Author: Justin Lane

Republican Representative Mike Rogers (Mich.) has announced that he will not seek reelection in 2014; instead, he will pursue a career as a talk-radio host with Cumulus Radio. Mike Rogers was the chair of the House Intelligence Committee. He has been the presiding member throughout the NSA metadata scandal and has a history of being pro big-business. Rogers was the author of the controversial cybersecurity bill, CISPA. CISPA was the followup many will remember after SOPA. The bill contained provisions to allow companies and the government to share information about security breaches, dangerous software and the goals of the...

Since the Supreme Court decision earlier this year regarding the FCC’s ability to regulate Verizon, debates over net neutrality have been ramping up. The latest blow to be delivered in the battle has come from AT&T and is a response to Netflix’s request for strong net neutrality rules. What is Net Neutrality? In the simplest of terms, the concept of Net Neutrality is an agreement by ISPs and other internet intermediaries to treat all data equally. This is to say that the data of a funny cat picture will be given the same priority as the latest episode of...

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has issued a nearly $1 million fine to LPL Financial for its failures related to the supervision of sales in a broad range of alternative investment products, including nontraded REITs. “The integrity of our financial markets of the highest importance,” commented Peter Mougey, a shareholder with the Levin, Papantonio law firm and Director of the firm’s Securities and Business Litigation Department. “The failure to properly supervise the sale of products like nontraded REITs cannot go without punishment.” Nontraded REITs, or nontraded real estate investment funds, are the subject of wider controversy. Nontraded REITs...

According to a report yesterday from the Washington Post, the National Security Agency (NSA) has constructed a surveillance system that is capable of recording the entirety of a foreign country’s phone calls. The agency is then capable of reviewing the contents of the calls for as long as a month after the collection of the information. This information is another in the series of disclosures from Edward Snowden. According to the National Journal, the NSA’s program includes the contents of Americans’ phone conversations. In a statement to the National Journal, a spokesperson for the NSA said that it “does...

As if Tom Perkins’ fearful plea that the richest in the United States weren’t enough hyperbole, now Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone is adding his voice into the Nazi-scare frenzy. In an article on Politico, Langone is quoted as saying of the rhetoric used towards the richest 1%, “I hope it’s not working. Because if you go back to 1933, with different rods, this is what Hitler was saying in Germany. You don’t survive as a society if you encourage and thrive on envy or jealousy.” Related: Why are the 1% such crybabies? All of this hyped-up Nazi talk...