How Libertarian theology and Trump are destroying the Internet — and America

Thom plus logo Check out this lede from Buzzflash in 2021:
“Americans woke up this morning to the City of Chicago’s entire electrical system having shut down, along with the water systems of Boston and San Francisco, and all air traffic control in the Northeast. Several million homes with smart thermostats and surveillance cameras found themselves hacked, with furnaces running full-tilt to raise indoor temperatures above 100ºF and embarrassing home videos playing randomly on neighborhood TVs. The websites of the top newspapers across the nation are all down, and government agency sites only display the flag of North Korea. Twitter and Facebook only play martial music, and most people can’t make cell phone calls; those who can often hear foreign-language discussions in the background. Over 40 million checking, brokerage, and savings accounts were drained overnight, and the markets plunged 85 percent on the open, wiping out much of America’s liquid wealth.”
Read more here.

-Thom

Comments

dara.parsavand's picture
dara.parsavand 7 years 30 weeks ago
#1

I agree with Thom on the disaster that is unregulated private development of the internet and wireless standards - we need more government utility provider and a lot more standards generated in public open processesses. I have another question for readers of this blog if they could help me - I'm looking for a reference where Thom Hartmann gives the % of oil use by the military compared to either the US overall or the US governement overall - he uses the number 80% (or so I'm told) and thus must be referring to the latter and not the former, but if I knew where he made this claim I could see if he mispoke or if the other person misheard.

dara.parsavand's picture
dara.parsavand 7 years 30 weeks ago
#2

I agree with Thom on the disaster that is unregulated private development of the internet and wireless standards - we need more government utility provider and a lot more standards generated in public open processesses. I have another question for readers of this blog if they could help me - I'm looking for a reference where Thom Hartmann gives the % of oil use by the military compared to either the US overall or the US governement overall - he uses the number 80% (or so I'm told) and thus must be referring to the latter and not the former, but if I knew where he made this claim I could see if he mispoke or if the other person misheard.

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