Internet Freedom
Internet Freedom enters the final draft of the GOP platform.
The Daily Caller reports that Internet Freedom language has been added to the final draft of the Republican Party platform, which still awaits final approval from party authorities.
The relevant passage in the platform reads: “We will remove regulatory barriers that protect outdated technologies and business plans from innovation and competition, while preventing legacy regulation from interfering with new technologies such as mobile delivery of voice and video data as they become crucial components of the Internet ecosystem. We will resist any effort to shift control away from the successful multi-stakeholder approach of Internet governance and toward governance by international or other intergovernmental organizations. We will ensure that personal data receives full constitutional protection from government overreach and that individuals retain the right to control the use of their data by third parties.”
The Daily Caller notes that this language is modeled on Ron and Rand Paul’s “Technology Revolution” manifesto from their Campaign for Liberty, which declares: “As a matter of principle, we oppose any attempt by government to tax, regulate, monitor, or control the Internet, and we oppose the Internet collectivists who collaborate with the government against Internet freedom.”
As I mentioned when first reporting on the “The Technology Revolution,” it delivered a sharp rebuke to Net Neutrality, a package of government controls designed to regulate the sale and use of Internet bandwidth – an effort bound to produce the elevated prices and reduced quality typical of all price controls. The GOP platform language is also nicely incompatible with Net Neutrality, and echoes the Campaign for Liberty’s assertion that “technology is evolving faster than government’s ability to regulate it.”
Dating
Katy Perry and John Mayer ‘dating’.
Katy Perry and John Mayers were spotted on what looked very much like a date on Thursday night.
The pair had dinner at Pace restaurant in Los Angeles before moving onto favourite celebrity haunt the Chateau Marmont Hotel.
They were first spotted together at Soho House on July 19th where eagle-eyed sources reported that they were “affectionate and cuddling”.
On Thursday, the ‘Hot ‘n’ Cold’ hitmaker met up with the long-haired love machine just hours after landing from Brazil where she’s been promoting her autobiographical film, ‘Part of Me 3D’.
“I’m a woman that who likes to be courted. Strongly. Never say never, I guess you’d say. I’ll let love take the lead on that,” the Mirror quoted her as telling the September issue of US Ele magazine. (ANI)
Woman
B.C. woman arrested for 18-year-old Ontario child abduction case
It’s the longest outstanding unsolved parental abduction case that Christy Dzikowicz, the director of missing children’s services at the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, knows of in Canada.
Astounded neighbours and provincial government colleagues knew O’Byrne as Pamela Whelan, a public information officer for the provincial government at several ministries, a friendly neighbour and an active member of her daughter’s school community.
Sigourney Teresa Chisholm, the child her father Joe last saw when she was 20 months old, was known to all as Thea Whelan, valedictorian of her 2009 graduating class from Victoria High School, honour student and well-liked athlete.
On Thursday, she was told her father had been looking for her for 18 years. It’s not known what her mother had told her about her father. The couple lived in Toronto, had separated, and had joint custody of their baby when the mother and daughter disappeared.
At the same time her mother was being arrested at the tidy bungalow she bought in 2005, Thea Whelan was being told about her family situation by Toronto police and counsellors from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, Victoria police deputy chief John Ducker said.
Thea has lived in Ontario for the past year, neighbours say, and is believed to be attending university, although they didn’t know where.
“I cannot begin to comprehend the magnitude of what this young woman has just learned,” Ducker said.
Neither can her father, Joe Chisholm, even though he has “been dreaming of this day for 18 years.” Chisholm, a Toronto musician and financial adviser, said Friday that he will wait for his daughter to contact him when she is ready.
“I’m thrilled we’ve found her safe but I don’t think we’re at a Hollywood ending,” Chisholm said. “My daughter’s mother has been arrested. My daughter has a lot to take in and we’ll wait until she’s ready. It’s not about my needs, it’s about hers.”
He has little interest in the criminal charge of abduction in contravention of a custody order that Whelan will face Monday in Toronto’s College Park courthouse.
“I’m not invested in that. I don’t see how it benefits my daughter.”
Dzikowicz said it is completely Thea Whelan’s choice when or if she has contact with her large family in Ontario.
“She’ll have supports around her but she will make her own decision,” Dzikowicz said. “We are obviously happy when there’s a resolution to a case, but it’s hard to be joyful when we know how much impact this has on everybody.”
There was nothing out of the ordinary about the Whelans, say neighbours who swapped house keys with them, mowed lawns and had barbecues.
“I feel sorry for everyone involved,” said neighbour Debbie Kennell. “I’d like Thea and Pam to know that we’re here for you, no matter what’s happened.”