a Samsung Epic.

Now I have to teach myself a completely new OS, android, for my phone, and figure out how to sync it with Outlook.

It’s an impressive phone though.

It happens every time I upgrade my phone.

Holy Sh%$

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Last weekend, the US Military lost control of a missile squadron:

President Obama was briefed this morning on an engineering power failure at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming that took 50 nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), one-ninth of the U.S. missile stockpile, temporarily offline on Saturday.

The base is a main locus of the United States’ strategic nuclear forces. The 90th Missile Wing, headquartered there, controls 150 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles. They’re on full-time alert and are housed in a variety of bunkers across several states.

On Saturday morning, according to people briefed on what happened, a squadron of ICBMs suddenly dropped down into what’s known as “LF Down” status, meaning that the missileers in their bunkers could no longer communicate with the missiles themselves. LF Down status also means that various security protocols built into the missile delivery system, like intrusion alarms and warhead separation alarms, were offline. In LF Down status, the missiles are still technically launch-able, but they can only be controlled by an airborne command and control platform like the Boeing E-6 NAOC “Kneecap” aircraft, E-4B NAOC aircraft or perhaps the TACAMO fleet, which is primarily used to communicate with nuclear submarines. Had the country been placed on a higher state of nuclear alert, those platforms would be operating automatically because the frequencies used to transmit nuclear codes would be interfacing with separate systems, according to officials.

(strike-through original)

This is about 1⁄9 of our land based deterrent.

Great googly moogly.

These Contemptible F%$#s Are Our Betters?

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Worst Conference Call Ever!

Ireland held a conference call on its debt, and due to an error in the settings, comments from the other participants were heard across the call.

So what did this collection of hedge funds and other investment firms do?

They crudely heckled the Finance Minister of a sovereign nation:

Mr Lenihan had been speaking for less than two minutes on Friday before a mistake by Citigroup meant that the bank’s clients were all able to be heard on the line.

Between 200 and 500 investors are understood to have been on the call, and as they realised their lines were not muted many began to heckle Mr Lenihan.

Some traders began making what one banker on the call described as “chimp sounds”, while another cried out “dive, dive”. A third man said “short Ireland” before adding “why not short Citi too?”

As the call descended into chaos, with one participant heard to say “this is the worst conference call ever”, Citigroup officials shut down the line.

We are not dealing with competent financial professionals here. We are dealing with hyper-competitive frat boys with brains the size of walnuts who are too incompetent to recognize their own incompetence.

This is why these people need to be “hit like a piñata with a stick,” because they are incompetent, overpaid, self-obsessed, morons who have the ability to destroy our economy.

Letting them do what they want is like giving opposable thumbs, assault weapons and espresso to rabid wolverines.

It won’t end well.

They Who Must Not Be Named

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I understand that Sarah Palin needs to be covered, as she is a Republican Party kingmaker, and a potential candidate for the presidency in 2012.

That being said, the current kerfuffle as to whether Sarah Palin was booed when she went on stage for an interview on the show Dancing With the Stars, that is clearly a “They Who Must Not Be Named” moment.

So DWTS, which I don’t watch anyway, is now on my list of TWMNBN.

That is all.

If there is justice in the world, Ms. Palin will be on the list shortly as well.

Obama Doubles Down on Bush Policies Again

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He is proposing mandating a back door in pretty much every form of communication on the internet:

Federal law enforcement and national security officials are preparing to seek sweeping new regulations for the Internet, arguing that their ability to wiretap criminal and terrorism suspects is “going dark” as people increasingly communicate online instead of by telephone.

Essentially, officials want Congress to require all services that enable communications — including encrypted e-mail transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and software that allows direct “peer to peer” messaging like Skype — to be technically capable of complying if served with a wiretap order. The mandate would include being able to intercept and unscramble encrypted messages.

The bill, which the Obama administration plans to submit to lawmakers next year, raises fresh questions about how to balance security needs with protecting privacy and fostering innovation. And because security services around the world face the same problem, it could set an example that is copied globally.

This would mean that if you had two people communicating handling their own encryption, which a little program called PGP has been doing for decades, they would have to make it illegal.

Obama, a former lecturer on constitutional law, should know better. He is operating under the assumption that because he’s a good guy,* it’s OK for him to have this power, which is, of course completely antithetical to the most basic foundation of the constitution.

Some pertinent quotes:

But as an example, one official said, an investigation into a drug cartel earlier this year was stymied because smugglers used peer-to-peer software, which is difficult to intercept because it is not routed through a central hub. Agents eventually installed surveillance equipment in a suspect’s office, but that tactic was “risky,” the official said, and the delay “prevented the interception of pertinent communications.”

And, of course, there is nothing to prevent these guys from using similar software, and there is already a work around, as the official have admitted.

Even worse is this argument:

Moreover, according to several other officials, after the failed Times Square bombing in May, investigators discovered that the suspect, Faisal Shahzad, had been communicating with a service that lacked prebuilt interception capacity. If he had aroused suspicion beforehand, there would have been a delay before he could have been wiretapped.

Translation:

  • We had that there was a plan afoot.
  • We had no clue that Shahzad was involved with the Taliban.
  • We had no clue that the Taliban was looking at doing anything in the US, though the fact that we are dropping missiles on men, women, and children in their country might give them some motivation.
  • Having this capability would not have allowed us to determine any of the above.
  • However, if we had somehow discovered that this guy was hooking up with terrorists, it would have been easier to wiretap him.

There is also the fact that if you create a back door, it becomes a point of vulnerability for every hacker, crook, terrorist, or despot out there:

Steven M. Bellovin, a Columbia University computer science professor, pointed to an episode in Greece: In 2005, it was discovered that hackers had taken advantage of a legally mandated wiretap function to spy on top officials’ phones, including the prime minister’s.

“I think it’s a disaster waiting to happen,” he said. “If they start building in all these back doors, they will be exploited.”

Why there is such a determination by the Obama administration to embrace and extend every wrong-headed and un-American policy thought up by Bushand His Evil Minions™ is beyond me.

Doubling down on failed and expensive polices does not help.

* To the degree that someone who feels that he can be king and order the murder of American citizens for secret reasons can be considered a “good guy”.

White Spaces Passes FCC

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White Spaces at a Glance:
“A” can use 400 MHz without interfering with anyone

Which means that it’s now official, and any number of high speed wireless devices will be able to operate without a license in the spaces between TV channels:

The Federal Communications Commission today unanimously approved new rules for the use of unlicensed white space spectrum in a move that could pave the way for more unused wireless spectrum to be released in the future.

White space is unused spectrum that sits between TV channels. The 300MHz to 400MHz of unused spectrum is considered prime spectrum for offering wireless broadband services because it can travel long distances and penetrate through walls. The FCC unanimously agreed in November 2008 to open up this spectrum for unlicensed use. Even so, technical issues to allow device makers and service providers to use the spectrum still need to be worked out.

(emphasis mine)

The technical issues are a big deal, because, as the redoubtable Harold Feld notes, the devil is really in the details here, and the incumbent wireless providers want to require that devices ping themselves to death:

Right now, the rules require a Mode 2 (the ones that access the database directly) to ping the database every 24 hours. Mode 1 devices “listen” to Mode 2, according to the 2008 Order (which I understand means “get told when an actual change occurs). The broadcasters want the Mode 1 devices to ping the Mode 2s every 60 seconds and want Mode 2 to ping the database every 15 minutes, if not more frequently. Since television broadcast towers are big stationary things, not Ents marching on Isengard, one may ask why devices need to check more than once a day. In response, broadcasters explain that if some day some news team somewhere they might possibly be running down the street after some hot news lead if they ran into someone using a smart phone with white spaces capability it might, possibly, cause some sort of interference with the mobile news crew’s wireless microphone system.

At this time, it appears that they did not go with the ping of death regulations, nor did they require “Sense and Avoid” technology, which is purported to be both expensive and technically challenging.

One of the big things here is the geographical database: If the TV stations start making bogus claims of interference, we may end up with a situation where the coverage will be limited to remote rural areas.

FCC Finally Approves White Spaces

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Basically, the FCC will be developing standard for unlicensed spectrum used on the spaces between TV channels to create a sort of super WiFi, using what is called “Sense and Avoid” technology.

It’s taken a long time to get here, largely because two groups, the broadcasters who wanted to be paid for something they didn’t have a license for and never used, they claimed interference issues, and the users and manufacturers of many wireless microphones, who had been using the spectrum illegally for years.

Technically, it is a good range of spectrum, it’s the analogue TV spectrum, so it goes a decent distance and penetrates walls and basements well, but more important is that it is unlicensed, which means that the use of the spectrum will be highly competitive, because, unlike wire, or the spectrum owned by wireless telcos, anyone can supply a service, as long as it complies with the technical requirements.

“Unlicensed” here means that anyone can operate the equipment, but that the equipment itself would have to be approved by the FCC before a sale is made.

This has a real potential to compete with the incumbents, and the barriers to providing service are low enough that there should be a fair number of entrants.

There is a Reason that I Declared them “They Who Must Not Be Named”

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But that hasn’t stopped the Voice of American from recruiting them to try and pacify angry people in the Middle East:

In what is evidently an attempt to mitigate the damage caused by Koran-burning pastors, the US government will attempt to dissuade outraged citizens of the Middle East from joining al-Qaeda by beaming Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian and Britney Spears across the Voice of America’s airwaves.

According to Press Gazette, Splash News and Pictures will provide a half-hour weekly show packed with meaty celebutardiness, aimed at winning the hearts and minds of those still undecided whether Holy War or Hollywood is the way to go.

First, I will note that if VoA is doing this, the Arab world is going to try and beat us to death with their bare hands.

Second, I have not yet put Kim Kardashian on my list of They Who Must Not Be Named, but ………

Wait for it ………

Wait for it ………

Wait for it ………

She is now.

Great googly moogley.

911, 9 Years on

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I don’t think that I can really say anthing about the 9th anniversary of the 911 attacks, beyond the humor and sociology in this picture:

I find this really, Really funny.

I think that I would have always found this funny, but it’s not an amusement that I would have felt comfortable sharing until very recently, and now, it’s the sort of thing that I would email to friends.

I’m not sure what it all means, but then again, I rarely am sure.

H/t Dc at the by invitation only Stellar Parthenon BBS.

I Expect This to Be a Prelude to Regulatory Capitulation

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The FCC is now saying that it will delay any ruling on net neutrality until after the election.

I take this as a sign that Obama, and FCC Chair Genachowski intend to sell out completely to the incumbent telcos and cable companies, but they do not want to enrage the netroots base, as well of the users of a little service called Facebook, see the survey numbers on social media users, really care about preserving net neutrality.

In my opinion, they are waiting until after the election to screw the base in order to benefit the big players, and they know that this will cost them votes if it comes out in September of October.

I should note however, that the redoubtable Harold Feld, who does this for a living, is more optimistic than I am about such things.

Just how Broken is Our Government?

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Well, how about a lobbying group brazenly using its ability to bribe members of Congress in an attempt to get an industry to target its own customers with onerous positions:

The Recording Industry Association of America said on Monday that current U.S. copyright law is so broken that it “isn’t working” for content creators any longer.

RIAA President Cary Sherman said the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act contains loopholes that allow broadband providers and Web companies to turn a blind eye to customers’ unlawful activities without suffering any legal consequences.

…………

This seems like innocuous whine, the sort that we have heard from the RIAA, the MPAA, the BSA for years, but it’s the threat that caught my eye:

In response to a question from CNET, Sherman said it may be necessary for the U.S. Congress to enact a new law formalizing agreements with intermediaries such as broadband providers, Web hosts, payment processors, and search engines.

The RIAA would strongly prefer informal agreements inked with intermediaries, Sherman said: “We’re working on [discussions with broadband providers], and we’d like to extend that kind of relationship–not just to ISPs, but [also to] search engines, payment processors, advertisers.”

But, Sherman said, “if legislation is an appropriate way to facilitate that kind of cooperation, fine.”

The basic attitude here is that they can ask Congress to jump, and the only response will be the query, “how high?”

It is a revolting state of affairs.

It should be noted that RIAA chief Cary Sherman later “clarified”, saying that, “A broader law enacted without their cooperation isn’t what the RIAA wants,” which really more a restatement of the the threat than anything else.

I hope that attitudes toward IP, and IP absolutism, are changing slowly. It seems to me that they are, largely as a result of the Blackberry case, when a patent troll nearly shut down the Blackberries in the US, in fact RIM’s inability to separate commercial users from government users is in large part why the troll finally settled, they realized that judges deprived of their “Crackberries” can get stroppy.

How to Save the US Post Office

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It turns out that the USPS makes much of its money from junk mail, and
Zac Bissonnette has a brilliant way to use this to make the big banks bankroll the Post Office, which is a good way to support Saturday service, and its flat rate for anywhere in the country:

Almost daily, I receive at least one pre-approved credit card offer from a big national bank that received bailout money from U.S. taxpayers. I hate big banks, and I hate bailouts, and I really hate it when my bailout money is used to send me junk mail I didn’t ask for and don’t want.

………

Instead, a grassroots bailout — this time, of the post office. This time, paid for by the bailed-out banks. We can do it. Here’s how: From now on, don’t just throw out those credit card offers. Instead, put the paperwork in the “postage will be paid by addressee” envelope (first removing anything with your name on it) and drop it back in the mailbox. You’ve just transferred the cost of mailing that letter from the not-so-needy Chase/Citi/Bank of America to the oh-so-needy USPS. Who needs Robin Hood when we have postage-paid envelopes?

The U.S. has 307 million people. If each person received an average of just one credit card offer a month (most adults get more than that, while children get none) and mailed it back to the bank without a signed application, at a cost to the bank of 44 cents postage, U.S. consumers could transfer $135 million a month from the banks to the Postal Service.

Truth be told, the net for the USPS is less than that, but it’s probably at least a dime, since much of what we pay is for maintaining the the postal infrastructure.

I’m not suggesting that you use it to send a brick, that would be abusive, but it is a good way to generate some additional revenue for your Postal Service.

It also has the advantage of raising the cost to junk mailers to sending you this crap, which might make them send you less crap.

Obama Consensus Building: The Incumbent Oligopolies Win, We Lose

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Google and Verizon have released the details of their carve up the internet among the big players proposal:

Google Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. on Monday called for equal treatment of most Internet traffic while at the same time saying fast-growing cellular networks and yet-to-be-developed broadband services should be exempt from such restrictions.

Google and Verizon released a proposal arguing that broadband providers shouldn’t be able to discriminate against Internet content providers. Marcelo Prince and Amy Schatz discuss. Also, Dennis Berman discusses why bond investors are giving up on recovery and jobs.

The ideas outlined in the proposal put forth by the Internet search giant and one of the largest broadband providers stand in contrast to the Federal Communications Commission’s recent proposals on “net neutrality” rules, which would prevent companies from giving preferential handling to certain types of online traffic.

In Google’s case, the proposal’s endorsements of two-tier Internet service and a hands-off approach to cellular-based Web services represent a break with many other online companies, which have argued for strict neutrality in how Internet traffic is treated. Google itself previously expressed general support for rules prohibiting discrimination among forms of Web traffic.

This is a direct consequence of the tenor and approach of Barack Obama. It is clear that in internet access, the incumbents have taken billions of government subsidies, and used this money to cement their monopoly positions, rather than improvement access.

It’s why US internet performance and penetration* is the worst in the developed world.

These are not people who you partner with to get the outcome you want, these are people you defeat to get the outcomes you want.

As to the long term consequences, I’ll go with what Atrios says:

I’m one who thinks that ultimately the forces of light will prevail and the repeated attempts to carve out internet walled gardens will, over the long run, fail as killing the internet would… kill the internet. But the long run is a long time and companies will likely screw and gouge us over the not very short run unless the FCC acts.

So not hopey changey, and as I have said before, this sort of craven acquiescence to the incumbent players who screwed everything in the first place appears to be a core philosophy of Barack Obama and His Clueless Minions™, whether it be telecommunications, finance, healthcare, etc.

*That sounds dirty, doesn’t it?

Google and Verizon Hammer Nails in Net Neutrality’s Coffin

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My guess is that Google has given up on the timid Obama administration, and Obama’s timid FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, who falls over when the incumbent players say “boo”, so Google is throwing in the towel, and is negotiating with Verizon to pay extortion money to insure that it doesn’t get shut out of the telcos last mile:

Google and Verizon, two leading players in Internet service and content, are nearing an agreement that could allow Verizon to speed some online content to Internet users more quickly if the content’s creators are willing to pay for the privilege.

The charges could be paid by companies, like YouTube, owned by Google, for example, to Verizon, one of the nation’s leading Internet service providers, to ensure that its content received priority as it made its way to consumers. The agreement could eventually lead to higher charges for Internet users.

Why is Google throwing in the towel?

Well part of it may be because Verizon is a major player in mobile phones, and they don’t want to be locked out:

People close to the negotiations who were not authorized to speak publicly about them said an agreement could be reached as soon as next week. If completed, Google, whose Android operating system powers many Verizon wireless phones, would agree not to challenge Verizon’s ability to manage its broadband Internet network as it pleased.

Or maybe it’s because all this hopey changey crap is nopey change crap:

Since the court decision, involving Comcast, in April, the F.C.C. has been trying to find a way to regulate broadband delivery, and that effort has been the subject of a series of private meetings at the agency’s headquarters in recent weeks. At the meetings, officials from the nation’s biggest Internet service and content providers, including Google and Verizon, have tried to reach a consensus on how broadband Internet service should be regulated in light of the decision. Those meetings continued this week, apart from the talks between Google and Verizon.

Yes, you have a group of people doing bad things, and destroying a public resource, and even though you have the authority to regulate, all you have to do is redefine broadband, and you are good to go, you are working to, “reach a consensus on how broadband Internet service should be regulated.”

That’s like banks trying to reach a consensus with bank robbers.

The incumbents are not valued members of the community, they are parasites who use an accident of history to attempt to act as highwaymen.

It’s not tough to reregulate this sh%$. You can’t now because a few years back, your Bushco predecessor made it so:

The F.C.C., meanwhile, favors a level playing field, but it cannot impose one as long as its authority over broadband is in legal doubt. It has proposed a solution that would reclassify broadband Internet service under the Communications Act from its current designation as an “information service,” a lightly regulated designation, to a “telecommunications service,” a category that, like telephone service, is subject to stricter regulation.

It’s very simple. Make a new finding. The old one was a payoff to the telcos for campaign bucks, warrantless wiretapping, and a failed free market ideology.

Make that ruling, and then, when you have a big stick, you can get to the rule making.

First, get a firm grip on their balls, and then negotiate.

Remember, we are dealing with The Phone Company here, and to quote Lily Tomlin, “We don’t care, we don’t have to…we’re the phone company.”

They may be essential, but they aren’t allies.

Then again, I’m being an optimist. If you look at the Obama administration’s actions, whether they be healthcare, financial reform, the Employee Free Choice Act, etc., it’s clear that their MO is to talk about reform, and then to give the malefactors what they want, so this could be by design, rather than by incompetence or cowardice.

In either case, treating the Obama Administration, and their FCC Chairman as the enemy and a bad faith player still gives activists the best policy, so I would suggest that this is what net neutrality activists do.

Avoid the veal pen conference calls, and light fires under them.