The Open Market Blog

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/24/2008

Alex Harris notes that hypocrisy can affect obscenity prosecutions, at the expense of free expression.  He quotes a lawyer who observes that  “Time and time again you’ll have…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/24/2008

The New York Times has an interesting – and somewhat amusing – article today about a novel defense being tried in an online…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/24/2008

Responding to calls from special interest groups, the FCC will begin an investigation of product placements in TV shows, the Wall Street Journal…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/23/2008

CNET reports that a new generation of advertising companies are set to create “social ads,” targeted to those who have the greatest influence over…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/23/2008

CNET reports that “a group including Equifax, Google, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, and PayPal, plus nine leaders in the technology community announced on Monday the…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/23/2008

Ars reports that the FCC has started a public comment cycle on Chairman Martin’s plan to turn 25 MHz of the prized 2.1GHz band…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 06/23/2008

From our good friends at FreedomWorks comes a video alerting viewers to a proposal from Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) that would create a new…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/23/2008

CEI has just put out a media release mourning the death of the great comedian George Carlin. As Cord Blomquist’s statement says: Like Bruce…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/23/2008

The MPAA has sent two network printers take-down notices for supposedly sharing copyrighted movie files. This came about because “researchers at the University of Washington…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/23/2008

The Google-Yahoo ad deal has come under a lot of scrutiny recently. As I reported earlier, in the wake of Microsoft’s failure to acquire…

• By: Christine Hall
• 06/23/2008

Ever wonder when online advertising will become more useful than annoying? Or, more useful than irrelevant? Imagine my surprise to discover an ad targeted to…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/23/2008

A big tax increase is likely during the next administration, with self-employed people in many areas facing marginal tax rates of “60% or higher”…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 06/23/2008

Wired, reports that a credit card company has come under fire and FTC investigation for “behavioral scoring”: reducing credit limits for people who use…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/23/2008

We reported earlier on the New York Attorney General’s successful attempt to coerce ISPs into censoring their content. Later that day,…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/23/2008

In today’s Wall Street Journal, CEI’s John Berlau explains how the mortgage bailout bill contains ominous provisions that would create a vast fingerprint database.  The bill also contains…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/22/2008

Congress’s mortgage bailout bill perversely rewards the irresponsible federal agencies and politically-connected companies that caused the mortgage crisis, as the Wall Street Journal explains in an…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/22/2008

Travel used to be great.  It was regulated and high-priced, so most people didn’t travel that much.  With regulated prices, airlines competed based on service. …

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/20/2008

Teenagers in the UK are using Google Earth to find backyard swimming pools, then using Facebook to organize flashmobs at said pools. The…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/20/2008

“He’s reliable. He’s considerate. He’s like your exact opposite.” “So he’s Bizarro Jerry.” “Bizarro Jerry?” “Yeah, like Bizarro Superman, Superman’s exact…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/20/2008

Verizon announced a new, zippy broadband plan for all markets through its FiOS fiber optic service. Customers will be able to download at 50mbps…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/20/2008

The House has overwhelmingly passed, by a vote of 293-to-129, a FISA reform bill that would kill multibillion dollar lawsuits brought by the ACLU and…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/20/2008

Ars predicts that a new war over net neutrality has begun in Canada. The ISP Bell Canada was discovered to have reduced the speed…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/20/2008

The FCC just granted Sprint Nextel permission to stay in the 800MHz band the company had been using to provide service to 16 million…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/20/2008

Congressional leaders have apparently struck a deal that “would strengthen the ability of intelligence officials to eavesdrop on foreign targets.”  Such eavesdropping to fight terrorism has…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/19/2008

CNET reveals that AT&T will be paying Apple $325 to $425 (depending on where the phone was purchased) per iPhone sold – much more…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/19/2008

Congress has banned drilling for oil in much of America, even barren, desolate Arctic land, cutting our domestic oil supply.  The ban harms the environment…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/19/2008

YouTube has just launched a new area, called the Screening Room, for independent shorts. According to Ars, the Screening Room “will feature…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/19/2008

What to do when busybody neighbors try to tell you what you can and cannot do on your own property — and seek local government’s…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/19/2008

A Richmond businessman lost 86 pounds eating only at McDonald’s.  Former CEI adjunct scholar Soso Whaley lost 18 pounds over the course of 60 days…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/19/2008

The Supreme Court ruled today that federal labor law bars a state from curbing the rights of employers to speak out about union organizing by…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/19/2008

Today, Ars takes a look at the recent political battle over “white spaces” – those gaps in the electromagnetic spectrum between television channels. Drew…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/18/2008

Ars reports that Sweden just passed a bill that will allow “Sweden’s National Defense Radio Establishment to monitor citizens’ phone calls, text messages, e-mails,…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/18/2008

CNET News reports that AT&T and Verizon are – shockingly – calling for the FCC to fine Comcast for its alleged violations of net…

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/18/2008

Now that the primaries are over, Sen. Barack Obama has come out in favor of NAFTA.  He told Fortune in an interview that “Sometimes…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/18/2008

California has sent cease-and-desist letters to companies that provide direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing. California is worried that the results of the test aren’t very…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/18/2008

An upstart WiMax company, Worldmax, is threatening to displace established telelcom companies by building Europe’s first mobile WiMax network. With impressive speeds and incredible…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/18/2008

A group of locals, imbued with civil pride, have agreed to take over Philadelphia’s failing municipal wireless internet access. Earthlink was initially going…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/18/2008

Back in 2005, the FCC gave providers of voice-over-internet service a mandate to, within a very short time frame, link all of their customers…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/18/2008

Ars has a good piece today on the FCC’s lack of clarity about its own minority broadcasting rules. Apparently, to avoid mandating discrimination based…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/18/2008

If you haven’t yet heard of Zipcar, you soon will. Zipcar is a revolutionary service billed as “car-sharing,” but perhaps better described as…

• By: John Berlau
• 06/18/2008

In the past few days, the subprime mess has morphed into a Congressional ethics scandal. Portfolio magazine has revealed that Senate Banking Comittee Chairman…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/18/2008

Who would have imagined it?  Shrink government, and you get faster economic growth.  Amazing! Reports Keith Marsden in the Wall Street Journal:…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/18/2008

Now what will the environmentlists do?  China’s lead in CO2 emissions keeps growing.  Reports the New York Times: China has clearly overtaken the United…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/17/2008

Crave is reporting that Delta and Continental are testing programs that allow passengers to check in using their mobile web devices, then display those…

• By: William Yeatman
• 06/17/2008

Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) today announced that he wants to end the federal…

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/17/2008

Harvard economist Larry Summers has some ideas for a new regulatory order in the Financial Times. In typical Summers fashion, his…

• By: Fran Smith
• 06/17/2008

In today’s New York Times, John Tierney has a wonderful spoof of the world-famous opera house, La Scala, commissioning a new opera based…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/17/2008

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly today ruled that the White House’s Office of Administration does not have to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests for…

• By: Marlo Lewis, Jr.
• 06/17/2008

With oil topping $135 a barrel, ethanol must be cheaper than gasoline, right? Not if you adjust for the fact that ethanol has about 30%…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/17/2008

Sonia Arrison has an article at TechNewsWorld on the recent FTC investigation and New York state prosecution of Intel for supposed antitrust violations. In…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/17/2008

Disclaimer: I come from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Part of growing up in Albuquerque is developing a grudge against our small, inauthentic, touristy, hippie art collector-filled…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/16/2008

Louisiana is close to approving a bill that would allow for statewide video franchising, but the bill would not affect some important localities, because…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/16/2008

Back in March, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case challenging the FCC’s policy of punishing television broadcasters for fleeting expletives. Reason offers…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/16/2008

According to CNET, Google is creating tools to allow internet users to monitor their ISPs’ network management techniques. Though Google hopes their tools will…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/16/2008

According to ArsTechnica, “students in Australia may soon be forced to have their photos, interests, and aspirations profiled in a massive database meant to…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/16/2008

ArsTechnica reports that “last year saw a tripling in the number of bloggers arrested around the world compared to 2006, according to…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/16/2008

On Friday, I said that the XM-Sirius merger deal had “no end in sight.” But now, the Wall Street Journal reports, The staff…

• By: John Berlau
• 06/16/2008

It's almost a Washington truism that anytime Congress creates a "trust fund" for a certain policy issue, the money flowing into this "trust fund" will…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/13/2008

Euroskeptics have long complained about the European Union’s “bureaucratic deficit,” EU institutions’ insularity from voters in the member states. It’s bad enough that there…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/13/2008

Among television political interviewers, Tim Russert was the best, so much so that there is little I can add to the tributes to his life…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/13/2008

Ars reports that video game sales are way up – and that GTA IV took the top spot. Look for Jack Thompson…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/13/2008

The Wall Street Journal reports that after the breakdown of Microsoft’s attempts to acquire Yahoo, the search company has turned to Google for an…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/13/2008

Locally-grown and produced food isn’t necessarily better for the environment, or more economical for society, than food produced elsewhere.  It often costs more and results in more…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/12/2008

The FCC held a hearing on early termination fees for cell phones, cable, ISPs, and pretty much everything else other than leases on cars and…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/12/2008

Google stated today that it would back a nationwide privacy law. This comes days after the company unfairly came under pressure for supposedly…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/12/2008

Ars reports that the Transportation and Security Administration has implemented a new policy regarding IDs. Previously, and unbeknown to many, TSA did not…

• By: William Yeatman
• 06/12/2008

The leftist Center for American Progress today released a press statement…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/12/2008

A New York judge has ruled that his own pay should be raised, and ordered New York’s legislature to increase the pay of every state judge in…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/12/2008

The Supreme Court today ruled that Guantanamo Bay detainees in the War on Terror can bring habeas petitions to challenge their confinement.  But as Chief…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/12/2008

The militia of Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe is burning to death the wives of his critics.  Rulers of most neighboring African countries continue to support Mugabe…

• By: William Yeatman
• 06/12/2008

Congratulations New Hampshire! Yesterday Governor John Lynch signed a bill that makes the Granite…

• By: Richard Morrison
• 06/12/2008

Mitch McConnell had a great statement on the floor of the Senate this morning regarding gas prices and energy policy. As the Man from…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/11/2008

France has just joined the ranks of countries like China, Sweden, and Great Britain in blocking its citizens from accessing some content on the…

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/11/2008

My colleague Alex Harris is drooling over the latest version of Apple‘s iPhone. In…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/11/2008

Next week in Seoul, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development will meet to discuss Internet security. The Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is…

• By: William Yeatman
• 06/11/2008

Last month, the Democrat-controlled Senate was intent on “doing something” about the high price of fuel.

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/11/2008

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who used the Fair Housing Act as a pretext to restrict speech critical of housing projects back when he was Bill…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/11/2008

On Monday, Steve Jobs announced that – among other things – Apple will begin selling a new model of the iPhone on July 11,…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/10/2008

Ethanol subsidies, which have contributed to hunger, riots and environmental destruction across the globe, are now contributing to slave labor on sugar plantations in…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/10/2008

I posted earlier about a panel I went to yesterday at the ACLU membership conference. In that post, I contended that the…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/10/2008

“In 2004, as regulators warned that subprime lenders were saddling borrowers with mortgages they could not afford, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban…

• 06/10/2008

Thanks to the Greens, the US Congress and the administration to continue locking up the American land. Yesterday, the House easily approved three more wilderness…

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/10/2008

There were more street protests in Seoul on Sunday over U.S. beef. The public is scared out of their minds that they’ll get mad…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/10/2008

I’ve spent the past couple of days at the ACLU’s membership conference. The conference provides ACLU members, such as myself, a chance to get…

• By: John Berlau
• 06/09/2008

The business media is abuzz about a speech and Financial Times op-ed today by Federal Reserve Bank of New York President Tim Geithner calling…

• By: William Yeatman
• 06/09/2008

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) looked ridiculous last week when she insisted the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act would cause…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 06/09/2008

My former employer, the United States Senate, will–at long last–turn over its dinning facilities to a private contractor. Anyone who has ever had to…

• By: Ryan Radia
• 06/09/2008

Are you a mobile phone user, FiOS TV subscriber, or DirecTV customer who's happy with your service and bound by a long-term contract? If so,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/06/2008

Today’s Los Angeles Times profiles Guatemala’s Universidad Francisco Marroquin, which I’ve had the pleasure to visit on a few occasions, and its founder,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/06/2008

Tim Carney continues to expose the rent-seeking motives behind a lot of environmental regulation, in this case cap and trade legislation. As he notes,…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/05/2008

Roky Erickson, the 1960s Texas psychedelic rock pioneer, sang of seeing demons and space aliens, which visions were often the result of his taking…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/05/2008

Want to promote organic farming? Then take over a country, destroy its economy, and starve its people — and then make them grateful for allowing…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/05/2008

In a blistering attack, the Wall Street Journal today criticized the Federal Reserve’s inflationary easy-money policy, which aims to bail out mortgage borrowers through low interest rates, but…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/05/2008

“U.S. and British diplomats were attacked Thursday as they tried to investigate political violence in Zimbabwe and a U.S. Embassy staffer was beaten,” reports…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/05/2008

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System suffered “more than one billion in lost investment returns” after it divested from tobacco company stocks in 2001, reports…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/05/2008

I missed this when it was first published, but it turns out that fat people cause global warming!  Reports Reuters: Obesity contributes to global…

• By: Ryan Radia
• 06/04/2008

Yesterday’s New York Times featured a refreshingly optimistic article discussing Raymond Kurzweil’s revolutionary vision of the future. A brilliant futurist and visionary, Dr. Kurzweil has…

• By: William Yeatman
• 06/04/2008

General Motors announced yesterday that it is closing 4 pickup truck…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 06/04/2008

Via our friends at The Heartland Institute we find a selection of letters that a sixth grade class sent to Heartland decrying its…