The Hobby Protection Act

Above, two counterfeit coins, now in the possession of the McKinley County Sheriff. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

If one is a hobbyist, a collector of stuff, whether it involves comic books, coins, toys and other collectible things, the federal government passed the Hobby Protection Act in 1973. It was amended in 2014.

What is the Hobby Protection Act? 

According to Anti-Counterfeiting Educational Foundation (ACEF):

Hobby Protection Act

The Hobby Protection Act, signed into law Nov. 29, 1973, and amended in 2014, is designed to protect collectors against deceptive reproductions and the manufacture of imitation collectible items. The Federal Trade Commission promulgates rules and regulations under the Hobby Protection Act and is empowered to enforce the law.

Until recently, when I bought two counterfeit silver coins (which were not silver at all), I was unaware of this law. We can thank congress and President Richard Nixon for passing and signing this act into law.

So, for those who are collectors of things that can be counterfeited, here's the Hobby Protection Act. 

Gun Control Groups Target Firearm-Related Speech

Each time the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down some liberal-generated gun law, another pops up and new tactics are employed by radical left anti-Second Amendment groups.

The latest tactic (which is really not an old one) is to target firearm related speech.

From the NRA-ILA:

Gun control advocates have renewed a longstanding plan to have the Federal Trade Commission (which regulates commercial speech) punish firearms manufacturers for how they advertise firearms. A petition filed with the FTC by several large firearm prohibition organizations claims that any suggestion firearms provide protection to their owners or make their homes safer is tantamount to false advertising. The petition also suggests that the use of patriotic, militaristic, or macho images and languages in firearm advertising – the same themes used to sell everything from beer to vehicles to sun glasses – is deliberately being used to appeal to insurrectionists and mass shooters.

While both accusations are so outlandish as to defy serious rebuttal – even the CDC has substantiated the pervasive reality of defensive gun use against crime – it remains to be seen if the FTC will nevertheless take the bait. Anti-gun members of Congress certainly have and recently held a hearing to try to give impetus to this political narrative of “illegal” firearm advertising.

Fortunately, the “social utility” of firearms isn’t up to some unelected bureaucrats at the FTC or any other federal agency. Any argument over the utility of arms for self-defense was settled in 1791 when their use for defensive purposes was enshrined in the constitution.

To read more, go here. 

The Useless National Do Not Call Registry

Have you noticed that you are still getting unwanted telephone calls even though registered in the Federal Trade Commission's National Do Not Call Registry?

I have. 

It seems that the registry is useless since unwanted solicitations are being received.

I checked to verify that my phone is registered and it is:

Thank you for registering your phone number with the National Do Not Call Registry. You successfully registered your phone number ending in 0020 on June 12, 2007. Most telemarketers will be required to stop calling you 31 days from your registration date.

Visit https://www.donotcall.gov  to register another number or file a complaint against someone violating the Registry.

In the registry's FAQs:

The National Do Not Call Registry was created to stop unwanted sales calls. It’s free to register your home or mobile phone number.

If you’ve already added your phone number to the Do Not Call Registry and are still getting a lot of unwanted calls, odds are the calls are from scammers. Read about blocking unwanted calls to find out what to do about them. If you answer one of these calls, hang up and report the call to the FTC.

Wondering why else you're getting calls? According to the FTC:

After you register, other types of organizations may still call you, such as charities, political groups, debt collectors and surveys. To learn more, read our FAQs

As I was writing this, another scam call came through. It was the usual Social Security "suspicious activity" scam call. 

Justice Dept. Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google

 Just a few minutes ago, I spotted this on Twitter:

Good, it's about time that the giant tech companies' are held accountable for their unfair business practices.

Hopefully, similar action against Facebook and Twitter will follow. Facebook is already under investigation.

From the Wall Street Journal:

WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission is gearing up to file a possible antitrust lawsuit against Facebook Inc. FB 0.95% by year-end, according to people familiar with the matter, in a case that would challenge the company’s dominant position in social media.

The case preparations come after the FTC has spent more than a year investigating concerns that Facebook has been using its powerful market position to stifle competition, part of a broader effort by U.S. antitrust authorities to examine the conduct of a handful of dominant tech companies.

No final decision has been made on whether to sue Facebook, people familiar with the matter said, and the commission doesn’t always bring cases even when it is making preparations to do so, such as when it decided against filing an antitrust complaint against Google Inc. in 2013 after a lengthy investigation.

 To read more, go here.

Trump Issues Executive Order Against Social Media Abuses

It was a long time in coming. It has support by both parties.

President Trump issued an executive order on social media, especially the giants like Facebook and Twitter, who practice censorship, shadow banning, "fact checking" and other acts on a selective basis.

According to Fox News:

Flanked by Attorney General Bill Barr, President Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office on Thursday that calls for new regulations under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) to remove statutory liability protections and cut federal funding for tech companies that engage in censorship and political conduct.

The president's order came just two days after Twitter took the unprecedented step of slapping a "misleading" warning label on two of Trump's tweets concerning the fraud risks of nationwide mail-in balloting. The move immediately backfired: Experts disputed that Trump's tweet was actually misleading, given that mail-in balloting has been linked to ongoing fraud, and Twitter failed to apply the fact-check standard to others. 

At Thursday's signing ceremony, Trump called the fact-check "egregious," and held up a photo of Twitter executive Yoel Roth, who heads up the site's fact-checking operation. Fox News reported on Wednesday that Roth has mocked Trump supporters, called Trump's team "ACTUAL NAZIS," slammed "scary trannies," and called GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a "bag of farts." 

"My executive order calls for new regulations under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to make it so that social media companies that engage in censoring any political conduct will not be able to keep their liability shield," the president said.

He added: "My executive order further instructs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prohibit social media companies from engaging in any deceptive acts or practices affecting commerce. This commerce resides in Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. ... Additionally, I'm directing the attorney general to work cooperatively with the states ... to enforce their own laws against such deceptive business practices. The states have broad and powerful authority to regulate in this arena." 

Under the CDA, platforms are ordinarily not liable for users' defamatory or otherwise problematic posts under the CDA, while publishers that actively shape content do face liability. Trump's order would empower the federal government to interpret and apply that legislation.

To read more, go here.