<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> 

Issues in the News

1. GLOBAL WARMING

Led by former President Clinton, twenty-two world cities agree to enact global-warming policies. 

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Iain Murray on what everyone should know about global warming.

“Alarm over the prospect of the Earth warming is not warranted by the agreed science or economics of the issue. Global warming is happening and man is responsible for at least some of it. Yet this does not mean that global warming will cause enough damage to the Earth and humanity to require drastic cuts in energy use, a policy that would have damaging consequences of its own. Moreover, science cannot answer questions that are at heart economic or political.”

2. CYBERSECURITY

A security company announces it will offer password-generating chips in credit cards to bolster data security.

CEI Experts Available to Comment: Technology Director Clyde Wayne Crews and Policy Analyst Brooke Oberwetter on how private solutions can provide the best cybersecurity.

“Addressing cybersecurity is not a question of how best to regulate businesses that are victims of cyber-attacks, but a question of how best to put market mechanisms into Internet and information technology operations to create incentives for improved security.”

3. INTERNET

The House of Representatives passes the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA), which would withhold funding from schools and public libraries that refuse to block social networking websites.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Technology Analyst Peter Suderman on the broad new power the law would create for the FCC.

“Decisions as to whether or not to block these sites would be best done at a local level, where librarians and educators are intimately aware of the needs of their users. More importantly, the law would give the Federal Communications Commission broad power to define what constitutes a social networking site, setting up the likelihood that a vague, overly expansive definition could restrict far more than what is intended.”

Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI 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].