Open Lines

On government responsibility and prerogative and power:

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
~P.J. O’Rourke

“If the Internet has taught us anything, it’s that it’s pretty presumptuous to predict what the future will be. We should be very, very cautious about imposing regulations based on what we think competitors will do in the future and how we think consumers will respond based on what we think competitors will do.”
~Senator John Sununu, (R) New Hampshire

Unlike many tech-savvy people I know, I’m completely against government-mandated “Network Neutrality”.

Government is not a cure, it is a necessary evil in most situations, and a tolerable necessity in some very few.

Defining the responsibilities of private organizations is not now, has never been, and will never be, a role assumed by good government.

The market will define the needs and services worth offering.

Government mandated contractual obligations between service providers and governments have birthed the monopoly-style market of internet and communication services currently existing in America.

Further government regulation is not the solution.

Deregulation and government withdrawal from oversight and manipulation of the service providers is the only and best solution.

Government Is Not The Solution

Watching this news report regarding a real problem, the issue of blind people not being able to hear the quiet hybrid and electric cars to know to avoid them, I was both dismayed and heartened.

Near the end of the report the reported says with apparent relief “the government is going to study this, we have nothing to fear” (quoted loosely), and the automakers response: don’t bother, we already know it’s an issue and we’ll fix it ourselves.

Lawmakers are not engineers or usability experts or researchers or anything even remotely related to that.

They are usually those too stupid to actually succeed at life by their own merit and yet unusually skilled at convincing other dupes of their innate superiority and a seriously inaccurate view of their own self-worth and self-ability. A terrible combination.

So as the lawmakers are spending time, lots of time, subpoenaing testimony by experts and every snake-oil salesman who catches their eyes, those with something to actually do (say, fix the problem by putting proximity sensors and and AI which senses intersections and pedestrians and putting an automatic, low-volume, low-frequency horn which will not disturb other drivers but merely warn pedestrians) will be unable to do so as their hands will be tied and their time sucked away by the zombies we keep electing to office.

Anybody catch my drift here? Or the *slight* bit of vitriol coursing through my veins?

Government is not the solution, and it should keeps its mangling and sticky claws out of most everything.

Public Service Annoucement: Tax Scam

To all y’all who just may think the IRS will voluntarily tell you how much they owe you, be careful. Somebody else thinks you exist.

Things that should tip you off:

1. The IRS does not contact you by email
2. The email address is not a government address. IRS addresses would end with “@irs.gov”.
3. Government emails use more graphics. All your tax dollars have to pay for more bandwidth.
4. The website the link directs you to is not an IRS website.
5. No legitimate business ends their communication “Regards, <their company name>”
6. There is not a copyright on email communication any more than there is a copyright on letters you write.

So just in case you get one of these emails, kindly do the whole world, and especially yourself, a big favor. Just delete it or report it as spam so your email service provider can improve their filters against such scams.

Hat tip to thatmarkguy.