The Open Market Blog

• 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: Alex Harris
• 06/27/2008

The San Jose Mercury News reports that ICANN, the internet’s main governing body, relaxed its rules to allow hundreds or thousands more domain extensions…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/26/2008

Chrysler annouced that it will begin offering an optional wireless internet service in its vehicles for about $500, plus $29 a month. The network…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/26/2008

The Washington Post reports on a voluntary agreement between Microsoft, Google, WebMD, the Consumers’ Union, and others regarding electronic health record privacy. Fear of…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/25/2008

For a while now, the UK has had a fairly extensive network of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras recording its citizens’ movements in the…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/25/2008

Major ISP Charter Communications is indefinitely suspending its use of NebuAd, a tool that would use customers’ browsing habits to send them better-targeted…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/25/2008

A DC law firm just published a report claiming that the US is falling behind other countries in broadband deployment. The report, like…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/25/2008

Ars reports that New York is very close to passing a video game law that would require video game companies to do what they’re…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/24/2008

Ars reports on a Congressional hearing called to address the failings of the Universal Service Fund, which is supposed to provide telephone access to…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/24/2008

Ars reports that the FCC has today banned Verizon’s practice of trying to woo back customers who are in the process of switching their…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/24/2008

The New York Times has an interesting – and somewhat amusing – article today about a novel defense being tried in an online…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/24/2008

Responding to calls from special interest groups, the FCC will begin an investigation of product placements in TV shows, the Wall Street Journal…

• By: Alex Harris
• 06/23/2008

CNET reports that a new generation of advertising companies are set to create “social ads,” targeted to those who have the greatest influence over…