Hurricanes, ISPs and Family Law
Weather forecasters predict between six and nine storms in this year’s Atlantic hurricane season.
Congress considers legislation that would regulate how Internet service providers manage their networks and services.
A Texas court rules that the state did not have the right to seize hundreds of children from a polygamist Mormon sect.
1. ENVIRONMENT
Weather forecasters predict between six and nine storms in this year’s Atlantic hurricane season.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on the alleged link between global warming and hurricanes:
“Since even the scientists who support the Kyoto Protocol estimate that it would only avert an immeasurably small amount (0.07°C) of global warming by 2050,Kyoto-style approaches can provide no protection from hurricanes in the policy-relevant future. Therefore, it is disingenuous for activists to claim that a hurricane-warming link justifies changes in U.S. energy policy. Indeed, hyping the hurricane-warming link can be counterproductive. If people seek protection from hurricanes in climate change policy, they are apt to neglect the preparedness measures that can actually save lives.”
2. TECHNOLOGY
Congress considers legislation that would regulate how Internet service providers manage their networks and services.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Research Associate Ryan Radia on the alternative to federal regulation:
“Stuck with limited ISP choices, broadband users are increasingly angry with the growing number of providers that poke around in their customers’ traffic. From resetting Bittorrent sessions to sniffing packets for URLs, more and more providers are wielding their power as the ‘man in the middle’ to monitor and manipulate traffic in unpopular and possibly illegal ways. While these practices can be beneficial, tech-savvy consumers are understandably agitated. Congress is now considering legislation that would outlaw these ISP practices. Instead of urging lawmakers to enact sweeping new laws that would often do more harm than good, broadband users should look to the recent emergence of commercial secure tunneling services. These services remind us that the marketplace is perfectly capable of resolving skirmishes without government getting involved.”
3. LEGAL
A Texas court rules that the state did not have the right to seize hundreds of children from a polygamist Mormon sect.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Special Projects Counsel Hans Bader on the legal procedure that should have been followed:
“The children were seized after someone pretending to be a teenager in the sect made an anonymous (and apparently fabricated) allegation of abuse. I earlier criticized the seizures, pointing out that the children were seized absent evidence that they faced imminent harm, and that the government should thus not have taken them from their parents prior to a full judicial hearing at which individual parents could be heard and present exculpatory evidence, and at which the government would have to produce hard evidence to justify seizing each child.”
Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
To contact a CEI expert for comment or interviews, please call the CEI communications department at 202-331-2273 or email to [email protected].