CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. Internet
Maine is poised to become the first state to enact “net neutrality” regulation on Internet access.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Technology Policy Wayne Crews on why additional regulation will only slow down technology development:
We all can probably agree that we want tomorrow’s Internet at the speed of light, not at the speed of government. But a better starting point is to appreciate that we have no broadband today: cable and DSL are a trickle compared to the Niagara needed tomorrow. Freezing today’s Internet into a regulated public utility via net neutrality’s inevitable price-and-entry regulation would be the worst possible move, slowing investment and innovation, meaning fewer new companies, networking deals, products and technologies.
2. Environment
Google and Intel make pledges to improve their environmental profile.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Analyst Dana Joel Gattuso on what kind of threat is posed by discarded electronics and computer parts:
Widespread panic among lawmakers is based on misinformation spread largely by powerful eco-activist groups who believe the growing amount of electronic waste reflects the ills of a “throw-away” society and that recycling e-waste is our moral obligation to achieve “zero waste tolerance.” Among the myths bandied about are that e-waste is growing at an uncontrollable, “exponential” rate; and that heavy metals contained in computers are leaking out of the landfills, poisoning our ground soil.
3. Technology
Privacy advocates question Apple’s decision to include personal user data in music files downloaded from iTunes.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Technology Policy Analyst Cord Blomquist on the debate over electronic privacy:
Privacy advocates claim that by embedding customer names and account info into songs that it exposes to a greater risk of theft of that private information. However, the only way in which only these music files could be copied or otherwise examined would be through illegal file sharing. Attacks on a system that allowed access to music files would likely also allow access to other files that would be much more appealing to online snoops.
Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.
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