One of the basic rules of intellectual property is that we can’t ever count on other countries to protect Americans. Even New Zealand can be bought off (Kim Dotcom has made large donations to the NZ government in exchange for being shielded from prosecution).

So it’s a problem of Comprehensive Patent Reform won’t protect Americans against foreign thieves. That’s just one reason conservatives are increasingly lining up against comprehensive patent bills.

Well, we weakened a country this week, all because [mc_name name=’Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’P000603′ ] needed to data mine people’s personal information for his campaign database. So much for privacy, eh?

So massive foreign hacks will continue with less resistance from our country, in addition to the obvious terrorism concerns. We’ll have to try to defend ourselves on the online front at least, though that’s why Tim Cook is right that FBI weakening encryption is a bad idea. And make no mistake: any form of backdoor is a weakening of encryption. If government can use a back door, so can the bad guys.

Speaking of Tim Cook, he’s also right about Google. And yes, yes, I know Tim Cook is a big jerk, but when he’s right, we may as well take a look, since he will remain influential for a while to come.

So New York is regulating Bitcoin. This isn’t going to end well.

Media Freedom explores the rhetorical sleight-of-hand inherent in the Net Neutrality debate.