the owner of that company, pete ashdown, is an outright great guy. he even tried to run for a senate seat last election[1] -- without PAC $ and a focus on passing a constitutional amendment to overturn citizen's united. But instead utah got stuck with good ol' Orrin Hatch, which was one of the chief proponents of building the NSA datacenter in bluffdale that is going to store all the stuff collected by PRISIM et. al. [2]
the world needs more Pete Ashdowns and more Xmissions.
Don't forget Hatch's "contributions" to the US run back decades.
1. The shuttle solid rocket boosters were built in Utah. Hatch is credited with bringing that pork to Utah. Otherwise, the boosters could have been built somewhere along a waterway and floated down to the vehicle assembly building, but coming from Utah they have to be built in pieces and shipped overland. Thus the need for an O-ring where the pieces fit together. Politics contributed to the Challenger disaster.
(I admit, all politics are debatable, and there were other contributing factors in the Challenger disaster, but shipping the SRBs from Utah is just stupid, in my opinion.)
2. Pro-bailouts, pro-debt, and extremely pro-copyright:
> the world needs more Pete Ashdowns and more Xmissions.
Yes sir, we do.
Also, fun fact for the tin foil hat crowd: Pete is Mormon.*
*EDIT: I've heard too much "Mormons run the NSA/CIA" BS lately. I'm not Mormon and I think their faith (like most) is absolutely whacky, but I can't say I've ever met one that I didn't like. I know, I know: crass generalization... but damn if it ain't true.
In addition to the praises from @ryankschaw & @letney's, Pete is involved in a lot of local causes and provides free internet to many organizations.
I've been with Xmission for the better part of a decade now, and the service they provide has almost always rocked. On the rare occasion when it didn't, their service department did rock, keeping customers informed as progress was made - even if the problem wasn't under Xmission's control (for example, at one point I was connected via a phone line which got cut - they actually followed up with the phone company and would call my cell phone to give me updates).
When I realize, after reading these stories, that I read them on "RussiaToday" I always feel a bit sad.
A former advisor to Vladimir Putin, has labeled the channel as "the best Russian propaganda machine targeted at the outside world" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT_(TV_network))
These news are important here, but we have to be careful not to associate concepts like "freedom of speech" and "example of democracy" with countries like Russia, given the actual situation the people there live under I am not sure we can say Russia holds human rights in the highest regard in my opinion.
Concerns of RussiaToday are warranted but in this case they are just parroting NPR [1] who in turn are repeating a story by The Salt Lake Tribune [2] (but NPR actually bothered to credit them).
> When I realize, after reading these stories, that I read them on "RussiaToday" I always feel a bit sad.
Why?
> "the best Russian propaganda machine targeted at the outside world"
I trust RT with issues outside Russia's geopolitical influence. See they have it easy then, they don't have to lie. Just have to tell the truth that CNN and NBC are not telling. So they are pretty good with that. Al-Jazeera is good for news outside Qatar and its close neighbors and so on.
These news are important here, but we have to be careful not to associate concepts like "freedom of speech" and "example of democracy" with countries like Unites States of America, given the actual situation the people there live under I am not sure we can say United States of America holds human rights in the highest regard in my opinion.
Is it frightening to you that this also makes sense? So I guess we'll have to get all our news from Wikileaks from now on.
Well, of course RussiaToday is Russian propaganda, the same way that CNN, or NewYorkTimes are propaganda of American empire.
It is very simple, there are big news Institutions that power will dominate, one way or another, like infiltrating people in key positions, or with laws that make collaboration with Government a benefit, and non compliance a great cost.
Do you know that when Snowden talked with people in media like the Washington Post, the first thing they did was to report to the NSA and FBI?
While the situation in Russia is absolutely bad, in relative terms it improves, while in the US you used to be free, in relative terms the police State grows by the second.
I too came to comment about how I knew it was XMission before I clicked and wanted to mention the great things Pete Ashdown has been up to. But, I see others have already covered that.
While we're on the topic. Pete, please expand Utopia Fiber to Lehi! You promised :) [0]
I work for a small ISP and pretty much "run the show". Since joining the company, I've been successful in getting approval from the owners on what I feel are appropriate retention policies and such. There's still a lot to be done but my hope is to someday be running our operation very similar to how Mr. Ashdown is running his.
I think I'll sign up w/ Xmission for a hosting account for a few months (even though I have no need for it) as a show of support.
Read it the right way. The described behavior is the right thing to do, brave and patriotic. But two things will happen here:
1. It will not be forgotten. The behavior to resist those warrants will result probably in imprisonment, and in every case it will be made sure he doesn't get more power. Source is that case: http://www.atlassociety.org/brc/blog/2013/06/10/was-telecom-...
2. The data is accessed anyway, the suggested way of doing that as far as was disclosed to infiltrate the company, either by using a mole or a backdoor (sure, both is possible). At least that would happen if it were an ISP outside of the USA, I don't believe they make that distinction anymore.
As a wee lad, I uploaded my first bits of HTML onto Xmission's shared hosting in 1997. Good memories. Thanks to them, I didn't have to succumb to Geocities advertisements.
Er, so, not rolling over for bullshit requests is a very good thing (telcos take note), but I'm not seeing a difference here from any company that doesn't comply with improper requests, but does comply with "proper" ones, just a matter of scale:
"The government began sending data requests to Ashdown 15 years ago but the entrepreneur, who launched his business in 1993, acquiesced just once - at the advice of his lawyer. He agreed to hand over the data only after receiving an FBI request accompanied by a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2010. Local governments and police in Utah were behind most of the other formal inquiries that he received."
(except that he confirms that he received and complied with a FISA order)
[+] [-] ryankshaw|12 years ago|reply
the world needs more Pete Ashdowns and more Xmissions.
1. http://peteashdown.org/archive/2012/ 2. http://www.nextgov.com/big-data/2013/06/utah-senator-who-pus...
[+] [-] sounds|12 years ago|reply
1. The shuttle solid rocket boosters were built in Utah. Hatch is credited with bringing that pork to Utah. Otherwise, the boosters could have been built somewhere along a waterway and floated down to the vehicle assembly building, but coming from Utah they have to be built in pieces and shipped overland. Thus the need for an O-ring where the pieces fit together. Politics contributed to the Challenger disaster.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disas...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Solid_Rocket_Boo...
(I admit, all politics are debatable, and there were other contributing factors in the Challenger disaster, but shipping the SRBs from Utah is just stupid, in my opinion.)
2. Pro-bailouts, pro-debt, and extremely pro-copyright:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orrin_Hatch#Political_position...
[+] [-] fixxer|12 years ago|reply
Yes sir, we do.
Also, fun fact for the tin foil hat crowd: Pete is Mormon.*
*EDIT: I've heard too much "Mormons run the NSA/CIA" BS lately. I'm not Mormon and I think their faith (like most) is absolutely whacky, but I can't say I've ever met one that I didn't like. I know, I know: crass generalization... but damn if it ain't true.
[+] [-] hamburglar|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yaddayadda|12 years ago|reply
I've been with Xmission for the better part of a decade now, and the service they provide has almost always rocked. On the rare occasion when it didn't, their service department did rock, keeping customers informed as progress was made - even if the problem wasn't under Xmission's control (for example, at one point I was connected via a phone line which got cut - they actually followed up with the phone company and would call my cell phone to give me updates).
[+] [-] mikemoka|12 years ago|reply
A former advisor to Vladimir Putin, has labeled the channel as "the best Russian propaganda machine targeted at the outside world" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT_(TV_network))
These news are important here, but we have to be careful not to associate concepts like "freedom of speech" and "example of democracy" with countries like Russia, given the actual situation the people there live under I am not sure we can say Russia holds human rights in the highest regard in my opinion.
[+] [-] eco|12 years ago|reply
1. http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/07/10/200482... 2. http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/56544384-90/administra...
[+] [-] rdtsc|12 years ago|reply
Why?
> "the best Russian propaganda machine targeted at the outside world"
I trust RT with issues outside Russia's geopolitical influence. See they have it easy then, they don't have to lie. Just have to tell the truth that CNN and NBC are not telling. So they are pretty good with that. Al-Jazeera is good for news outside Qatar and its close neighbors and so on.
[+] [-] hondje|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mladenkovacevic|12 years ago|reply
Is it frightening to you that this also makes sense? So I guess we'll have to get all our news from Wikileaks from now on.
[+] [-] forgottenpaswrd|12 years ago|reply
It is very simple, there are big news Institutions that power will dominate, one way or another, like infiltrating people in key positions, or with laws that make collaboration with Government a benefit, and non compliance a great cost.
Do you know that when Snowden talked with people in media like the Washington Post, the first thing they did was to report to the NSA and FBI?
While the situation in Russia is absolutely bad, in relative terms it improves, while in the US you used to be free, in relative terms the police State grows by the second.
[+] [-] letney|12 years ago|reply
The founder/owner, Pete Ashdown, was the sole Democrat running against Orin Hatch in 2006. He failed to get the democratic nomination in 2012.
Pete has long been an advocate of digital privacy and is a true Internet pioneer.
[+] [-] vyrotek|12 years ago|reply
While we're on the topic. Pete, please expand Utopia Fiber to Lehi! You promised :) [0]
[0] http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/shuzq/iama_isp_owner_w...
[+] [-] xahrepap|12 years ago|reply
Off topic: I see you went to Neumont University. Cool to run into a fellow Neumie.
[+] [-] jlgaddis|12 years ago|reply
I think I'll sign up w/ Xmission for a hosting account for a few months (even though I have no need for it) as a show of support.
[+] [-] msg|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] runn1ng|12 years ago|reply
Maybe I spend too much time on the internet.
[+] [-] onli|12 years ago|reply
1. It will not be forgotten. The behavior to resist those warrants will result probably in imprisonment, and in every case it will be made sure he doesn't get more power. Source is that case: http://www.atlassociety.org/brc/blog/2013/06/10/was-telecom-...
2. The data is accessed anyway, the suggested way of doing that as far as was disclosed to infiltrate the company, either by using a mole or a backdoor (sure, both is possible). At least that would happen if it were an ISP outside of the USA, I don't believe they make that distinction anymore.
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] jtsnow|12 years ago|reply
A few years ago, they launched a cloud platform: http://www.stackable.com
[+] [-] magicalist|12 years ago|reply
"The government began sending data requests to Ashdown 15 years ago but the entrepreneur, who launched his business in 1993, acquiesced just once - at the advice of his lawyer. He agreed to hand over the data only after receiving an FBI request accompanied by a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2010. Local governments and police in Utah were behind most of the other formal inquiries that he received."
(except that he confirms that he received and complied with a FISA order)
[+] [-] prbuckley|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fsckin|12 years ago|reply
http://xmission.com/hosting
[+] [-] ChrisAntaki|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sliverstorm|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bound008|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kennethcwilbur|12 years ago|reply