Big acquisitions are overseen by the Congress. There are two centuries of legal precedent and good reason for this kind of commercial power mitigation. In the US, people are suppose to be protected from the government and thus its powers are limited, as well as the wealthy citizens that may abuse their influence. One method of doing this is monopoly legislation and corporate oversight by the Congress.
Posted in business | public law read more
Submitted by jasonn on July 1, 2005 - 3:56pm.
Brands are mostly meaningless in today's market. The chance the company that slapped its label on the device actually participated in any way with its manufacturing is very small. One day I'll buy brand X and it's awesome. The next, it's garbage. And, I can't see any manner of trusted prediction.
The tech market is totally commoditized.
(Hat tip: Instapundit) The Vanity of the Capitalists may supply some entertainment.
If the high court decides that property rights are superseded by tax potential, the first and most sacred economic freedom is gone. Welcome to serfdom.
Posted in business | politics jasonn's blog | read more
Submitted by jasonn on February 28, 2005 - 5:53pm.
Everyone should sit down and consider whether they personally benefit from either having or not having an ongoing CPA relationship. I contracted a CPA seven years ago to handle my corporate filings and accounting. Aside from helping with compliance issues, he's been instrumental in helping me identify process failures and make accounting decisions. Having someone who spends all day every day looking at numbers brings a new view to the numbers that someone eyeball deep in running a business can't see without outside help.
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Submitted by jasonn on February 25, 2005 - 11:00am.
The fact is Linux is much more secure than Windows by any standard. The only excuse to run Windows is that your software vendor is your master, and you are forced to run their software on Windows because they make you.
Posted in business | computer security | linux and bsd | tech jasonn's blog | read more
Submitted by jasonn on February 23, 2005 - 11:35am.
At issue is whether governments can forcibly seize homes and businesses, for private economic development. Under a practice known as eminent domain, a person's property may be condemned and the land converted for a greater "public use." It has traditionally been employed to eliminate slums, or to build highways, schools or other public works. - CNN
Posted in business | politics jasonn's blog
Submitted by jasonn on February 22, 2005 - 6:11pm.
I don't even read privacy policies. If you want to know what most of them say, here's the lay term condensed version:
We use your private information as an asset, both for our internal business purposes and to sell to others. Our databases are open to any marketing company that wants to pay us for access. We call these companies "associates" or some other name that is intended to make you feel more comfortable about your sensitive personal and financial information being auctioned off to whomever will pay. If we collect your social security number, credit card numbers, banking information, or any other bit of data that may make a transaction take place more smoothly, you can bet we'll sell it at some point to dozens of comapanies around the world.
Posted in business | computer security | law enforcement jasonn's blog | read more
Submitted by jasonn on February 22, 2005 - 9:58am.
A growing problem plaguing online transactions is fraud. There are many methods of acquiring credit cards, bank account numbers, and personal information to commit crimes ranging from petty theft to funding and facilitating terrorism.
I've personally received emails requesting that I log into a bogus site and clarify some details about my account. One that caught my eye was an email that asked me to help eBay with a "security issue". Of course, eBay had nothing to do with the email. That site was hosted in the UK and collected numbers from Paypal related bank accounts and the user's passport. Why would they want passport numbers? By linking a real passport to real bank information, your identity could be very useful for criminal activities. They could easily manufacture a very real looking set of identification and travel related documents.
Posted in business | law enforcement | tech jasonn's blog | read more | 2 attachments
Submitted by jasonn on February 21, 2005 - 5:03am.
