Comments on: When politics and tech collide, everyone loses

By: Towergypsy

Towergypsy — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:42:34 +0000

I agree with Alz, this isn’t about politics vs technology way to deflect attention away from the real issue. BTW, General when referring to the rank of a person is ALWAYS captilized! (2nd paragraph, 1st sentence). Shameful proofreading but it matches the fact checking.

By: brianweeden

brianweeden — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 13:13:39 +0000

To say that ” is a result of the GPS industry not shielding its radios enough, rather than anything LightSquared is doing” is incorrect. There are a whole category of precision GPS users for whom no amount of shielding would have helped because they need the full bandwidth of the navigation signal.

I would suggest the author take a read through the testimony of Dr. Scott Pace on this issue. He clearly outlines the history of LightSquared along with the technical and policy issues:
http://science.house.gov/sites/republicans.science.house.gov/files/documents/hearings/0908011_Pace.pdf

What it comes down to is a company that acquired the rights to spectrum originally set aside for satellites and then used a waiver to turn it into spectrum used for a massive ground broadband network. This allowed them to bypass the normal process of bidding (and paying billions) for spectrum.

Yes, they won original approval for a waiver in 2004 to do this, but recently sneaked in another waiver the greatly boosted the power of their ground stations. This is the key problem.

As Dr. Pace points out, allowing LightSquared to proceed as planned would go against both President Obama’s National Space Policy and National Broadband Policy.

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 02:13:46 +0000

This smells and if proven, would point to more disgraceful behavior on the part of the white house..I can’t say that I’m surprised at this point…

By: James

James — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 22:17:14 +0000

I’ve noticed that when it’s the Democrats who are accused of corruption, liberal journalists always go with the “let’s not turn this into partisan mud flinging and focus on moving forward” angle, whereas Republican corruption always warrants a “ZOMG these evil conservatives are trying to destroy America for the benefit of their cronies in the military-industrial complex” type response.

Let’s cut the crap. This is a disgraceful indictment of the current administration and would be no matter who was in the White House.

By: pc repair

pc repair — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 19:43:36 +0000

This isn’t a party issue but a moral one. Leaking a testimony is wrong. But instead of holding the guilty accountable, once again Republicans and Democrats are pointing the finger at each other. Once again, they would rather prove each other wrong than do what’s right for truth and for the American people.

By: Darnell Clayton

Darnell Clayton — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 18:12:12 +0000

Huh? How did GigaOm miss the main point regarding the controversy? It has little to do with the technology being implemented (or at least attempted to be implemented) in order to ease the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans.

The controversy is about pressuring a general (let a lone a government official) to alter their testimony. It doesn’t matter if it’s because the donor behind the company is Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or just another hipster. It reeks of corruption and NEEDS to be dealt with. There is nothing partisan about that.

By: Alz

Alz — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 17:57:18 +0000

Excuse me, but LEAKING TESTIMONY and then asking the General to change the testimony is a big deal. This isn’t about Republicans. Who else got a hold of his testimony? Sounds criminal and not because Republicans are pointing out the problem.