The Open Market Blog

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/03/2008

Today, a bunch of telcos got together to form a consortium to create standards for developing mobile-friendly websites – an important task as more…

• By: Hans Bader
• 07/03/2008

Fairfax County, Virginia, is going to spend millions of taxpayer dollars to try to prop up the housing bubble a little longer.  They’re planning to buy…

• By: Hans Bader
• 07/03/2008

A law called NEPA requires costly and expensive environmental assessments before the government does a lot of things — even if what the government is…

• By: Fran Smith
• 07/03/2008

The Financial Times noted today that the OECD’s recently released report on employment prospects in the developed world showed an uptick in unemployment…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/03/2008

The ACLU and EFF are filing a Freedom of Information Act request to find out how the government decides when to use…

• By: Hans Bader
• 07/03/2008

The Washington Examiner argues that recent proposals to increase federal tax rates to 55 percent on households making over $250,000 per year would result…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/03/2008

On the heels of a report showing the odd, politically-driven fluctuations in indecency complaints submitted to the FCC, two advocacy groups are claiming…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/02/2008

What is it with delayed mergers and agreements today? I just reported about the DoJ beginning its investigation of Google-Yahoo. Now, Ars reports…

• By: Hans Bader
• 07/02/2008

A New York appellate court has ruled that former state attorney general Eliot Spitzer lacked the authority to challenge the huge pay package of…

• By: Alex Harris
• 07/02/2008

The Justice Department has begun an investigation of the Google-Yahoo advertising deal. What exactly the DoJ will do to the deal is as yet…

• 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…