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Issues in the News

1. ENVIRONMENT

The United States and the European Union agree to pursue diplomatic talks on reducing greenhouse gas emissions through new energy technologies.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Energy & Global Warming Policy Myron Ebell on last year’s similar agreement with several Asian-Pacific nations:

“Despite some diplomatic language about the agreement not replacing the Kyoto Protocol, this new approach to managing greenhouse gas emissions by some of the world’s largest energy-consuming nations clearly rejects [the] Kyoto [Protocol]’s inflexible, economically destructive approach. Whatever the challenges future climate change may bring, a focus on new technologies and robust economic growth will always be our best strategy.”

2. INTERNET

Popular social networking site MySpace.com appoints a new chief security officer, in part, to confront worries about the safety of teen users.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Technology Analyst Peter Suderman on the misguided government demands for stricter age verification measures on MySpace:

“The computer literate younger generation isn’t going to be stymied by a little bit of software.  Parents are going to have to stop relying on government, or government-mandated action by private companies, to watch over what their kids are doing.”

3. SAFETY

The Senate Homeland Security Committee approves a plan to create new federal regulations for chemical plant security.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Risk & Environmental Policy Angela Logomasini on the pros and cons of the chemical plant security bill:

“…enforcement provisions in the Collins bill should also raise red flags for anybody who cares about free enterprise. These provisions are so broad that they give the Department of Homeland Security unqualified power to shut down chemical plants, levy fines of up to $1 million a year, and place owners or operators in jail for up to one year if a plant doesn't gain the agency's approval of its chemical-plant-security plan. In essence, this means that the Department can shut down a facility for failing to meet paperwork mandates.”

4. TECHNOLOGY

France backs off of a threat to force Apple to turn its iTunes copyright protection technology over to rivals.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Technology Analyst Peter Suderman on Apple’s antitrust challenges in Europe:

“France’s crusade against Apple is suspiciously similar to the effort by the European Union to force Microsoft to release a stripped down version of its Windows operating system. In that case, the EU muscled up to Microsoft on antitrust grounds, claiming that the company’s choice to bundle Windows Media Player with Windows gave it an unfair competitive advantage. As with the current French law, the effect was to stipulate that a company’s business model work against its own best interests with scant evidence of consumer benefit.”