Even as the candidate that President Obama is supporting, Hillary Clinton, has been increasingly insisting that she really (no, really) is against the TPP (despite being for it prior to this campaign) — and even as Donald Trump has been vehemently against it, despite trade agreements usually getting strong support from the GOP — President Obama is making a big push to get the TPP ratified by Congress. It needs a majority vote in both houses of Congress to be ratified in the US. Last week, we noted the weird situation where everyone’s position on the agreement appeared to be wishy-washy, though mostly for all the wrong reasons.
But that’s not stopping Obama from having his cabinet make a big push to get it approved by Congress:
Among those who will hit the road will be Secretary of State John F. Kerry; Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter; retired Admiral Michael G. Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Presidents George W. Bush and Obama; Admiral Harry B. Harris Jr., commander of the United States Pacific Command; and William Cohen, a former Republican senator and defense secretary under President Bill Clinton.
Of course, everyone knows that it won’t be voted on until after the election.
Although the administration?s push will begin in September, no vote on the accord will occur before the election. Just as the White House and congressional Republican leaders mostly agree on the economic benefits of trade, they have parallel political interests in delaying debate.
Republicans do not want to provoke attacks from their presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, who called the trade accord ?a rape of our country,? or hurt other Republican candidates. Mr. Obama does not want to make trouble for the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, who has struggled to persuade voters of her sincerity in switching from support of the pact to opposition. This month, during an economic address in Michigan, she declared, ?I oppose it now, I?ll oppose it after the election and I?ll oppose it as president.?
But, of course, that seems like it could also make a so-called “lame duck” vote pretty damn awkward as well. Yes, after the charade of the election is over, perhaps politicians will revert to their previous positions supporting the deal, but even at their most cynical, it seems a bit crass to do so right after the election. It would just underscore how absolutely full of shit they were during the campaign season. Maybe that doesn’t have political consequences… but it should.
Lots of people are talking about the fact that President Obama went on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Thursday night to “slow jam the news” and play up a bunch of his accomplishments while stumping for the TPP agreement. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s here:
Here’s the key part on TPP:
“I believe it is of the utmost importance to work alongside other leaders. That’s why I signed the Iran nuclear deal, that?s why we reopened diplomatic ties with Cuba, and that is why I negotiated the new trade deal called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP,” Obama said, to the backdrop of the Roots.
“Now, hold on there, Prez dispenser. Are you saying you?re down with TPP?” Fallon responded.
“Yeah, you know me. Look, Jimmy, the TPP allows American businesses to sell their products both at home and abroad. The more we sell abroad, the more higher-paying jobs we provide at home. It?s that simple,” Obama said.
“So what are you saying, that this trade deal would put Americans back to work, work, work, work, work?” Fallon said, singing Rihanna as Obama joined in.
The President is being misleading, but we’ll get to that. The really amusing point, as pointed out by Johnjac is that the little Rihanna homage breakdown there is legal thanks to fair use. But the TPP, contrary to the claims of some, actually looks to limit fair use, by putting in place a test (that US fair use wouldn’t currently qualify for) — and making any fair use optional.
So… that seems like a bit of irony. But it’s the kind of thing almost no one is going to comment on, because ha ha, the President is singing and it’s funny.
As for the claim that the TPP allows American businesses to sell their products both at home and abroad, that’s… not really true. Most American businesses can already sell their products at home (obviously) and abroad. The TPP only removes tariffs and other restrictions in a few limited cases. It’s not really going to open up that many markets. And as we’ve seen with other trade deals (e.g., NAFTA) it’s arguable how much it helps to put Americans who are out of work “back to work.” But if this were just about trade then he might have a point, but as we’ve pointed out over and over again, trade is such a small part of the TPP. So much more of it is about “non-tariff barriers” which is basically another way of talking about setting up protectionist laws like stronger copyright and patent requirements.
No matter what you think of the passage of the USA Freedom Act, you should be able to agree that it wouldn’t have been possible without Edward Snowden’s contributions. Even many of the Senators who were against reform are grudgingly admitting this. On the floor of the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell spat out that the USA Freedom Act was a “resounding victory” for Snowden as if it were some sort of insult. The only guy who seemed really confused by all of this was Rep. Pete King who somehow argued that the (very limited) reform bill spelled “defeat for ISIS, Edward Snowden and Rand Paul” which is not only wrong, but nonsensical.
However, perhaps more interesting is President Obama’s statement on the passing of the USA Freedom Act, which snaps at those in Congress who delayed its passage and then “thanks” those who made it possible:
If you can’t see that, it reads:
For the past eighteen months, I have called for reforms that better safeguard the privacy and civil liberties of the American people while ensuring our national security officials retain tools important to keeping Americans safe. That is why, today, I welcome the Senate’s passage of the USA FREEDOM Act, which I will sign when it reaches my desk.
After needless delay and inexcusable lapse in important national security authorities, my Administration will work expeditiously to ensure our national security professionals again have the full set of vital tools they need to continue protecting the country. Just as important, enactment of this legislation will strengthen civil liberty safeguards and provide greater public confidence in these programs, including by prohibiting bulk collection through the use of Section 215, FISA pen registers, and National Security Letters and by providing the American people with additional transparency measures.
I am gratified that Congress has finally moved forward with this sensible reform legislation. I particularly applaud Senators Leahy and Lee as well as Representative Goodlatte, Sensenbrenner, Conyers, and Nadler for their leadership and tireless efforts to pass this important bipartisan achievement.
Notably missing from all that? Ed Snowden. Without him, none of this would have happened. And, it’s beyond misleading for the President to pretend that he’s the one who’s been calling for this kind of reform for 18 months. First off, that was only in response to Ed Snowden revealing the program and, second, while some of the key reforms in here needed legislative action, he could have stepped up and done some of it on his own — something his administration refused to do for 18 months.
At the very least, you’d hope that the President could acknowledge the simple fact that, like it or not, this entire process was kicked off because of Ed Snowden’s actions. Instead, the President’s chief spokesperson continues to demonize Snowden:
The fact is that Mr. Snowden committed very serious crimes, and the U.S. government and Department of Justice believe that he should face them. And that?s why we believe that Mr. Snowden should return to the United States where he will face due process, and he?ll have the opportunity — if he returned to the United States — to make that case in a court of law. But obviously our view on this is that he committed and is accused of very serious crimes.
Doesn’t anyone in the White House recognize just how silly it is to claim that it’s a “very serious crime” to reveal a program that two separate White House advisory boards, a district court and an appeals court, and multiple Senators aware of the details of the program have said is illegal and/or unconstitutional? And then to celebrate (very mild) reforms that only came about because of those actions, while at the same time calling those actions “very serious crimes”?
We’ve had a bunch of stories lately about the increase in militarized police and what a ridiculous and dangerous idea it is. As we’ve discussed in the past, much of this came from the Defense Department and its 1033 program, which takes decommissioned military equipment and gives it to police. This results in bizarre situations like the LA School District police having a bunch of grenade launchers. The program is somewhat infamous for its lack of rules, transparency and oversight.
So it was great to see President Obama this week issue an executive order that greatly scales back the program. You’ll be happy to know that no future LA School Districts will get grenade launchers (though, to be fair, after bad publicity, the school district did give the ones it had received back):
Grenade launchers, bayonets, tracked armored vehicles, weaponized aircraft and vehicles, firearms and ammunition of .50-caliber or higher will no longer be provided to state and local police agencies by the federal government under Obama’s order.
[….]
In addition to the prohibitions in his order, Obama also is placing a longer list of military equipment under tighter control, including wheeled armored vehicles like Humvees, manned aircraft, drones, specialized firearms, explosives, battering rams and riot batons, helmets and shields. Starting in October, police will have to get approval from their city council, mayor or some other local governing body to obtain such equipment, provide a persuasive explanation of why it is needed and have more training and data collection on its use.
For police departments that already have the now “banned” items, they will have to be returned. You’ll notice that one of the biggest symbols that people point to of overly-militarized police — the MRAP — is not included in the banned list. There are some other limitations here as well. And a big one, as the guy who literally wrote the book on militarized police, Radley Balko, notes: the 1033 program is no longer the biggest supplier of such things to police:
Since 2003, for example, the Department of Homeland Security has been giving grants to police departments around the country to purchase new military-grade gear. That program now dwarfs the 1033 Program. It has also given rise to a cottage industry of companies that build gear in exchange for those DHS checks. Those companies now have a significant lobbying presence in Washington. I suspect that presence will now only grow stronger. So if the Obama administration really wants to roll back police militarization, this program needs reform, too.
Still, as Balko also notes, there is still a lot of importance in the symbolism of the move made this week:
From what has been reported, this new initiative addresses these concerns as well and seems to indicate that the Obama administration understands and appreciates that the symbolic component of police militarization is just as important as the practical component. I?m uncomfortable with any military vehicles going to local police. Free societies tend to draw a clear line between cops and soldiers. Blurring that line indicates a failure to appreciate its importance. But this initiative is moving toward reestablishing that line, not moving it or further blurring it. Federal programs are pretty difficult to disband, so a blanket ban was probably never in the cards. Conditioning the acceptance of this gear on increased transparency, accountability and a move toward community policing seems like a good compromise. We?ll either get less use of this military-issued equipment, or we?ll get more and better information about how it?s used. Either outcome is progress.
Balko gives some additional (fantastic) background on why President Obama made the announcement in Camden, New Jersey — a city that had serious problems between the local police and the community, and basically figured out a way to restart from scratch (closing down the local police force and letting the county take over) while creating a much stronger community tie between police and the community, rather than the all-too-common adversarial relationship that has grown up in many places (which is often made worse by the militarization).
Not surprisingly… there are already loud complaints from police representatives, who complain (misleadingly) about how this move puts them all in danger:
The nation?s largest police union is fighting back against a White House plan to restrict local police forces? ability to acquire military-style gear, accusing President Barack Obama?s task force of politicizing officers? safety.
Other police are hilariously arguing that this move will actually increase military presence, because police without this equipment will no longer be able to contain crowds, and thus the National Guard will have to be called in more frequently. Of course, all of that seems to assume that violent protests are the norm, rather than a semi-rare occurrence — and, it also ignores how militarized police often seem to exacerbate such situations, rather than calm them down.
This move doesn’t end the militarization of police, but it does take a step in the right direction. As Balko notes, if we believe in a free society, we shouldn’t have militarized police. This move is an important step up.
President Obama is apparently quite annoyed by the fact that his own party is basically pushing against his “big trade deals” (that are not really about trade). Senator Elizabeth Warren has been pretty aggressive in trashing the TPP agreement, highlighting the fact that the agreement is still secret (other than the bits leaked by Wikileaks). In response, President Obama came out swinging against the critics of TPP arguing that “they don’t know what they’re talking about.”
He insists that it’s unfair to compare TPP to NAFTA because they’re different deals:
?You need to tell me what?s wrong with this trade agreement, not one that was passed 25 years ago.?
Well, Mr. President, I would love to do that, but I can’t because you and your USTR haven’t released the damn text. It takes an insane lack of self-awareness for the guy who once declared his administration “the most transparent in history” to demand people tell him what’s wrong with his trade agreement, when that agreement is kept entirely secret.
Furthermore, multiple experts concerning things like the corporate sovereignty ISDS provisions and the intellectual property chapters have gone into great detail as to why the leaked versions have problems. They’re not complaining about NAFTA. They’re actually complaining about the latest drafts — but the USTR won’t acknowledge them because they’re talking about leaked versions.
In fact, the only real complaints I’ve seen relating to NAFTA concern the fact that the government says one thing about these big agreements, but the reality is something different.
?The one that gets on my nerves the most is the notion that this is a ?secret? deal,? Obama said. ?Every single one of the critics who I hear saying, ?this is a secret deal,? or send out emails to their fundraising base saying they?re working to prevent this secret deal, can walk over today and read the text of the agreement. There?s nothing secret about it.?
I’m a critic. I can’t walk over today and read the text of the agreement. Obviously, President Obama is only talking about elected members of Congress. But that’s not what they’re complaining about. They’re complaining about the fact that the American public cannot see the text of the document or discuss the specifics of what’s in there. And that’s absolutely true.
And even the fact that members of Congress can actually see the document is tremendously misleading. Yes, members of Congress are allowed to walk over to the USTR and see a copy of the latest text. But they’re not allowed to take any notes, make any copies or bring any of their staff members. In other words, they can only read the document and keep what they remember in their heads. And they can’t have their staff members — the folks who often really understand the details — there to explain what’s really going on.
And it all comes back to the point that Senator Warren has been making for a long time: that former USTR Ron Kirk has admitted that a big reason why they keep the document secret is that when they tried being more transparent in the past, the agreement failed. As Warren says, if being transparent with the American public means the agreement will fail, then the problem is with the agreement, not the public.
?When I keep on hearing people repeating this notion that it?s ?secret,? I gotta say, it?s dishonest,? Obama continued. ?And it?s concerning when I see friends of mine resorting to these kinds of tactics.?
Here’s a little test: can we see the current TPP documents today? No? Then it’s secret. Claiming otherwise is what’s dishonest.
I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally…
The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty…
It serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.
Not for nothing did Washington warn against the formation of political parties. In this country, bipartisan support can occasionally still be found for the innovative or the innocuous, but for very little else. Not that the parties are really that different. A lot of partisan opposition is predicated on nothing more than the “wrong” party pushing the legislation. There are sharp divides in terms of social programs and issues, but when it comes to funding the military, intelligence agencies and law enforcement, there’s very little difference between the Democrats and the Republicans.
But the illusion of disparity still exists, even in these issues, and even when many on both sides are receiving similar funding from interested parties. So, it’s a bit odd to hear a leading figure of one political party publicly praise the leader of another. Jeb Bush did just that, recently. He managed to toss President Obama a thumbs-up for one set of policy decisions.
Medved: If you were to look back at the last seven years, almost, what has been the best part of the Obama administration?
Jeb Bush: I would say the best part of the Obama administration would be his continuance of the protections of the homeland using the big metadata programs, the NSA being enhanced. Advancing this — even though he never defends it, even though he never openly admits it, there has been a continuation of a very important service, which is the first obligation, I think of our national government is to keep us safe. And the technologies that now can be applied to make that so, while protecting civil liberties are there. And he’s not abandoned them, even though there was some indication that he might.
Of course, he would say that. After all, Obama’s approach to this area has been roughly the same as his brother’s, George W. Bush. The 9/11 attacks opened the door for another endless war and all the government land grabs that went with it. Obama’s tenure has only expanded on Bush’s groundwork. There have been reforms mooted, but they’re reforms Obama would never have considered if it hadn’t been for Snowden’s leaks. The reforms are mostly cosmetic and concentrate far too much on a program that even some intelligence officials have admitted is close to useless: the bulk phone metadata collections.
As Glenn Greenwald points out at The Intercept, even the farthest right of the Republican party have had generally nice things to say about his foreign policy decisions, seeing as they’re the sort of things you’d normally expect the more-hawkish Red Staters to deploy: extrajudicial drone killings, indefinite detention and other areas where civil liberties have taken a back seat to national security.
If there’s any place our government remains (mostly) united, it’s the War on Terror. Government figures love government power and nothing makes the State “healthier” than a good, long war. Jeb Bush’s by-proxy approval of his brother’s programs isn’t going to hurt his presidential chances with much of the party faithful. He might steer those concerned by the unchecked growth of the surveillance state towards his competition, however, what with Rand Paul promising to kill off the NSA’s domestic surveillance programs shortly after delivering his inaugural address — a promise I like in principal but am much less enamored with in terms of practicality.
In short, Jeb Bush’s compliments are nothing more than a government figure telling the world that he likes government power. And the more it gets, the happier he’ll be.
Last Friday, at the White House’s Cybersecurity Summit at Stanford, reporter Kara Swisher sat down for a half-hour interview with President Obama (and she even dragged her famous red chairs along). It’s a better, more in-depth interview than you’re ever likely to see from the established mainstream press, and touches on a variety of issues regarding technology and security. While I don’t agree with some of the answers, I will say that the President appears to be extremely well-briefed on these issues, and didn’t make any totally ridiculous or glaringly misleading remarks. You can see the whole interview here:
In it, he admits that the “Snowden disclosures” (as he calls them) hurt “trust” between DC and the tech industry, and admits that the government has been “a little slow” in updating the laws for how the NSA operates online. However, he does say that surveillance on US persons is very carefully controlled and that he can say “with almost complete certainty that there haven’t been abuses on US soil.” He admits that’s not entirely the case overseas, where there are basically no limits on the NSA’s surveillance, and he recognizes that needs to change. Of course, if that’s the case, he can do that right now — because the NSA’s authority for all of that is an executive order, 12333, and he could revoke it and write a new one. But he hasn’t.
Then he gets to the area I found most interesting and want to focus on, the question of encryption. After discussing how he’s looking to update the rules for surveillance and his relationship with tech, the interview proceeds like this:
Obama: There’s still some issues like encryption…
Swisher: Let’s talk about encryption.
Obama: … that are challenging, and that’s something that’s been brought up…
Swisher: What’s wrong with what Google and Apple are doing? You have encrypted email.
Obama: Absolutely.
Swisher: Shouldn’t everybody have encrypted email and have their protections?
Obama: Everybody should. And I’m a strong believer in strong encryption. Where the tension has come up, is historically what’s happened is that… let’s say you knew a particular person was involved in a terrorist plot, and the FBI is trying to figure out who else are they trying to communicate with to prevent the plot. Traditionally, what’s been able to happen is they get a court order, the FBI goes to the company, they request those records, the same way they’d go get a court order to request a wiretap. The company technically can comply.
The issue here is, partly in response to consumer demand, partly in response to legitimate concerns about consumer privacy, the technologies may be built to a point where, when the government goes…
Swisher: They can’t get the information.
Obama: … the company says “sorry, we just can’t pull it. It’s so sealed and tight that even though the government has a legitimate request, technologically we cannot do it.”
Swisher: Is what they’re doing wrong?
Obama: No. I think they are properly responding to a market demand. All of us are really concerned about making sure our…
Swisher: So what are you going to do?
Obama: Well, what we’re going to try to do is see if there’s a way for us to narrow this gap. Ultimately, everybody — and certainly this is true for me and my family — we all want to know if we’re using a smartphone for transactions, sending messages, having private conversations, we don’t have a bunch of people compromising that process. There’s no scenario in which we don’t want really strong encryption.
The narrow question is going to be: if there is a proper request for — this isn’t bulk collection, this isn’t fishing expeditions by government — where there’s a situation in which we’re trying to get a specific case of a possible national security threat, is there a way of accessing it? If it turns out there’s not, then we’re really going to have to have a public debate. And, I think some in Silicon Valley would make the argument — which is a fair argument, and I get — that the harms done by having any kind of compromised encryption are far greater than…
Swisher: That’s an argument you used to make, you would have made. Has something changed?
Obama: No, I still make it. It’s just that I’m sympathetic to law enforcement…
Swisher: Why? What happened? Because you were much stronger on…
Obama: No, I’m as strong as I have been. I think the only concern is… our law enforcement is expected to stop every plot. Every attack. Any bomb on a plane. The first time that attack takes place, where it turns out we had a lead and couldn’t follow up on it, the public’s going to demand answers. This is a public conversation that we should be having. I lean probably further in the direction of strong encryption than some do inside law enforcement. But I am sympathetic to law enforcement, because I know the kind of pressure they’re under to keep us safe. And it’s not as black and white as it’s sometimes portrayed. Now, in fairness, I think those in favor of air tight encryption also want to be protected from terrorists.
Swisher: True.
Obama: One of the interesting things about being in this job, is that it does give you a bird’s eye view. You are smack dab in the middle of these tensions that exist. But, there are times where folks who see this through a civil liberties or privacy lens reject that there’s any tradeoffs involved. And, in fact, there are. And you’ve got to own the fact that it may be that we want to value privacy and civil liberties far more than we do the safety issues. But we can’t pretend that there are no tradeoffs whatsoever.
I actually think this is a very good, nuanced answer to this issue. It doesn’t descend into hyperbole about child predators and ticking time bombs like law enforcement officials have done. He admits that there are tradeoffs and, at least publicly, seems to be willing to admit that stronger encryption without compromise might be the best solution.
Of course, where we’re left with questions is about his requested “public debate.” Where and how is that happening? Because, to date, the only noise on this issue coming out of his administration has been on the other side, pushing for new legislation that would require backdoors and compromise encryption. We haven’t seen anyone in the administration presenting the other side at all. And, for those of us who strongly believe that a basic cost/benefit analysis of weakening encryption vs. letting law enforcement do their job through traditional detective work would show that the “costs” of weakened encryption vastly outweigh the “threats” of criminals getting away with stuff, it would be nice to see the government at least recognizing that as well.
President Obama chides civil liberties and privacy folks for not getting that there are tradeoffs here, and I don’t think that’s accurate. Most do recognize the tradeoffs. It’s just that they believe the true benefit in terms of “stopping criminals” to weakening encryption is not very great, while the cost to everyone in risking their own privacy is massive. What we have not seen is any indication that law enforcement recognizes that there are tradeoffs, or that they care. Yes, as the President admits, they’re weighing some of this against “not getting blamed” when an inevitable “bad event” happens — but they don’t seem to be willing to recognize, at all, the risks to everyone’s privacy. That’s why they keep talking about golden keys and magic wizards who can make special encryption that only good guys can use.
So I’m glad that the President at least seems to recognize this is a nuanced issue with tradeoffs, but I wish that others in his administration, especially from the law enforcement side, were willing to recognize that as well.
It’s often been said that trust is something that you earn — or that you completely destroy in irredeemable ways. So it’s a little bizarre to see President Obama trying to restore German trust in the US (and specifically over NSA surveillance) with a bogus “hey, trust us” line, when his own government has spent the past few years doing everything possible to undermine any residual trust. Yet here he is, in a joint appearance with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, asking for “the benefit of the doubt.”
There are going to still be areas where we?ve got to work through these issues. We have to internally work through some of these issues, because they?re complicated, they?re difficult. If we are trying to track a network that is planning to carry out attacks in New York or Berlin or Paris, and they are communicating primarily in cyberspace, and we have the capacity to stop an attack like that, but that requires us then being able to operate within that cyberspace, how do we make sure that we?re able to do that, carry out those functions, while still meeting our core principles of respecting the privacy of all our people?
And given Germany?s history, I recognize the sensitivities around this issue. What I would ask would be that the German people recognize that the United States has always been on the forefront of trying to promote civil liberties, that we have traditions of due process that we respect, that we have been a consistent partner of yours in the course of the last 70 years, and certainly the last 25 years, in reinforcing the values that we share. And so occasionally I would like the German people to give us the benefit of the doubt, given our history, as opposed to assuming the worst — assuming that we have been consistently your strong partners and that we share a common set of values.
And if we have that fundamental, underlying trust, there are going to be times where there are disagreements, and both sides may make mistakes, and there are going to be irritants like there are between friends, but the underlying foundation for the relationship remains sound.
Yes, I can understand why President Obama would want that, but that doesn’t mean that he deserves it. This is the same president who allowed the surveillance to happen in the first place, who acted surprised when told it covered Angela Merkel, and who has done nothing more than paid lip service to the idea of reforming surveillance. This is the president who could have ended the bulk collection of phone records just by ordering the NSA to not seek a renewal for its authority, but has not done so.
This is the same President who has prosecuted more whistleblowers and journalists under the Espionage Act than all other Presidents combined (and then doubled). And this is the same administration who has fought off nearly every attempt at transparency over these actions.
So, I’m sorry, but it seems rather hilarious to just say “trust us” when no reason has been given for that trust. No effort has been made to show why the US is trustworthy on this matter. Yes, mistakes are made at times, and then it’s quite right to recognize that not everyone is perfect. But to suggest that the US’s surveillance actions over the past decade have all been a result of such slip ups doesn’t hold any water at all. There is a consistent pattern of stretching the boundaries further and further and playing games with definitions in the law and ever increasing the powers of the surveillance state.
President Obama and the US government may have had the benefit of the doubt in the past, but on surveillance, at this point in time, it seems like it’s going to need a hell of a lot more than “hey, we’re the good guys!” to get people to trust them on that again.
Since then, Comcast’s top lobbyist (sorry, Chief Diversity Officer) David Cohen has come out with a second blog post entitled: “Surprise! We agree With the President’s Principles on Net Neutrality.” In it, Cohen does yeoman’s work trying to pretend that Comcast’s, like, totally on board with what the President is selling:
“While some have been led to believe something else, we support net neutrality. And we?ve been consistent in expressing our strong support for an open Internet ? in statements, speeches, blog posts, filings, and advertising.”
Like that time we ham-fistedly throttled all BitTorrent traffic then lied about it repeatedly, leading to a massive national firestorm of criticism, remember? Good times! Comcast proceeds to insist that gosh — there’s no need for real neutrality protections moving forward because they’re already doing all that great stuff out of the goodness of their giant, altruistic heart:
“What is remarkable is that if you compare the President?s articulation of his vision for net neutrality as set forth in the White House talking points released yesterday afternoon, we are on the record as agreeing with every point:
Free and open Internet. We agree ? and that is our practice.
No blocking. We agree ? and that is our practice.
No throttling. We agree ? and that is our practice.
Increased transparency. We agree ? and that is our practice.
No paid prioritization. We agree ? and that is our practice.”
Yes, remarkable! Except Cohen forgets to mention that the only reason they’re still adhering to the shadow of the FCC’s original rules is because they’re required to do so as a condition of their 2009 acquisition of NBC Universal, a condition they’re promising to expand to get their $45 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable approved. Again though, those promises and conditions don’t mean much because the FCC’s original net neutrality rules contained oodles of loopholes that ISPs can easily dance over, under and around — just as long as they claim their behavior was for the safety and security of the network.
Comcast’s faux support of real neutrality protections is not “game playing or sophistry on our part” insists Comcast’s Cohen, who’d have you forget that at the same time they’re professing to love “transparency,” they’re working to make sure details governing their controversial interconnection details with Netflix — a form of paid prioritization they’re working to ensure aren’t covered by net neutrality rules — aren’t made available to us plebeians.
After breathlessly claiming the company supports Obama’s plan, Cohen then proceeds to proudly announce that the company doesn’t support the only meaningful part of it:
“There is one important technical legal difference of opinion between the President and Comcast: we do not support reclassification of broadband as a telecommunications service under Title II. Doing so would harm future innovation and investment in broadband and is not necessary to put in place strong and enforceable Open Internet protections. We continue to believe that Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act provides more than ample authority to impose those rules, as the DC Circuit made clear.”
It’s amusing to see an industry whose speeds, service and customer support are so bad claim that if the government simply does its job, all of the wonderful things customers are experiencing will be taken away. Like all of that “investment” Comcast puts into its customer support, resulting in not only the worst satisfaction ratings in telecom, but the worst customer satisfaction ratings across any industry. Carriers are definitely going to need some fresher talking points as the debate heats up the next few months, as “we’ll continue to skimp on investment and quality if meaningful rules get passed” isn’t working very well.
Judging from the rather desperate ISP responses this week to the President’s support of Title II, it’s becoming more and more apparent that ISP executives are terrified that net neutrality and Title II are starting to see the kind of intense, authentic grass roots support we witnessed during SOPA. Equally worrysome for ISP executives is that the partisan divides that have stalled meaningful neutrality rules in the past are starting to fall away, as people of all affiliations begin to realize that the broadband industry is so broken and uncompetitive, that Title II is the only path forward when it comes to protecting consumers from telecom industry shenanigans and skulduggery.
Not too surprisingly, the broadband industry isn’t too happy about the White House’s surprise announcement that it appears to have grown a spine and is ready to go to war over reclassifying ISPs under Title II to protect net neutrality. ISPs have repeatedly made it clear that they’d sue any effort to impose real rules, and you could barely hear oneself over the noise of deep-pocketed carriers putting their legal teams, PR firms, and myriad of paid astroturfers, policy mavens, sockpuppets, fauxcademics and think tankers on high alert. The response from this status quo chorus is about what you’d expect, with most of them breathlessly insisting that Title II will kill puppies, ruin your nice dress shirt, totally disrupt your brunch plans, and destroy the Internet as we know it.
Verizon, for one, offered a fairly predictable response, insisting that Title II would destroy the Internet as we know it. To hear Verizon tell it, Title II simply wouldn’t survive a legal challenge (pro tip: to avoid a legal challenge, how about you don’t sue?):
“Reclassification under Title II, which for the first time would apply 1930s-era utility regulation to the Internet, would be a radical reversal of course that would in and of itself threaten great harm to an open Internet, competition and innovation. That course will likely also face strong legal challenges and would likely not stand up in court. Moreover, this approach would be gratuitous. As all major broadband providers and their trade groups have conceded, the FCC already has sufficient authority under Section 706 to adopt rules that address any practices that threaten harm to consumers or competition, including authority to prohibit ?paid prioritization.? For effective, enforceable, legally sustainable net neutrality rules, the Commission should look to Section 706.”
Amusingly, every time Verizon speaks on this issue they not only forget to mention that Title II governs huge swaths of their infrastructure with absolutely no ill effects (and actually some tax benefits for Verizon), but that they were the company that decided to sue over the very Section 706 rules they now profess to support. AT&T similarly ponied up a statement that first pretends that turning telecom regulators into spineless wimps is some kind of bi-partisan miracle accomplishment, then proceeds to insist that relying on a broken, bickering Congress flush with AT&T cash is the only way to move forward:
“Light-touch regulation has encouraged levels of investment unprecedented by any industry and spawned incredible innovation. Today?s action puts all of that at risk ? and puts it at risk not to remedy any specific harm that has occurred. Instead, this action is designed to deal with a hypothetical problem posed by certain political groups whose objective all along has been to bring about government control of the Internet. The White House is proposing to put the Internet and our economy at risk as a result of such political pressures.”
And by “political pressure,” AT&T means the four million people who wrote the FCC annoyed at the fact that AT&T now gets to literally write and purchase all telecom laws. By “government control of the Internet” AT&T means regulators that actually do their job, and by “unprecedented” levels of investment AT&T’s referring of course to their fixed-line network investment CAPEX that’s been dropping like a stone despite fifteen years of broadband industry deregulation.
Comcast to lobbyist David Cohen (who calls himself the company’s “Chief Diversity Officer” to skirt lobbying rules) offered a similar response that trots out ye olde “consumer protection kills network investment” talking point:
“Comcast and cable companies (along with the telcos) have led the broadband revolution, being the first to roll out America?s fastest broadband speeds across the country. As the White House itself acknowledged in its broadband report in 2013, this only happened because we were not subject to the intrusive regulatory regime designed for a different era.”
“The FCC is an independent agency and it should exercise independent judgment in crafting new rules. This is truly a matter that belongs in Congress and only Congress should make a policy change of this magnitude. Congress can easily unravel the legal and jurisdictional knot that has tied up the FCC in crafting sustainable open Internet rules, without resorting to rules of the rotary-dial phone era. We urge Congress to swiftly exercise leadership of this important issue.”
Because when you think about Congress, “easy,” “swift,” and “leadership” are certainly the very first words that jump to mind. As we’ve noted quite a few times now, in the absence of meaningful broadband competition (something that’s not getting fixed anytime soon), Title II with forbearance is the only sensible way forward if we want neutrality rules that not only protect consumers from aggressive duopolists, but help prevent future iterations of the FCC from over-reaching. Most of the ISP claims about the impact on investment are the same tired talking points they’ve trotted out for every cocktail party and policy issue for the last thirty years, and they’re going to need a new repertoire of scary bogeymen if they hope to keep the latest chapter in the net neutrality saga truly entertaining.