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Ajit Pai Gives Carriers Free Pass on Privacy Violations During FCC Shutdown (arstechnica.com)
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai refused to brief a Congressional committee Monday about mobile carriers' ability to share their subscribers' location data with third parties. From a report: House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.) asked Pai for an "emergency briefing" to explain why the FCC "has yet to end wireless carriers' unauthorized disclosure of consumers' real-time location data," and for an update on "what actions the FCC has taken to address this issue to date." Pai's FCC could take action, despite the 2017 repeal of the commission's broadband privacy rules. Phone carriers are legally required to protect "Customer Proprietary Network Information [CPNI]," and the FCC's definition of CPNI includes location data.
[...] Pai did not agree with Pallone, it turns out. "Today, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai refused to brief Energy and Commerce Committee staff on the real-time tracking of cell phone location[s]," Pallone said in a statement yesterday. "In a phone conversation today, his staff asserted that these egregious actions are not a threat to the safety of human life or property that the FCC will address during the Trump shutdown."
[...] Pai did not agree with Pallone, it turns out. "Today, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai refused to brief Energy and Commerce Committee staff on the real-time tracking of cell phone location[s]," Pallone said in a statement yesterday. "In a phone conversation today, his staff asserted that these egregious actions are not a threat to the safety of human life or property that the FCC will address during the Trump shutdown."
What the carriers are doing is horrible, no doubt. They should be stopped from selling location data to anyone, full stop.
But it's also not wrong to say - this is not threat to life. It's something that should be addressed when the government is re-opened.
If you are really really keen on this moving forward, add to the support to fund the wall already authorized by previous government bills, and move on.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It was a nice run but it's time to admit the experiment our founders put in motion all those years ago has failed. Undone by ignorance, complacency, and unfettered capitalism.
It was nice while it lasted. It's all over but the shouting now.
he sides with the corporation over consumers almost every single time (he did some stuff for rural communities that you can chalk up to his party needing that voting block).
We all know this by now. The question I keep asking is, is this going to change how anybody votes in 2020? So far I haven't got a single answer of "yes". As such, I would expect him to continue this behavior since it seems to be working out just fine for him.
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Day one, they passed a set of micro-budgets. 7 of them. So the Senate could start turning on some parts of the federal government while still letting a shutdown affect one department (for face saving). The Senate never voted on them.
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People who kill other people tend to be more impulsive than they are intelligent. The number of people who are aware that they can access this data, intelligent enough to be able to gather and put it to use, but also willing to kill someone is incredibly small.
It's not that this can't happen, it's just a lot less likely. If we're interested in preventing spousal murders (or just violence in general) there are plenty of other things that we should be far more worried about. The sad thing is that something like this would get sensationalized and focus and effort that could be better spent elsewhere for better overall outcomes will instead be pointlessly squandered.
Bullshit. 2 months ago the GOP had the House , Senate and Oval Office - yet couldn't get a budget done. The GOP refused to give Lord Trumpkin his silly wall. He was ready to sign a budget deal without the wall till FoxNews made fun of him and he threw a tantrum... You like having a Commander if Chief taking marching orders from a propaganda organization? It doesn't bother you he idols are Putin and Kim Jong-un
And, BTW, this shutdown is the longest in history, so there's comparison with Obama or anyone else.
Trump is a spoiled brat petulant child in the White House.
People are sick and tired of politicians owned by corporations raiding the Treasury for corporate benefit... In 2018 the GOP increased the deficit by $1.06T dollars in massive corporate tax cut under the guise of "it would spur the economy"... Corporations took their new found windfall and used it on record setting stock buy backs... a $1T dollars worth (seen that number before?)
We have the GOP who continually scream about the deficit when there's a Democrat in charge, instantly toll armloads of payola on corporate oligarchy as soon as they get the chance.
Note, though, that budget bills originate in the House, and Pelosi has not allowed a vote on a FY2019 budget. This is Pelosi's shutdown, not Trumps. He blusters, he threatens, whatever. Pelosi has the first move and she's stonewalling.
Incorrect, Anonymous Coward.
The House has passed numerous budgets. The Speaker of the Senate, Mitch McConnell, refuses to take any of them to the floor of the senate.
McConnell has the next move and he's stonewalling.
Of course that's how it works. 80% of the US government isn't shut down. The military, HHS, VA, Education Department, etc. are all full funded. So is the USPS, Social Security and Medicare (although that's because of alternate funding.)
There's no "pass a budget" item. It's a "fund X bill". Sometimes X is the whole governments. Sometimes, it's a special allotment to establish a specific bridge or project.
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an entire post as "Troll"?
The house did pass a bill. It was never taken up for a vote with the senate. As far as the emergency nature of this, it does seem like this has immediate life threatening implications as the Streisand effect of this capability will likely lead to an ex boyfriend/girlfriend/whomever finding where someone is hiding and assaulting them.
Everyone time someone says that the meta data the government collects isn’t that important or, in this case, that allowing anyone to get real time location info on anyone else in the nation isn’t that important, I wish they would give me carte blanche to prove to them that it is not the case. Ajit had to hire a bunch of security guards because nobody likes him (outside of corporate board rooms). I would love to show him how dangerous this info is. But of course, doing something like that is illegal and I would get prosecuted for it without it actually fixing anything. I wish he’d just put his money where his mouth is and let someone prove him wrong.
Refusing to respond means they can send the Capitol police to arrest him, and drag him to the hearing.
Just do it.
If he refuses to speak,, lock him up until he does.
It's within the power of Congress.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Whore lets John get his way while the cops are in the donut shop.
Where's the news?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Found the treasonous Republican faggot of no value or consequence!
Logic: Its treason to want to stop the exploitation of desperate minorities by rich liberals in California.
"His name was James Damore."
That's essentially what he said. By law, the unfunded agencies, including the FCC, can only have staff do things for which waiting until next week would be "a threat to the safety of human life or property". Preparing a report for this Congresscritter is "not a threat to the safety of human life or property", he said, and therefore he can't legally have staff doing that when Congress hasn't authorized paying any staff.
Are you trying to claim that a funding bill requires a supermajority in the Senate? That would be news to - well, just about everyone.
No, it would be the facts.
The whole reason the original House bill could not be passed was that it required 60 votes.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Note that I did not say "pass the wall" from the standpoint of saying if that is good or bad
Sorry if it came off that way, neither am I pointing to some moral dilemma that steams from the wall. I'm just saying however that if Congress does cave in to the $5.7B figure, that emboldens the administration and does set a new bar for brinkmanship in government shutdowns. It will indicate that 26-days (or how ever long this shutdown does go on for) is a fine time frame for a shutdown. Congress has every motive to ensure that long shutdowns equate to diminished returns on demands. If they do not covey that, it will signal that long shutdowns only equate to loss GDP and potential loss of government employees, but political agenda and hard line stance goes with zero punitive repercussions. I don't think Congress and more especially the House wants to convey to the President now or in the future, that long term shutdowns equate to eventually getting what you want. However, there is the chance that those in the House currently or to short sighted to see that, in that case, there is a good chance that the President might very well get what he wants. I've seen dumber things play out like the nuclear option on judges, but not much.
I said that from the standpoint of tactics only - Trump is not going to back down, and is actually helped the longer the shutdown goes on
Eeehh... That's a pretty subjective point. It does indeed help those who would like to see Federal workers replaced with contract help that the Trump base would like to see. However, I wouldn't pin that on helping the process of the wall. Trump's administration was bleeding workers before the shutdown, so literally Trump just simply being in office helps that, the shutdown is just extrapolating that process onto a larger domain. However, government workers leaving isn't a zero sum thing. That's something folks tend to remember and government employees getting a sour mood may opt to disrupt Trump strong supporters in the Republican party to drive a new schism in the Republican party to oust the hard liners. But that's speculating. Point being, while drive government employees out is indeed something that helps short term in the Trump base, leaving government employees tend to have more ramifications for political change within a party. I think the long position is that Trump's government will have lasting effects within the Republican party itself. The Democrats are just going to be more embolden in their stance so, pretty much a day that ends with "Y".
So the only way to move forward is to fund the wall to some degree (Trump would be willing to bargain downward somewhat)
I totally do not see that happening. I just don't see it. Trump is incredibly firm at the $5.7B figure and the $5.7B figure is a non-starter for the House. The only way I see this moving forward is either a veto override (which I put slim to none) or a State of Emergency (which I think has the higher chance here). I'm pretty sure that Democrats will be more than happy to see Trump declare a state of emergency because that will give them the options to wipe hands clean of the matter, indicate that it appears the President will build the wall himself, fund the military, and then when Trump signs a general appropriations military funding bill, promptly sue him and his plan to build a wall with the military and lock it in the court system until the heat death of the universe. It also has the upshot of being something to sling around in 2020 with "Dictator Trump" building walls and giving Congress and the checks and balance system a middle finger. I'm pretty sure that advisors are indicating to the President to only pull the trigger on the state of emergency lightly, because oh boy will that trigger more litigation than you can shake a stick at. But again, that said, veto override or state of emergency are the only two ways I see out of this before the election.
The Reichwing blocked every single thing Obama did in his last 1-1/2 years. TurtleMan McConnell refused to even do his job and put a SCOTUS replacement on the floor.