Small Utah ISP firm stands up to ‘surveillance state’
rt.com
rt.com
the world needs more Pete Ashdowns and more Xmissions.
1. http://peteashdown.org/archive/2012/ 2. http://www.nextgov.com/big-data/2013/06/utah-senator-who-pus...
1. The shuttle solid rocket boosters were built in Utah. Hatch is credited with bringing that pork to Utah. Otherwise, the boosters could have been built somewhere along a waterway and floated down to the vehicle assembly building, but coming from Utah they have to be built in pieces and shipped overland. Thus the need for an O-ring where the pieces fit together. Politics contributed to the Challenger disaster.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disas...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Solid_Rocket_Boo...
(I admit, all politics are debatable, and there were other contributing factors in the Challenger disaster, but shipping the SRBs from Utah is just stupid, in my opinion.)
2. Pro-bailouts, pro-debt, and extremely pro-copyright:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orrin_Hatch#Political_position...
> Mr Hatch said damaging computers "may be the only way you can teach someone about copyright".
> "If we can find some way to do this without destroying their machines, we'd be interested in hearing about that," Mr Hatch said. "If that's the only way, then I'm all for destroying their machines."
> He said if a few hundred thousand people suffered damage to their computers, the online community would realise the clampdown was serious.
> "There's no excuse for anyone violating copyright laws," Mr Hatch added.
Maybe I don't understand your point but I think NASA has done a lot of good for humanity as a whole, despite the politicians.
Should America be less powerful? I think China is growing fast and the question will be moot soon anyway.
Yes sir, we do.
Also, fun fact for the tin foil hat crowd: Pete is Mormon.*
*EDIT: I've heard too much "Mormons run the NSA/CIA" BS lately. I'm not Mormon and I think their faith (like most) is absolutely whacky, but I can't say I've ever met one that I didn't like. I know, I know: crass generalization... but damn if it ain't true.
I take that to mean that most people have heard of us (Mormons) but don't really know much about our belief system, other than we send out young guys in white shirts to knock on your door.
Her stories about growing up Mormon are only second to another friend of mine whose parents are at the very very top of the Church of Scientology, and has lived in the People's Republic of China for years because she can rely on the Chinese government's persecution of certain religions to get people kicked out of the country if they try to go there and do anything to her. IIRC she's already had to do that once.
Californians in particular have good reason to consider it a topic of conversation because the Church of Latter Day Saints actively meddles in California politics. Prop 8 spending is the most notorious example.[0] They weren't the only religion opposing it, but they certainly spent a boatload of dollars to defeat it.
[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_8#Religi...
EDIT: Like I said, all religion is pretty whacky to me. Mormons have the heavy burden of both whacky + young faith. That said, I love and appreciate that Mormons don't murder over cartoons, so way to go! If I had a book, you'd be OK in it! Of course, those FLDS are terrifying... I did read Under the Banner of Heaven a while back, so I'm getting more than just South Park.
"...I can't say I've ever met one that I didn't like." - Unfortunately, I've met a few that really forced their faith on others. However, several of my very best friends and honorary family members are very devout LDS members. While we disagree about religious tenets, we have extreme respect for one another and would defend the other's right to disagree to the death, without hesitation.
Generally, I have found them about as pushy as vegetarians.
EDIT: I know some real a$$hole vegetarians.
And I now have a scary mental image of a rabid rabbit-vegetarian chimera defending a vegi-patch with it's teeth bared. Yep - definitely grateful that I don't know anybody like that :-)
I've been with Xmission for the better part of a decade now, and the service they provide has almost always rocked. On the rare occasion when it didn't, their service department did rock, keeping customers informed as progress was made - even if the problem wasn't under Xmission's control (for example, at one point I was connected via a phone line which got cut - they actually followed up with the phone company and would call my cell phone to give me updates).
A former advisor to Vladimir Putin, has labeled the channel as "the best Russian propaganda machine targeted at the outside world" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT_(TV_network))
These news are important here, but we have to be careful not to associate concepts like "freedom of speech" and "example of democracy" with countries like Russia, given the actual situation the people there live under I am not sure we can say Russia holds human rights in the highest regard in my opinion.
1. http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/07/10/200482... 2. http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/56544384-90/administra...
The RT article claims they did at least some some original investigation. FTA:
] Owner Pete Ashdown told RT that every data collection request stops at his desk, ....
Why?
> "the best Russian propaganda machine targeted at the outside world"
I trust RT with issues outside Russia's geopolitical influence. See they have it easy then, they don't have to lie. Just have to tell the truth that CNN and NBC are not telling. So they are pretty good with that. Al-Jazeera is good for news outside Qatar and its close neighbors and so on.
Because it looks like an instrumental use of these events.
> "the best Russian propaganda machine targeted at the outside world" I trust RT with issues outside Russia's geopolitical influence, they don't have to lie.
The problem with propaganda is that they don't only emphasize the desired facts, they even blatantly twist some of them.
As I said. I wouldn't believe a word RT says about Putin, Russia, or anything that happens in its sphere of influence. But they are pretty good when it comes to other parts of the world.
Opposing viewpoints, media bias (intentional or not), nationalist issues etc.
It is just as fair as calling into question a story from Iran's Press TV.
Russia Today is exceptionally critical of American politics, and their international video newscasts are pretty much dead center criticisms of America. They barely mention Russian affairs, if at all. Whenever I catch a glimpse of them on MHz WorldView I have to change the channel.
Every time I watch RT, I can't help getting the impression that it's on a mission to criticize and attack the US at every opportunity. All this, while ignoring far more egregious crimes within Russia itself. It's blatant, unashamed hypocrisy.
Is it frightening to you that this also makes sense? So I guess we'll have to get all our news from Wikileaks from now on.
It is very simple, there are big news Institutions that power will dominate, one way or another, like infiltrating people in key positions, or with laws that make collaboration with Government a benefit, and non compliance a great cost.
Do you know that when Snowden talked with people in media like the Washington Post, the first thing they did was to report to the NSA and FBI?
While the situation in Russia is absolutely bad, in relative terms it improves, while in the US you used to be free, in relative terms the police State grows by the second.
The founder/owner, Pete Ashdown, was the sole Democrat running against Orin Hatch in 2006. He failed to get the democratic nomination in 2012.
Pete has long been an advocate of digital privacy and is a true Internet pioneer.
While we're on the topic. Pete, please expand Utopia Fiber to Lehi! You promised :) [0]
[0] http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/shuzq/iama_isp_owner_w...
Off topic: I see you went to Neumont University. Cool to run into a fellow Neumie.
I also tapped into our local NSA data center and found your identity. I sent you a LinkedIn invite :)
I think I'll sign up w/ Xmission for a hosting account for a few months (even though I have no need for it) as a show of support.
Maybe I spend too much time on the internet.
1. It will not be forgotten. The behavior to resist those warrants will result probably in imprisonment, and in every case it will be made sure he doesn't get more power. Source is that case: http://www.atlassociety.org/brc/blog/2013/06/10/was-telecom-...
2. The data is accessed anyway, the suggested way of doing that as far as was disclosed to infiltrate the company, either by using a mole or a backdoor (sure, both is possible). At least that would happen if it were an ISP outside of the USA, I don't believe they make that distinction anymore.
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A few years ago, they launched a cloud platform: http://www.stackable.com
"The government began sending data requests to Ashdown 15 years ago but the entrepreneur, who launched his business in 1993, acquiesced just once - at the advice of his lawyer. He agreed to hand over the data only after receiving an FBI request accompanied by a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2010. Local governments and police in Utah were behind most of the other formal inquiries that he received."
(except that he confirms that he received and complied with a FISA order)