The Open Market Blog

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/22/2008

Last week, I introduced a new feature called the Philosopher's Corner, where I will examine libertarian issues from the point of view of justice,…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 07/22/2008

The Associated Press was shocked to discover that, gasp!, the oil companies actually pay back their investors.  A new AP story is headlined:  “AP…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 07/21/2008

This afternoon, the Senate Republican Conference held a hearing on an ongoing attempt to undermine the secret ballot process in union organizing elections. Specifically…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/21/2008

Ars reports on a novel use of in-car GPS technology: getting you out of undeserved speeding tickets. Apparently, a teenager was erroneously ticketed…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/21/2008

A Dutch court ruled today that a group of researchers who figured out how to break into RFID tags used in smartcards around the…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/21/2008

Two down, one to go. Two commissioners are now on board with approving the XM-Sirius merger, which has already been held up for…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/21/2008

Ars reports that Intel is lobbying the FCC to require all cable boxes to contain ethernet ports. Ostensibly to support device openness, Intel’s…

• By: Hans Bader
• 07/19/2008

Franklin Raines, a liberal power-broker, mismanaged government-backed mortgage giant Fannie Mae so badly that a federal bailout of it is now planned.  He received…

• By: Al Canata
• 07/18/2008

To add to Alex Harris’ posting on ISP’s standing up for themselves…. Maybe the ISPs ought to use a pocketbook issue…

• By: John Berlau
• 07/18/2008

It is in times of national emergencies that measures infringing on privacy and civil liberties are advocated — and sometimes rushed through without even being…

• By: Hans Bader
• 07/18/2008

Historically, jurisdictions with judicial elections tended to be somewhat more anti-business than those that didn’t have judicial elections.  But in recent years, voters in some moderate and conservative…

• By: Myron Ebell
• 07/17/2008

11: 46 AM – Approaching Constitution Hall, where Gore will be speaking, the first brochure handed to me from a vegan group, then another from…

• By: Hans Bader
• 07/17/2008

Over a year ago, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson refused to push for reforms of fraud-ridden government-backed mortgage giant Fannie Mae, even though colleagues in the Bush Administration had…

• By: Hans Bader
• 07/17/2008

U.S. immigration law is full of contradictions.  On the one hand, U.S. immigration laws keep out skilled immigrants who would help our economy,…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/17/2008

Australia’s government is requiring the country’s websites to include ratings of age-appropriateness similar to those used for movies and games. Further, websites deemed only…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/17/2008

Google revealed a little more today about how the company’s mysterious search algorithm works. In order to keep improving search – and making sure…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/16/2008

You might remember the controversial Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, which in 1998 retroactively extended copyrights that were set to expire (to life…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/16/2008

A lawyer is suing Google because his ads didn’t generate any business for him. The attorney, Hal Levitte, placed ads with Google and paid…

• By: Fran Smith
• 07/16/2008

In a posting on Discover Magazine’s blog today, it was reported that this summer the largest “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/16/2008

MSNBC has an interesting piece on New York's new food-labelling law. New York is the first city in the country to require restaurants to put…

• By: Hans Bader
• 07/16/2008

In the Wall Street Journal, Holman Jenkins says we should get rid of the shaky, fraud-ridden government-backed mortgage giant Fannie Mae in its current…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/16/2008

Congress is at it again, and once again the victim is NebuAd. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce is sending threatening letters to…

• By: Hans Bader
• 07/16/2008

Professor Ilya Somin explains how New York City taxpayers are being fleeced to pay for a new Yankee Stadium.  And the Washington Examiner describes…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/16/2008

Cable companies are fighting the impending FCC ruling against Comcast for violating net neutrality principles. They seek the freedom to try out different…

• By: Fran Smith
• 07/16/2008

Another nail in the coffin for biofuels and government support. A new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) released…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/16/2008

As I've mentioned in previous posts, my academic background is in political philosophy and I tend to approach policy issues from a rights-based perspective.

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/16/2008

The Library of Congress is having problems with digital preservation, due to copyright laws. Though the Librarian of Congress gets to carve out exceptions…