I got this email from godaddy.com today:
Dear Valued Go Daddy Customer,
Today I have the unfortunate responsibility of informing you that there has been a decision made by bureaucrats of a Federal agency that takes away your right to privacy as guaranteed by the United States Constitution.
This decision was unilaterally made by the National Telecommunications and Information Association ("NTIA") www.ntia.doc.gov without hearings that would determine the impact on those affected, and delivered without notice in short, the NTIA decision was made without due process of any kind. This is exactly how our government is not supposed to work.
The effect of this decision is to disallow new private domain name registrations on .US domain names. In addition, if you already own a private .US domain name registration, you will be forced to forfeit your privacy no later than January 26, 2006. By that time, you will need to choose between either making your personal information available to anyone who wants to see it, or giving up your right to that domain name.
I personally find it ironic that our right to .US privacy was stripped away, without due process, by a federal government agency an agency that should be looking out for our individual rights. For the NTIA to choose the .US extension is the ultimate slap in your face. .US is the only domain name that is specifically intended for Americans (and also those who have a physical presence in our great country). So think about this for a moment. These bureaucrats stripped away the privacy that you’re entitled to as an American, on the only domain name that says that you are an American. I am outraged by this you should be also.
If, like me, you are outraged at the NTIA’s decision to strip away our constitutional right to privacy, www.TheDangerOfNoPrivacy.com will provide you with a petition to sign. (Only your name will be published, your address and email information will be kept private.) This Web site also provides a very easy way for you to send either a fax or an email, expressing your outrage, to your Congressperson and Senators. This is all provided at no cost to you. All that is required is for you to take the time to visit www.TheDangerOfNoPrivacy.com sign the petition, and send the fax or email to your legislators.
On my personal Blog, www.BobParsons.com there are a number of articles where you can learn more about the NTIA’s unfortunate decision and what you can do to help get it reversed.
I also will be talking about our right to privacy on Radio Go Daddy, our weekly radio show that debuts today, March 30, at 7 PM PST. To find out how to listen in, please visit the Web site dedicated to the show, www.RadioGoDaddy.com.
You can be sure that I, and everyone at GoDaddy.com, will do everything in our power to get the NTIA decision reversed. However, we need your help. Please visit www.TheDangerOfNoPrivacy.com to sign the petition and express your feelings to your Congressperson and Senators.
Sincerely,
Bob Parsons
President and Founder
GoDaddy.com
Needless to say, I was taken aback by the sheer force of the letter. So, I went to bobparsons.com to find his explanation of why privacy of registration is such a big deal for something as public as a webpage. And, I got more than I asked for. I can’t even begin to try to summarize his post, so, just go there and read it if you’re interested. I’m still ambivalent about this as I don’t know all the details. I wouldn’t have my name on my personal homepage if I was afraid of it being public, so I can’t see that I really have a dog in this fight. I also prefer that I be able to access WHOIS and find out who’s harassing, stalking, or otherwise annoying me. IMO, the upside of this policy is that it will discourage scams on the .us extensions. When I then see a .us extension, I’ll feel a little safer knowing that they are willing to disclose real information about their business or self, and, that if they do scam or attempt to scam me, they are within the jurisdiction of my good friend, a US Attorney. Bob has covered all of the downsides quite extensively, I’ll just let that be the rebuttal.
30
Mar
What else would he say there? When searching govtrack.us, this is the result when searching for Hubble:
The primary reason Hubble is not being funded at this time is new satellites are in orbit and in the process of being placed in orbit that far exceed the capability of Hubble. Hubble raised the standard, these satellites are Hubble’s next generation. I have in the past discussed Hubble, nothing has changed since then. Why Hoyer feels delaying progress to keep old technology is preferable is beyond me. There are limited funds available, encourage Goddard to build a better Hubble and people like me will be behind them 100%. As it is, this is just grandstanding with no substance.
30
Mar
That’s the opening salvo. So, as usual, I gotta find the source of the smoke. It comes from a report by The Lowry Institute in Australia. Notably, from this report. Now, how it got to me was from The Volokh Conspiracy questioning a blogger who opens with the statement:
This poll showing that 57 per cent of Australians thought US foreign policy to be as great a threat as that of Islamic fundamentalism provokes a variety of thoughts.
Now, for starters, that’s not what the report shows.
Looking beyond our shores, Australians feel most positive about the countries with which we have longstanding, deep and stable relationships. New Zealand (94%), the United Kingdom (86%), Europe (85%), Singapore (83%) and Japan (84%) are our favourites, quite closely followed by China (69%). The glaring omission from this list is the United States, for which only 58% of Australians have positive feelings. The only places we asked about that generate fewer positive feelings than the United States are Indonesia (52%), the Middle East (25%), Iran(24%), and Iraq (23%).
In other words, look at the geography. They usually trust their neighbors. There is nothing shocking about that.
This is where Crooked Timber draws their overall conclusion:
"How worried are you about the following potential threats from the outside world?"
From that, Crooked Timber takes the leap that "This poll showing that 57 per cent of Australians thought US foreign policy to be as great a threat as that of Islamic fundamentalism." To which Crooked Timber then justifies through a series of conspiracy theories. To which Orin Kerr then worries "Is it just me, or does the post make the claim that the two are "equally awful" and that they make the U.S. "a threat comparable to that of Al Qaeda"?"
Yes, Orin, it does. However, Orin, it is a horribly inaccurate interpretation of the results of that poll. Al Qaeda IMO, is considered "International terrorism", not "Islamic fundamentalism". Now, I might be confused on the difference, but how many Aussies would have been as well? Given that perspective, the Aussies do not consider US foreign policies nearly as something to be worried about as International Terrorism. Which, means they don’t consider the US on the same scale of worrying as Al Qaeda. Which, means the Crooked Timber article is horribly misleading.
Hope that makes you feel better. If it doesn’t, I can link many articles that compare US policies to that of Hitler.
30
Mar
I have heard non-stop for two years how teh reason there is still a war in Iraq is because Iraqis hate us. Here’s some samples:
- Iraqis Hate U.S. Policies, Not Freedom
- Why Iraqis Hate us
- 90 Percent Of Iraqis Hate Us And The Other 10 Percent Have Left Iraq
- ABC: Iraqis Hate U.S.; NBC: Iraqis Still Fear Hussein’s Wrath
And on and on it goes. A lot of people just take it for granted the Iraqis hate us and try to explain why they do. So, I just have to chuckle a little when I see stories like this one:
The guy is wearing a "Classic Texas Rock" T-shirt, that’s a radio station in Dallas. That however, is DJ Moonie who runs HOT FM. And, he’s not in Dallas. He’s in Baghdad. He only speaks English on air, and, he only plays western music. The story I got his pic from is discussing how kids in Iraq are adopting western culture.
For some reason, I never have bought the "they hate us" angle. Never have. But, to this day, I still get comments like this on The Motley Fool:
They are Iraqis. They have lived in Baghdad all their lives. I’ve posted some of their emails on line before. They are not happier for the time being.
I imagine DJ Moonie is happier.
29
Mar
Yesterday I made this observation:
I really doubt Annan will resign tomorrow. Although he should.
Today’s headline:
Here’s the Volcker Report. Be careful, it’s about a 3.5 meg PDF file that will blow Internet Explorer’s mind sometimes.
Annan still should resign. He’s going to be fighting these accusations for years.
29
Mar
Left2right caught this little irony:
29
Mar
69% does look pretty damning for Jordan. My guess is this guy is legal toast. His justification is stated as such:
Lawyers for Jordan countered that the new district attorney was simply working to correct the "good old boy" hiring practices of his predecessor, Harry Connick Sr., which resulted in an office that was largely white.
Now, I’m going to give Mr. Jordan a little advice here, which is obviously too late: Hiring is one thing, firing is another. Make the employment environment undesirable. As people quit, THEN very discretely hire people that reflect the population demographics of the area. If your demographics are primarily black, your application pool will reflect that and hiring the new people will give you the results you want. Taking matters into your own hands and forcing the issue will only get you sued.
That was an awful dumb move for a lawyer. Sounds to me like the people of New Orleans need someone a little sharper in that position.
28
Mar
To which the UK Times Online is speculating:
I really doubt Annan will resign tomorrow. Although he should.
28
Mar
We’ve apparently got a new Democrat issue to deal with:
So far as I can tell, MSNBC is the only one running this story so far. They go on to support Nelson’s statements by citing some facts. One of which being a nice graph:
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25
Mar
John Gibson states today:
I really, really, think that would be a horrendous mistake. The absolute most wrong thing anyone could do. Terri Schiavo has been made the poster child for the right-to-lifers. That is the only reason she has been singled out of all the people on life support and those that have been removed. Does Gibson think every governor in every state should storm hospitals when the decision to give up is made? Does he think he knows more about Terri’s situation than all the doctors who have tesitified? Does he even think he knows more about the Schiavo case than Jeb does? So far, Jeb has worked within the legal system to protect her. He now seems to realize that all legal remedies have been exhausted. No one has been able to compel the legal system to keep Terri Schiavo alive. That should tell Gibson ( et al ) that there is something there he’s not aware of. This is no collusion of the entire legal system. John Gibson and the like media are the problem here. Not the legal system.
