Betrayals, local and national
Let's start with a local betrayal, just as a warm-up. Michael Maranda and Sascha Meinrath told me this afternoon that the Illinois Citizens Utility Board recently proposed (in the company of AT&T) that consumer protections for telephone services be eliminated — in exchange for a price cap for the next four years. Even though prices should be going down anyway.
The Illinois CUB is supposed to be a public advocate for Illinois consumers, representing their interests before the Illinois Commerce Commission. Now they look like they're on the other side.
Here's a national betrayal — the NSA scandal-on-scandal reported by USAToday this morning. The Administration has, with the cooperation of Verizon, AT&T, and BellSouth, been collecting call information on the cell, landline, and internet use of everybody they possibly can, since Sept. 2001.
This is illegal.
It was done without a court order (needed under FISA if there was real-time interception going on). It was done in derogation of the CPNI provisions of the Telecommunications Act (under which telephone companies are supposed to protect the proprietary information of their customers). It may also be illegal under ECPA.
Some people may say — aww, FISA, CPNI, ECPA, what does it matter, we have to catch that Osama bin Laden just in case he is hiding in Ohio.
It does matter, and the hope is that the uproar will be sustained enough that it will catch the attention of everyone from the far left to the far right.
=====
Speaking of uproar, but at a much lower volume level than the NSA furor, I am abiding by the ICANN Board's decision not to comment on the XXX decision until all director statements are reviewed and published by ICANN. I am personally distressed by my inability to comment.
The FCC has a practice of allowing statements to come out simultaneously (whether dissenting or agreeing), before the order comes out. This is possible because the Commissioners there have worked out the order in advance of the public meeting, but haven't finalized it. So they can comment on it at the public meeting and their statements can be released then. This is also possible because the FCC is an enormous government agency, with regulatory powers and Commissioners who are paid to be aware of the details of what they're doing (and are presumably made aware of those details by their staff).
Because the ICANN Board meetings are actual discussions (and they should be public discussions — working on that too), it is difficult to get statements out at the same time the decisions are made. Thus the 48 hour waiting period, so that directors can review what they have said and correct any transcription errors. There should be a way to allow dissenting detailed views to be made clear at the same time the majority detailed views are made clear. Both are part of the decision.
I am not questioning that the decision has been made and that my vote was in the minority. I am concerned that the full picture of the decision is not made available to the public, and I hope we can find a way to make this possible in the future. All suggestions welcome.
It can't last
This is a post about taking the train.
I take the train a lot. I live in New York, and I go to Boston and Washington frequently. The Boston trips have a different rhythm to them - no serious businessperson takes the train to Boston, because it takes too long. The DC trips are like getting on a bus with a lot of student council types. Very earnest and programmed.
The secret to the Boston trips is: it's a beautiful ride. You've got your coastline, your villages, and your train-elevating-over-water moments, when you can't even tell that there's a track underneath you.
I took an early train down from Boston this morning and worked most of the way in complete peace. There was no one within two rows of me, there were no phones ringing, and it was a sunny morning. I got off in NY feeling just fine — not dehydrated and soul-departed, the way a plane ride will leave you.
But in the middle of the ride, maybe around Groton CT, I got the sudden sense that this couldn't possibly last. Everyone on the train was asleep, as far as I could tell; everyone had plenty of room; and no one had paid too much to take the trip. This must be completely unsustainable for Amtrak — not the sleeping part, but the part about the half-empty train and the low fares.
So I wanted to write this post as a kind of marker for myself. This can't go on, these lovely placid train rides. There aren't enough people who want to do it, and it's too slow. But if it ever ends, I will miss it acutely.