Richard Bennett 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: The Pai FCC Is Oddly Quiet About Trump's Plan To Have The Agency Police Speech

    Richard Bennett ( profile ), 21 Aug, 2019 @ 11:56am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: yadda yadda yadda

    This is absolutely hilarious. Bode & fans treat an alleged proposal for a outlandish Trump executive order as no different from a serious policy proposal by an Air Force general. Clue: the heads of independent regulatory agencies such as the FCC and the FTC have better things to do with their time than play Twitter wars with our deranged president. Ignoring his crazy fantasies is the most effective way to crush them. TD's amateurism is showing, and its disaffected audience loves it.

  • On the post: The Pai FCC Is Oddly Quiet About Trump's Plan To Have The Agency Police Speech

    Richard Bennett ( profile ), 20 Aug, 2019 @ 07:29pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: That time when TechDirt jumped t

    The post fails to make a credible case for its claim that commenting on a proposal to the NSC is equivalent to commenting on a press rumor - with no concrete evidence - of an executive order that would be unlawful on its face. Contrary to Bode's claim, the NSC presentation did not originate at Rivada Networks, it came from an Air Force General Robert Spalding. While Rivada certainly liked it, their influence over the Air Force is nil. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and his minion Earl Comstock liked it as well, but they didn't write it either. The Spalding proposal was reported in a credible way by the Actual Press; Axios published the slide deck. There has been no disclosure of the alleged Facebook censorship plan, and one of the two journalists who've written about claims to have seen no more than a summary. It's premature for official government reaction to a possible plan to make an unlawful order to solve a problem that may or may not exist. The alleged executive order simply isn't at the same level of newsworthiness as the Spalding proposal. It's obvious that Bode is trying to use this leak as a cudgel for him to continue Techdirt's unprincipled attacks on Chairman Pai. No reasonable person expected Pai to take this piece of media bait. While Techdirt bloggers generally do little more than summarize or react to news reported by journalists with actual sources close their stories, this post is among the saddest to appear on the site. I have to laugh about Techdirt's complaints about intellectual honesty. This is the blog that insists, contrary to academic evidence in 30 papers on the impact of piracy on the sales of music and video entertainment, that piracy does not harm sales of digital goods. Techdirt is the Flat Earth Society of tech policy. You can't curse your way out of the hole you've dug by publishing this ridiculous article.

  • On the post: The Pai FCC Is Oddly Quiet About Trump's Plan To Have The Agency Police Speech

    Richard Bennett ( profile ), 18 Aug, 2019 @ 10:01am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: That time when TechDirt jumped the shark

    Your readers love being lied to; in fact, they demand it.

  • On the post: The Pai FCC Is Oddly Quiet About Trump's Plan To Have The Agency Police Speech

    Richard Bennett ( profile ), 18 Aug, 2019 @ 09:59am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: That time when TechDirt jumped the shark

    I haven't moved the goalposts, I've been asking for evidence of the similarity your conspiracy nut alleges from the beginning. You're making his false charge because you feel like it's your only way out. Let me suggest you break with precedent and try a little honesty. Trump will never issue an order directing the FCC to censor Facebook; this entire affair is click bait.

  • On the post: The Pai FCC Is Oddly Quiet About Trump's Plan To Have The Agency Police Speech

    Richard Bennett ( profile ), 17 Aug, 2019 @ 09:18pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: That time when TechDirt jumped the shark...

    It's funny how your readers keep flagging the comments to which you're replying. That says a lot about your audience, does it not? Petulant crybabies is the phrase that comes to mind.

  • On the post: The Pai FCC Is Oddly Quiet About Trump's Plan To Have The Agency Police Speech

    Richard Bennett ( profile ), 17 Aug, 2019 @ 09:14pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: That time when TechDirt jumped the shark...

    You've still not provided evidence of an FCC chairman publicly commenting on an early draft of an executive order. That's the only evidence that will let your troll off the hook. All kinds of people comment on all kinds of proposals, but independent regulators have no history of commenting on proposals for early drafts of thoughts on possible executive orders. You can wave your hands and wag your fuzzy little head all you want about "proposals", but they're not equal. I will continue to wait for concrete, relevant precedent, but we both know you'd have shared it by now if you had any.

  • On the post: The Pai FCC Is Oddly Quiet About Trump's Plan To Have The Agency Police Speech

    Richard Bennett ( profile ), 17 Aug, 2019 @ 01:16pm

    Re: Re: That time when TechDirt jumped the shark...

    Nice try at propping up the scam, but there are clear and obvious differences between the 5G plan cooked up by former NSC member AF Brig. Gen. Robert Spalding and an early draft of a presidential executive order. Some of these are matters of content: the spectrum plan had direct relevance to the FCC's jurisdiction over spectrum rights and broadband deployment, but the regulation of Internet social platform speech policies is not under FCC jurisdiction. I can show you where the Comms Act directs the FCC to manage spectrum and broadband deployment, but you can't show me where the Comms Act says the FCC is supposed to regulate Facebook. Another difference is the maturity of the proposal. The 5G plan was presented to a broad group of government stakeholders (the NSC) in a slide deck that was intended to elicit discussion. Nobody knows how early the alleged White House order is, who (if anyone) it was presented do, and what its status is with respect to discussion and revision. So it's nothing more than a rumor and certainly not a concrete proposal. And then there's the broader question of FCC's place in the federal government structure. Contrary to Techdirt's claims, the FCC doesn't report to the White House, it reports to Congress. The president nominates the commissioners and chooses one of them to be the chairman. He can't fire a commissioner, and all he can do with the chairmanship is transfer it to another commissioner. It's not the FCC's business to comment on possible executive orders and no reason to believe it sees them. In fact, there are good legal reasons to believe they don't. Finally, you've made a claim about "normal practice" but you've only offered one incident in support. Statistically, one data point doesn't prove a trend. In fact, the 5G case was the outlier and what's happening here is the norm. You can't show me a single instance in which an FCC chairman has ever commented on an early draft of a possible White House executive order. The 5G plan was certainly not related to any executive order. So your story is a farce. The claim that the FCC is "oddly silent" is false. Techdirt is either clueless or deliberately lying. Prove me wrong with evidence if you can; and if you can't, you should take down the story or, bette yet, leave it up and label is as false.

  • On the post: The Pai FCC Is Oddly Quiet About Trump's Plan To Have The Agency Police Speech

    Richard Bennett ( profile ), 17 Aug, 2019 @ 11:35am

    That time when TechDirt jumped the shark...

    In summary, it is not normal practice for the heads of federal regulatory agencies to speak to the media on early drafts of possible White House executive orders. The FCC is independent of the White House by law and is not involved in the drafting of executive orders.

    This post displays massive ignorance of the structure of the federal government and a sad fixation on conspiratorial reasoning. It's the political equivalent of hypochondria.

  • On the post: The Pai FCC Is Oddly Quiet About Trump's Plan To Have The Agency Police Speech

    Richard Bennett ( profile ), 16 Aug, 2019 @ 05:52pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    If it's not Karl, it's the president of his fan club; close enough.

  • On the post: The Pai FCC Is Oddly Quiet About Trump's Plan To Have The Agency Police Speech

    Richard Bennett ( profile ), 16 Aug, 2019 @ 05:51pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Even if your imagined state of affairs is accidentally true, there's no particular reason for any government official to comment publicly on a draft document.

  • On the post: The Pai FCC Is Oddly Quiet About Trump's Plan To Have The Agency Police Speech

    Richard Bennett ( profile ), 16 Aug, 2019 @ 05:49pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Kindly refrain from opining about what I do and don't know; that always embarrasses you. Your incapacity to discern a difference between a slide deck and a whispered rumor says a lot. If the heads of all the regulatory agencies went insane over every rumor about some stray thought that is alleged to have crossed the president's mind, they wouldn't have time to do their actual jobs. Admit it, your Chief Conspiracy Officer is trying to make something out of nothing. That's his job, granted, but this is a spectacular fail.

  • On the post: The Pai FCC Is Oddly Quiet About Trump's Plan To Have The Agency Police Speech

    Richard Bennett ( profile ), 16 Aug, 2019 @ 04:41pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    who claim knowledge of it-->
    who claim knowledge of a Trump executive order on Internet censorship

  • On the post: The Pai FCC Is Oddly Quiet About Trump's Plan To Have The Agency Police Speech

    Richard Bennett ( profile ), 16 Aug, 2019 @ 04:39pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    This is what I said in my first comment, Karl: "This alleged plan - that we only know about because of speculation by CNN - will never see the light of day. The Rivada 5G plan exists as an actual written document that has been shared." And that's what I'm still saying. The 5G plan existed as an actual written document from the beginning, but not even the commenters at CNN and Politico who claim knowledge of it have seen it. CNN goes the farthest in claiming to have seen a written summary, but that claim remains unsupported by evidence. We can continue this discussion when you have some something more than a whispered rumor.

  • On the post: The Pai FCC Is Oddly Quiet About Trump's Plan To Have The Agency Police Speech

    Richard Bennett ( profile ), 16 Aug, 2019 @ 04:35pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Yeah, you're Karl.

  • On the post: The Pai FCC Is Oddly Quiet About Trump's Plan To Have The Agency Police Speech

    Richard Bennett ( profile ), 16 Aug, 2019 @ 01:53pm

    Re: Re:

    People commented on the tangible PowerPoint presentation Axios shared on the 5G plan, not simply on rumors that such a plan was in the works. Nobody has published a tangible version of the alleged executive order. As I said at the beginning, that's big difference. Once again, Karl, you're busted.

  • On the post: The Pai FCC Is Oddly Quiet About Trump's Plan To Have The Agency Police Speech

    Richard Bennett ( profile ), 16 Aug, 2019 @ 01:51pm

    Re: Re:

    Of course you say that.

  • On the post: The Pai FCC Is Oddly Quiet About Trump's Plan To Have The Agency Police Speech

    Richard Bennett ( profile ), 16 Aug, 2019 @ 01:41pm

    BTW Karl, why don't you just post your comments using your real name rather than signing them with that cute little "try again" thing?

  • On the post: The Pai FCC Is Oddly Quiet About Trump's Plan To Have The Agency Police Speech

    Richard Bennett ( profile ), 16 Aug, 2019 @ 01:30pm

    Axios shared a PowerPoint of the plan favored by Commerce Department official Earl Comstock to nationalize 5G networks. People who can read saw it here

    While CNN - and only CNN - claims to have seen a draft summary of the alleged executive order, it has not seen fit to share it.

  • On the post: The Pai FCC Is Oddly Quiet About Trump's Plan To Have The Agency Police Speech

    Richard Bennett ( profile ), 16 Aug, 2019 @ 12:46pm

    That time when TechDirt jumped the shark...

    So Karl Bode is upset that the chairman of the FCC has not publicly commented on a non-public plan for an unlawful order directing the FCC to censor Internet speech. This is as fine an example of delusional thinking as we're ever going to see.

    The appropriate way for a high-ranking government official to react to an unlawful and unpublished plan is through direct and private communication with the author. Unlike conspiracy-oriented blogs such as this one, the FCC is not funded by click bait.

    This alleged plan - that we only know about because of speculation by CNN - will never see the light of day. The Rivada 5G plan exists as an actual written document that has been shared.

    Big difference.

  • On the post: Why Is Congress Moving Forward With Its Plan To Encourage Copyright Trolling?

    Richard Bennett ( profile ), 10 Jun, 2019 @ 07:07pm

    Re: Abolish copyright.

    This is what passes for reasonable on Techdirt.

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