The Open Market Blog

• 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…