The Open Market Blog

• By: Fran Smith
• 07/02/2008

Senator John McCain, the Republicans’ presumptive presidential candidate, continued his strong support for free trade with a visit to Colombia and discussions with…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/02/2008

The Copyright Office just released a report asking Congress to end the practice of forcing broadcast TV stations to give their signals to cable…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/01/2008

Valentine v. Chrestensen was a landmark 1942 Supreme Court ruling declaring that the Constitution does not protect commercial speech. This precedent has allowed Congress…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/01/2008

The TSA is finally allowing laptop designers to make cases that can pass through TSA security with the laptop inside. With an older…

• By: Hans Bader
• 07/01/2008

The Rhode Island Supreme Court overturned a trial court ruling against paint companies sued by Rhode Island’s attorney general in a huge lead-paint lawsuit.  The companies had been found…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/01/2008

CNET reports that you may soon be able to draw a doodle to gain access to ATMs, computers, or websites. The two computer scientists…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/01/2008

The French company LVMH has won a court case against eBay holding the internet company liable for some users’ sales of fake Louis Vuitton…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/01/2008

Google has launched a partnership with Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Family Guy. MacFarlane will produce high-budget short (less than two minutes) episodes of…

• By: Ivan Osorio
• 06/30/2008

My friend Tom Palmer says that whenever he sees somebody sporting a Che Guevara t-shirt, he likes to ask the wearer, “That’s a great…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/30/2008

This article from CNET News does a (perhaps unintentionally) brilliant job of describing the Bootleggers and Baptists forces behind California’s new law banning…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/30/2008

Ars reports that the RIAA is lobbying the government to sneak rules mandating web filtering into the secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). The proposed…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/30/2008

Wired reports that: In their eagerness to visit justice on a 49-year-old woman involved in the Megan Meier MySpace suicide tragedy, federal prosecutors in…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/30/2008

Congress is now pushing for the creation of a taxpayer-subsidized “affordable housing trust” in mortgage bailout legislation nearing passage.  The Boston Globe has a story…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/30/2008

Broadband Reports has news: The FCC made changes to cable franchise rules last year which prevent “local franchising authorities from unreasonably refusing to award…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/30/2008

Taxpayer-funded AIDS subsidies are being used to subvert successful anti-AIDS programs in African countries like Uganda that succeed by instilling a politically-incorrect truth: fidelity saves lives.  That’s what Sam…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/29/2008

I just criticized the ditzy Europeans for banning the sale of undersize kiwifruit. But now as I go through accumulated emails I come across…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/29/2008

Because you’ll get treatment sooner as a dog!  Reports Macleans magazine: Dr. Danny Joffe is only half joking when he says that if he’d…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/28/2008

The line “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you” has long been a comic favorite. As well it should. The Daily…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/28/2008

The U.S. is still the largest and most productive economy, but the warning signs are there. The latest is that America is losing its lead…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/28/2008

All you have to do is read British publications to see what the mess otherwise called the National Health Service.  Yet the NHS is a…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/27/2008

American politicians are busy talking about how to socialize the U.S. health care system.  But in Canada the father of the nationalized system is prepared…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/27/2008

Today, Bill Gates left Microsoft. As Cord Blomquist pointed out, Bill Gates has created more value for the world in his time at…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/27/2008

Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, the crooked trial lawyer who helped orchestrate multibillion dollar settlements between the States and the big tobacco companies, was sentenced today to…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/27/2008

Airplanes emit greenhouse gases, so airlines–and ultimately passengers–are about to pay for the privilege of flight. Reports the New York Times: The…

• By: Doug Bandow
• 06/27/2008

You’d better close your trash bin tightly, or else.  At least if you live in England.  Reports the New York Times: But when Gareth…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/27/2008

Ars reports that the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is giving out grants as part of its new Games for Health program. Performing modern electronic…

• By: Ryan Young
• 06/27/2008

I had the pleasure of seeing distinguished trade economist Jagdish Bhagwati speak yesterday. He is promoting his new book, Termites in the…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/27/2008

Last week, I reported on public safety agencies holding up lots of spectrum, preventing Sprint Nextel from getting access to the company’s new electromagnetic…

• By: Hans Bader
• 06/27/2008

Yesterday, the Supreme Court struck down the District of Columbia’s gun ban in a 5-to-4 vote in District of Columbia v. Heller.  What was most…