The Open Market Blog

• 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…