Sprint is doing what I said Sprint would do all along. Remember when AT&T wanted to buy T-Mobile? Sprint funded a campaign by radical leftists to claim the #2 firm and the #4 firm coming together would be unbearably detrimental to competition, and would hinder American wireless.

Sprint’s new Japanese owners want T-Mobile, they want the #3 firm and the #4 firm to merge together into one, still reducing top-tier competition by one firm, according to the beancounting they used to do. T-Mobile claims it’s inevitable, but Sprint is playing an unfortunate game. They’re using all the left-wing, ridiculous talking points about Internet access in America to push their case.

The problem with that, never mind that Japan’s population density is nothing like America’s, and therefore no comparison is Apples-to-Apples. But as Jon Henke points out, now that Sprint laid out the case against a similar merger, they’re probably going to have to enter into an FCC-empowering agreement in order to get this deal done. That harms Sprint, and that harms America.

Here’s a great idea, one that hotels themselves should take part in: take pictures of hotel rooms and make a database of them because so many pictures of victims of human trafficking are in hotel rooms.

Meanwhile we’re being told that “Tor doens’t bow to terrorists,” in response to the attack and shutdown of a Tor-based site serving as a major child pornography hub.

OK, I’m sorry but it’s already way too late for me so I’m going to have to speed through the rest of these.

Experian was duped into giving out 200 million people’s records. You want to talk about privacy and big databases? You’d better start with credit reporting, eh?

Now that the House is taking on the sales tax again, the fight to pick winners and losers is on. However let’s be clear: if we do find an actual fair way to get interstate sales tax going in states that want to opt-in, then tax cuts will follow nationwide.

That big ruling in court that was going to make the NSA destroy records? It’s been reversed. Vlad Putin weeps.

The House is advancing FCC process reform seeking to force transparency on the agency. That’s good in light of growing skepticism of the FCC.

Should a regulator like FTC get to be prosecutor and judge? I sure don’t think so. Then again I’ve long opposed this idea that the federal government could move against people in anything less than a criminal court with the limitations, independent judge, jury, and burden of proof that come with that.

Here we go again. Democrats pushing for a “clean bill” while conservatives want to use a “must-pass” bill to enact meaningful pro-market reform. that’s the STELA TV bill in a nutshell. Steve Scalise is fighting the good fight here, folks. The Retransmission Consent scheme is a big giveaway to well-connected broadcasters who hold valuable spectrum licenses. It’s sort of like being a beer distributor.

Part of me thinks we need to have a maximum age in the Congress. These old Senators like Lamar Alexander (over phones in planes), John McCain (over summer weather), and now Jay Rockefeller (over Internet domains) get arrogant and decide they’re going to impose their personal preferences on the nation through abuse of the legislative process.

The Senate is talking cybersecurity again. I don’t trust them. The Democrats always try to use this as a power grab. Any legislation that comes out of this we have to look at skeptically.