Politechan

You'll get $0 and be happy.

From the law on unintended consequences, or from the huffery and puffery that goes before new tax changes we have this nugget about Microsoft’s CEO Steve Balmer challenging the proposal of Barrack Obama.

“It makes U.S. jobs more expensive,” Ballmer said, according to Bloomberg News. “We’re better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the U.S. as opposed to keeping them inside the U.S.”

Last month, the president announced a plan to rewrite tax law by preventing U.S.-based multinational companies from “deferring” and keeping profits offshore, which can lower their tax bills.

Bloomberg has a simple explanation of what is going on here:

Typically, he said, a company like Microsoft develops a product like Windows in the United States and deducts those costs against U.S. income. It then transfers the technology to a subsidiary in Ireland, where corporate tax rates are lower, without charging licensing fees. The company then assigns its foreign sales to the Irish subsidiary so it doesn’t have to claim the income in the United States.

First Rackspace moved to San Antonio, and now the Air Force’s Cyber Command is preparing to follow (maybe there is a connection?).   Lackland AFB in San Antonio is being selected by Air Force officials as the headquarters for a new cyber command apparently, after site selection teams visited several bases and took a look at the existing infrastructure.  

Lackland is home to the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency, the Cryptologic Systems Group, the 67th Network Warfare Wing, the Information Operation Center and the Join Operation Warfare Command.

In addition, the University of Texas at San Antonio has cyber-related research, and the National Security Agency’s Texas Cryptologic Center is in San Antonio.

In recent years, there has been a bit of a datacenter boom in San Antonio for a variety of reasons (cheap electricity, good networking, etc).  However, it worth noting this is merely the Air Force’s component of CyberCommand.  The new Pentagon Cybercommand will likely be headquartered in the DC area, near the NSA no doubt.

No evidence any programmers are being stalked, yet.

When you get big, you get targeted.  More or less.  And with a dominant market share in search, it was only a matter of time a matter of a new pro-anti-trust administration before Google moved into the crosshairs of the trust-busters.  TheHill (which you should read regularly) is talking not only about the moves in the government to start some anti-trust hearings, but also the moves within Washington legal community that might come into play to stave them off.

Google’s relationship with Apple is being investigated by the FTC, but there are others who think this is only the beginning and that bigger issues may arise.  Christine Varney, the new head of the anti-trust division, has already spoken about Google monopoly in advertising as something of note.  Some think Google would be a nice scalp for her to make a name with.

To be continued.

Bullied as a child for her stupidity.

Unable to do anything productive due to her own mental deficiencies, Congresswoman Sanchez has rounded up some other mental midgets to introduce the ‘ the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act, HR 1966.’  Under this bill that will be laughed out of the first federal court in which it would appear, it would be a crime to “coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person.”

I sit in awe of the stupidity.

The tech blogs are already starting to explode, along with many of the other First Amendment supporters who feel this is a ridiculous proposal put forward by some brain dead simpletons.  Sanchez, who is not noted for anything of value during her term in Washington, has gone online to defend her bill, writing an op-ed in the Huffington Post, which employs many writers who would be imprisoned by this legislation.

All your cases belong to us.

The Washington Post and others have been writing about a supposed mega-hack of medical files in the State Commonwealth of Virginia.  The hackers claim to have accessed 8 million patient records and 35 million prescriptions collected by the Prescription Monitoring Program and gave a Thursday deadline and ransom of $10 million before they returned the files.  Details are somewhat sketchy from the Virginia authorities as they try to piece together what happened and whether the threat is real.  The ransom statement contains some inconsistencies.

But one detail undermines the self-proclaimed hacker’s credibility: a claim to have Social Security numbers and other sensitive information. The database, set up to help doctors and pharmacists track potential drug abusers with multiple prescriptions, does not contain that kind of information, the report said.

A new audit by the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General is raising questions about the security of the Federal Aviation Administration’s computer systems, which could potentially affect air traffic control systems.  However, you need to read the fine print.

The audit found that several of the administrative systems, such as personnel records and whatnot were vulnerable in the FAA computers.  While ATC systems are independent and separate, what it appears to be is a case of a person creating some ‘record’ (like an ID card) that would allow them physical access to an ATC center where they could then do a bit of damage.  The IG also criticized FAA for not having proper monitoring systems to oversee their computer systems.  For example:

•  Unauthorized access was gained to information stored on Web application computers associated with the Traffic Flow Management Infrastructure system, Juneau Aviation Weather System, and the Albuquerque Air Traffic Control Tower; 
•  Unauthorized access was gained to an ATC system used to monitor critical power supply at six en route centers; 
•  Vulnerability found on Web applications associated with the Traffic Flow Management Infrastructure system was confirmed, which could allow attackers to install malicious codes on FAA users’ computers. 

The ink hasn’t even dried on Barney Frank’s new Internet gambling bill and other members are jumping up and down trying to tax any company who actually dares to take a bet.  A new bill by Rep. Jim McDermott, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act, HR 2268, “will allow the United States Government to extract tax revenue from the internet gambling industry. The bill’s text notes, “Each licensee… shall be required to pay an internet gambling license fee by the end of each calendar month in an amount equal to two percent of all funds deposited by customers during the preceding month.”

Unauthorized bets or wagers are taxed at a hefty 50% and all money is sent to the United States Treasury. Full disclosure of the names and addresses of licensees, the gross wins and losses by each person wagering, the total of “net internet gambling winnings,” the amount of tax paid, and account balances are required once per year. In terms of bookkeeping under McDermott’s proposed bill, “Each person liable for fees… shall keep a daily record showing deposits… in addition to all other records required.”

Of course, Internet gambling first has to be made legal before the taxes can start coming in.  Senate leader Reid (from Nevada no less) is not a supporter of Internet gambling, so don’t get your hopes up just yet.

Barney Frank’s internet gambling bill has been filed in the hopper on the House floor and you can now see the full text of HR 2267 once the GPO finishes adding it to the Library of Congress database.  The bill has 15 Co-sponsors but there has yet to be a similar bill introduced on the Senate side.  It has also been referred to three separate committees (which is never good as any of the three could tie it up).  

Well, it’s just a theory I’m thinking about right now.  But the Posse Comitatus Act is a very old law designed to keep the Federal Government / Military out of the law enforcement business.  Yesterday, in testimony to the House Armed Services Committee, the new director of CyberCommand hinted that technologies and skills developed by the military could be used in the defense of civilian computers.  However, this would certainly require layers of lawyers to dig into the nitty gritty of an agency like the NSA & the Defense Department cooperating with the DHS on what is, still, basically just a crime (hacking).  It’s not like we’ve declared war on anyone for probing out networks and mucking about with webpages.  

 Through the command, the NSA would also provide technical support to the Department of Homeland Security, which is in charge of protecting civilian networks and helps safeguard the energy grid and other critical infrastructure from cyber-attack, Alexander said.He stressed that the NSA does not want to run or operate the civilian networks, but help Homeland Security improve its efforts.

“So if we develop something we’re going to use for the Defense Department, it makes no sense for [Homeland Security] to develop the same thing,” he said in a short interview after the hearing. “They can leverage it . . . We have great technical people. We can provide them the support.”

I guess the line becomes how far are the cybercommanders going in hunting down bad guys?  Are they going to pass over the details of the hackers or assist in their capture, or just hand over some technology to help prevent future attacks.

This will be fun to watch.

Well, we’ll know tomorrow when we see the register of what was introduced today, but the on again off again online gambling bill is finally about to make an appearance after many months of promises.  

The new bill would exempt operators that are licensed and regulated from the ban enacted in 2006, Frank said.

The Massachusetts Democrat said his legislation “will enable Americans to bet online and put an end to an inappropriate interference with their personal freedom.

European betting shops have barred Americans from gambling and the US has even gone as far as arresting European online betting executives who happen to pass through American airports or ports.  Needless to say this has caused quite a bit of controversy in the EU.