Comments on: Telecommunications companies question Apple, Google, Microsoft exception in Obama’s cyber order

By: Shadowself

Shadowself — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:02:50 +0000

And those Blackberries that use that Baby Bell as a carrier?

By: botvinnik

botvinnik — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 05:24:34 +0000

they were swapping  pan dowdy recipes.

By: Weekend

Weekend — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 04:34:05 +0000

Wasn’t that Tim Cook sitting with Mrs. Obama at the State of the Union address? Just saying.

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 02:50:32 +0000

“If the largest Baby Bell on the east coast went down, the U.S. Government and several State Governments would be screwed.”
Naaaaahhh… they’d just turn to their Blackberries.

By: botvinnik

botvinnik — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 01:31:15 +0000

uh Mel, you don’t run shit except your mouth.

By: kingmel

kingmel — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 01:28:29 +0000

botvinnik, you continue to be an utter asshole on this forum. I thought you had finally gained a tiny bit of sense, but I was obviously mistaken. Don’t screw with this forum.

By: Shadowself

Shadowself — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 01:15:14 +0000

I’d say it is a level playing field. There are companies that can be viewed as critical infrastructure and others that just take advantage of that infrastructure.

Are you saying that GMail or iMessage or HotMail is a critical infrastructure? I doubt very much that you are. So why put the companies that sell these in the same category as companies that supply true, critical infrastructure?

I’m sure you’d agree that all the remaining Baby Bells (I’m probably showing my age here) are true, critical infrastructure. If the largest Baby Bell on the east coast went down, the U.S. Government and several State Governments would be screwed. If Hotmail went down it would be a major annoyance to a lot of people but it would not shut down the government. (You’d probably be shocked if you found out how much the U.S. Government relies on POTS [Plain Old Telephone Service} lines!)

If ConEd went down completely due to some massive cyber breach, much of our financial and government systems in the region would be severely hampered if not shut down outright. If iMessage died Apple product users would be frustrated (and AAPL would take a $50 hit), but that’s about all.

If PG&E had to shut down several major gas pipelines, there would be huge effects on the populace. If GMail went offline for a week there would be lots of nasty articles online about it, and people would migrate to other solutions. But that’s about it.

I don’t believe anyone can rightfully say that Apple or Google or Microsoft or Amazon or any other such company is truly critical infrastructure. They’re just not.

By: Shadowself

Shadowself — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 01:01:05 +0000

First, you have an incorrect view of Presidential Executive Orders. They CAN and DO affect commercial entities. For all practical purposes they carry a similar weight as law unless Congress says otherwise or a subsequent PEO supersedes or voids it. For just one of many, many examples a PEO by George W. Bush raised the jail time for violating commercial export regulations from a maximum of 10 years per violation to 20 years per violation — and that’s for any person in the U.S. or any U.S. Citizen anywhere on the planet. You don’t have to be part of the U.S. Government for the PEO to pertain to you.

By: botvinnik

botvinnik — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 23:53:01 +0000

gonna have to report your internet bullying to Dianne Frankenstein.

By: botvinnik

botvinnik — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 23:48:42 +0000

oooh! big tough talk on the internet! oooh! oooh! You bully!

By: 3l3c7ro

3l3c7ro — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 23:47:43 +0000

I doubt you would dare say that to me in person without pointing a gun at me (I am never armed).

By: botvinnik

botvinnik — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 23:44:02 +0000

Obaaaaaaa-ma!…good work, Sheepboy.

By: 3l3c7ro

3l3c7ro — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 23:40:13 +0000

Those who spout off about freedom are often the last to take responsibility for their actions. It is all about them and they couldn’t care less about others in that society.

By: botvinnik

botvinnik — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 23:31:40 +0000

shit! shouldn’t have typed that, Department Of Homeland Security is at my door!

By: botvinnik

botvinnik — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 23:30:50 +0000

keep the government out of the internet in any way, shape or form..it is about the last bastion of free expression.

By: Bizlaw

Bizlaw — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 22:47:39 +0000

Executive orders can only affect federal departments. They cannot impose anything on private companies. Because the airwaves and Internet spectrums are deemed owned and/or under direct federal regulation, an executive order can be imposed on any company providing services over those airwaves.

However, the fact is that no product from Apple, Google, Facebook, etc. has much value without being able to connect to these networks, so those providers can demand Apple, Google, Amazon, etc. make security changes to their devices as well or they can start restricting network access because the devices won’t comply with the new security requirements.

By: quiviran

quiviran — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 22:33:32 +0000

It would seem simpler to control the actual network (the superhighway leading to the power grids and pipelines) than G-mail. Maybe we need to recognize the security-critical nature of our telecommunication industry and just nationalize its structure. Let ATT and Verizon contract to build and operate parts of the system, like the Government hires contractors to build roads, but keep the system level design as a Government responsibility. Better that than a flat-assed disaster caused by yielding to a bunch of whining about how burdensome the responsibility for that telecom structure is. What a bunch of babies.

By: taojones

taojones — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 22:16:30 +0000

it looks pretty simple to me set up an intra net for those sensitive systems make it bulletproof and leave the rest of the internet alone .then we would not have to listen to George’s race bating Obama conspiracy theories. and he can go back to ranting about free welfare phones

By: George

George — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:45:32 +0000

How many times has Obama said “we need to even the playing field”? Answer: hundreds. And he is full of crap every time.
Obama makes rules for everybody but his cronies. Just look at his Obamacare waivers and this technology executive order. This is extortion, pure and simple. Contribute to his war chest and you’ll get a waiver, too.