Whether it is lifting net neutrality regulations, allowing AI to reach its full potential to benefit mankind, educating policy makers about content moderation, clearing legacy regulations at the Federal Communications Commission, advocating for greater spectrum efficiency, or defending business practices that benefit consumers but are disliked by antitrust enforcers, CEI punches above its weight. Coalition activity, relationships with tech and telecom journalists, media appearances, policy events, Capitol Hill outreach, op-eds, and in-depth studies combine to make CEI influential in the tech and telecom policy area.
Tech and Telecom Issue Areas
Featured Posts
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Technology and society with Will Rinehart
In this week’s episode we cover nuclear radiation, luxury handbags, rent control in Maryland, net neutrality, and fighting malaria…
Blog
Subsidy-free capitalism may require a constitutional amendment
Automobiles, electrification, ample consumer goods and mass marketing, a construction boom, and access to credit helped fuel the Roaring Twenties of a century ago.
Wall Street Journal
‘Net Neutrality’ Faces a Stiff Judicial Test
The Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday along partisan lines to reclassify broadband internet access service as a common carrier telecommunications service under Title II of…
Search Posts
News Release
CISPA Voids Private Contracts, Undermines Rule of Law
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 17, 2013 — The U.S. House of Representatives will soon vote on final passage of H.R. 624, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing…
E-Commerce Times
Google Bends to Dodge European Blow
It now seems that Google has offered to refrain from featuring its own content, Ryan Radia, analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told…
Blog
Americans Reject Actual E-Verify System
Imagine there was a free program that could guarantee for employers a legal workforce and eliminate illegal immigration. Would you favor such a system? Yes…
Blog
CEI Podcast For April 4, 2013: Reining In The CFAA
Under the CFAA, it is currently a federal crime to enter an incorrect age on your Facebook profile or an incorrect weight on a dating…
Forbes
Barack Obama’s BRAIN Initiative Vs. Bioengineered Gills And One-Wheeled SegWays
In a widely reported announcement, President Barack Obama outlined a major research initiative to map the human brain, building on…
Red Alert Politics
TSA finally agrees to comply with 2011 court order requiring them to take comments on use of full body scanners
“I wouldn’t applaud TSA for doing this since they were required by the D.C. Circuit to open this proceeding by the end of the month,”…
Red Alert Politics
Bills would require warrants for police to use GPS tracking
Groups voicing support for the GPS Act include the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans for Tax Reform’s DigitalLiberty.net, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Electronic Frontier…
Blog
Vitter Amendment To Ban Drug Patent Settlements Would Raise Pharmaceutical Prices
With time running out for the Senate to act on a continuing budget resolution, members are trying to find some magic pot of money that…
News Release
Senate Vote on Internet Sales Tax Endangers Small Business
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 22, 2013 – Today, the U.S. Senate voted to approve an amendment to the Senate Budget Resolution surreptitiously meant as a pathway…
Blog
Labor’s Loss: Secret Ballot Protection Advances In Virginia
This week Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell struck a little heralded — but much needed — blow for privacy rights in the Old Dominion by signing two…
News Release
Free Market Group Applauds Bipartisan GPS Act
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 21, 2013 — Today, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced the Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance (GPS) Act, which would limit the…
Washington Examiner
Internet sales tax bill a bad idea
If less complexity, fewer loopholes and lower rates are the signposts of meaningful tax reform, the dubiously named Marketplace Fairness Act embodies the exact…
Blog
Making The FCC More Transparent
If there's one thing the regulatory state could use more of, it's transparency. In today's ?Washington Times?, I shine a little light on the FCC:…
Comment
Reply comments to FCC on AT&T petition
CEI and other free market groups on February 25, 2013 urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to grant a request to relax antiquated regulatory barriers.
One News Now
Costly FCC guilty of ‘regulation without representation,’ says group
A new report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute finds the Federal Communications Commission to be the third costliest agency in government. The report, released on…
Blog
Regulatory Report Card: Federal Communications Commission
Regulatory agencies need to be much more transparent. One way to do that is through an annual report card with important information about each agency…
Study
Regulatory Report Card: FCC
Full Document Available in PDF It may come as a surprise that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the third most expensive…
News Release
FCC Is Third Most Expensive Agency of Federal Government
WASHINGTON, D.C., February 21, 2013 – Somewhat surprisingly, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the third most expensive agency when it comes to the costs…
News Release
Internet Sales Tax Bill Is “Raw Deal for Taxpayers”
WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 14, 2013 — Legislation introduced today to allow state tax collectors to reach across borders and tax out-of-state businesses would constitute…
Blog
CEI In The Wall Street Journal: E-Verify Is A Threat To Liberty
CEI founder Fred Smith co-authored an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal today on E-Verify — the electronic employment verification system that will likely…
Blog
National ID Proponents’ Bad Arguments
America’s new national identification system is coming. President Obama and a bipartisan group of senators want to enact a national identification card that would…
Blog
The New National Identification System Is Coming
“Maybe we should just brand all the babies.” With this joke, Ronald Reagan swatted down a national identification card -- or an enhanced Social Security…
Missoulian
Baucus can help Montana by opposing Internet tax
As chairman of the powerful Finance Committee and senior senator from a non-sales tax state, Montana’s Max Baucus is uniquely positioned to protect both American…
Blog
TSA’s Body Scanner Shuffle Continues, Agency Still Flouts The Law On Body Scanners
A great deal of news coverage today has been given to the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) decision to remove backscatter X-ray strip-search machines from U.S.
Missoulian
Google Faces UK Lawsuit For Search Results
In July, Google reached a record $22.5 million (£14m) settlement with the FTC to resolve charges that Google bypassed Apple Safari browser privacy…
Cato
The Ripple Effects of Flawed Agbiotech Regulation
The modern techniques of genetic engineering—also known as biotechnology, recombinant DNA technology, or genetic modification (GM)—offer plant breeders the tools to make old crop plants…
Blog
Update On D.C.’s Driverless Car Legalization Legislation
In November, I noted in The Washington Post and here on Open Market that a bill introduced in the D.C. Council contained two dangerously flawed provisions and…
Blog
Settlement: FTC Ends Google Antitrust Investigation
Today, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) cleared Google of accusations of "Search Bias," and inappropriately harming rivals. The investigation lasted nearly…
News Release
Web Users Dodge Bullet as FTC Closes Google Probe
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 3, 2013 — Today, the Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement with Google, marking the end of a two-year antitrust probe…
ARS Technica
Senator introduces bill to regulate data caps
Ryan Radia and Fred Campbell, technology policy experts at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, argue against a bill sponsored by…
ARS Technica
Senator introduces bill to regulate data caps
But Ryan Radia of the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute was less enthusiastic about Wyden's proposal. He believes that data caps can serve useful purposes beyond…
Forbes
Lesson From The Google Case: There Is No Such Thing As Antitrust Policy
“Don’t get Scroogled‘” Seen that one yet? It’s a Microsoft Bing TV ad criticizing Google‘s search results for causing a kitchen fire. It’s cute, emblematic…
The Washington Times
Internet sales taxes attack states’ rights
Proponents of Internet sales taxes are asking the lame-duck Congress to bless their state tax cartel as part of a larger tax reform package by…
News Release
Decades-Old ECPA Needs Update, CEI Urges
Washington, D.C., November 29, 2012 — This morning, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on an amendment to the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy…
The Washington Times
Petraeus: Poster child for email privacy
Nojeim’s group, meanwhile, is playing a leading role in the Digital Due…
The Washington Times
Tech Policy in 2013 Roundtable
The event is the first in a series of three roundtables exploring “Tech Policy in 2013,” co-hosted by TechFreedom and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The…
Blog
D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh Still Doesn’t Understand Driverless Cars
Last Sunday, The Washington Post published my op-ed criticizing the approach taken by Councilmember Mary Cheh's introduced legislation to legalize driverless cars in Washington,…
Blog
CEI Podcast For November 1, 2012: Is Google’s Search Dominance Permanent?
Associate Director of Technology Studies Ryan Radia argues that Google's current dominance as an Internet search engine service is a fragile thing. Creative destruction is…
CNET
Google is many things — but not an illegal monopoly
The Internet market is notoriously dynamic. Its giants rise and fall far faster than their brick-and-mortar counterparts. This dynamism perplexes and worries many — especially…
Tech News World
EU Gives Google a Privacy To-Do List
The list of potential uses will be long, complex and no doubt written in legalese, which the consumer will gloss over, predicted Radia. "I can't…
Tech News World
Google Antitrust Case Could Come From FTC by End of 2012: Report
From Todd R. Weiss’ article in eWeek: The settlement was criticized by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, an industry group, as “a dangerously overbroad…
CNET
Verizon Draws Fire for Monitoring App Usage, Browsing Habits
From Declan McCullagh's article in CNet: Ryan Radia, associate director of technology studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute think tank, agrees with the…
CNET
On Tap Today
The Communications & Liberty Innovation Project and Competitive Enterprise Institute host a panel on Internet transformation, with an introduction by FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai.
Blog
At Brookings, Susan Crawford Fostering Internet Competition
Yesterday, the Brookings Institute held a panel that purported to discuss “Fostering Internet Competition”. But who is to do the fostering? Federal regulators, of course.
Blog
FCC Broadband Test May Enable Warrantless Snooping, Coalition Warns
Consumers who test their broadband connections on a government website may be turning over information that could allow law enforcement agencies to review their Internet activity…
Letters
Coalition Letter to FCC on Broadband Tests
Full Document Available in PDF We, the undersigned public interest organizations, write to express our strong concerns regarding the consumer privacy risks…
Blog
RIP Prince Roy of Sealand, Seasteading Pioneer
For as long as there have been states, there have been people seeking to escape state authority. Throughout most of history, such escape has meant…
News Release
FCC Broadband Test May Enable Warrantless Snooping, Coalition Warns
WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 10, 2012 – Consumers who test their broadband connections on a government website may be turning over information that could allow…
Blog
Celebrate National Cybersecurity Month!
The summer may be over, but don’t put the barbecue away yet -- the president just declared this October “National Cybersecurity Month.” It’s the…
Blog
Japan’s War On Copyright Infringment
Japan is one-upping the U.S. when it comes to draconian copyright enforcement. The BBC reports that an amendment to Japan’s copyright law approved…
Blog
Google Fiber Project: A Product Of The Free Market Or Government Interference?
Google will soon launch Google Fiber service to select residents in Kansas City. Fred Campbell, Director of CEI’s Communications Liberty and Innovation Project, lauded…
CNET
Market demand knocks down regulatory barriers in Kansas City fiber deployment
In response to my analysis of Google Fiber, Timothy B. Lee at Ars Technica says the Google Fiber deployment is “hardly an example of the…
Blog
In Rejecting EPIC’s Petition On TSA’s Strip-Search Machines, Court Effectively Orders Rulemaking Timetable
This afternoon, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s (EPIC) petition for writ of mandamus, which called on the court…
Blog
Driverless Cars Legalized In California
Just after 1pm PDT, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law SB 1298, which explicitly legalizes the use and testing of driverless cars in the…
Blog
Copyright Bots Are Here To Stay
A string of mistaken, high-profile takedowns has caused some talk about the services video hosting sites like Ustream and YouTube use to police…
Denver Post
A victory for e-book buyers
From The Denver Post: The settlement orders the publishers to end their contracts with Apple and allow retailers to set their own prices…
Denver Post
Obama, Romney unlikely to share Bush’s space-travel ambitions
From Gus Taylor’s article in The Washington Times: “The real problem is Congress. They don’t really care about actually doing anything in space,”…
Blog
Science And Technology Policy And The Democratic Convention
Now it's the Democrats' turn to gather for their convention in Charlotte and one element of the platform in common with basic Republican philosophy is…
Denver Post
Congress looks at sales taxes for online purchases
From Burton Speakman’s article in Vindy: Jessica Melugin, an adjunct analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, argued it would be burdensome to ask online…
Blog
Regulation Of The Day 227: Returning From The Moon
When Armstrong, Aldrin, and Michael Collins returned to Earth after the Apollo 11 mission, they actually filled out a customs form.
Denver Post
Tech issues infuse RNC and DNC platforms
From Ted Johnson’s article in Variety: Fred Campbell, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Communications, Liberty and Innovation Project, said that the significance…
Blog
Solyndra In Space?
Here we go again. It's unfortunate that so many conservatives are opposed to competitive markets in spaceflight, to the point that they are willing to…
Daily Caller
GOP Platform includes Internet Freedom, language indicates influence of Rand Paul and libertarian-Republicans
From Josh Peterson's article in The Daily Caller: The GOP efforts are currently being modeled on the recent stance taken by the Ron…
Human Events
Internet Freedom Enters the Final Draft of the GOP Platform
From John Hayward's post in Human Events: These ideals have gained increasing support from many quarters of the libertarian and conservative movements, and…
Human Events
Facebook And FTC Agree Settlement Over Privacy Row
From Nathan Eddy’s post in TechWeekEurope: The FTC said it took action after Google violated a previous settlement with the…
QC Online
Editorial: Naked truth about TSA
From an editorial in The Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus: The fact that TSA is pursuing the case is no surprise given…
Blog
Capitalism In Space
Over at National Review Online today, I have a piece on the current state of play in U.S. human spaceflight. It’s…
Blog
CEI Podcast For August 9, 2012: Getting TSA To Follow The Law
When the TSA installed full-body scanners in airports across the country, they did so illegally. Land-use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner explains how a…
E Week
Google $22.5M Settlement With FTC Over Privacy Criticized by Industry Group
From Robert J. Mullin's article in eWeek: A group promoting competitive innovation on the Internet has criticized the FTC’s “headline-grabbing settlement” for $22.5…
News Release
FTC’s Record Fine Sends Ominous Warning to Internet Innovators
Washington, D.C., August 9, 2012 − Google will pay $22.5 million to settle an FTC complaint claiming the company misled Safari users about its…
Blog
When Violations Of The Law Have No Remedy: The Case Of Warrantless Wiretapping
Yesterday, in Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, Inc. v. Obama, a panel for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal government did not…
E Week
Womack Seeks to Close Quill Loophole, Force Online Stores to Pay State Sales Tax
From Neil McCabe’s column in Townhall: Christie said taxation of online sales an important issue to all the nation’s governors and endorsed federal…
Blog
Update On TSA’s Lawlessness Over Body Scanners
As I noted previously, the Transportation Security Administration has failed to comply with a court order demanding that they initiate a notice-and-comment rulemaking regarding…
Blog
CEI Podcast For August 2, 2012: Cybersecurity Bill Fails
Today the Senate shot down a controversial cybersecurity bill that Associate Director of Technology Policy Studies Ryan Radia believes would have been a disaster.
McClatchy DC
TSA Flouts the Law on Body Scanners
Also appeared in: The Charlotte Observer, Tulsa World, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Press of Atlantic City, and Juneau Empire. For more than…
Daily Caller
Cyber Bill Shouldn’t Gut Private Contracts
(Written with TechFreedom president Berin Szoka) Days before August recess, Senate Democrats are scrambling to pass legislation creating a…
Daily Caller
State of the Web: Which vision of an ‘open Internet’ would you fight for?
The physical layer of the Internet is owned by a tight cabal of powerful corporations that includes behemoths like AT&T and Verizon Communications. During the…
Study
The Marketplace Fairness Act Would Create a State Sales Tax Cartel and Hurt Consumers
The Marketplace Fairness Act (S. 1832) seeks to capture more tax revenue for states on Internet purchases. Traditional retailers, states, and localities have urged Congress…
News Release
Internet Tax Bill Would Allow Taxation Without Representation
Washington, D.C., July 30, 2012–This Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will hold a hearing on the Marketplace Fairness Act (S.
Blog
Amendment to Cybersecurity Act Would Deter Federal Government Privacy Abuses
[caption id="attachment_58589" align="alignright" width="150"] Lord Acton's beard absolutely knows that power corrupts[/caption] In the ongoing debate over the Senate’s Cybersecurity Act of 2012 (…
Law Fare Blog
Ryan Radia of CEI on the Liability Exemption Provisions of Lieberman-Collins
From Paul Rosenzweig's post on Lawfare: Ryan Radia, who works for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, writes in with a few a couple of…
Law Fare Blog
Why Conservatives Must Heed Congressman Issa’s Call
In yesterday’s Atlantic interview, Republican Congressman Darrell Issa issued a conservative call to action on Internet policy: “The tech world needs us.” He’s right. Companies…
Law Fare Blog
Libertarians make the case: net neutrality is unconstitutional
From Cyrus Farivar’s article in Ars Technica: A group of well-known libertarian organizations has filed an amicus brief (PDF) to the US Court…
News Release
Net Neutrality Unconstitutional, Public Interest Groups Tell Appeals Court
Washington D.C., July 24, 2012 — On July 23, TechFreedom and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, along with the Free State Foundation and…
Comment
Testimony on “The Marketplace Equity Act of 2011”
Full Document Available in PDF The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is a non-profit public policy research organization dedicated to advancing individual liberty…
News Release
CEI Urges Congress to Reject Internet Tax Bill
Washington, D.C., July 23, 2012 – Congress should reject legislation to increase taxes collected on Internet and mail order remote sales, argues the Competitive Enterprise…
Blog
Revised Cybersecurity Act Makes Meaningful Progress On Privacy
em>By Ryan Radia and Berin Szoka A new version of the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 was introduced last night (PDF), and a vote on…
Blog
CEI Files Amicus Brief In Support Of EPIC’s Petition To Force A TSA Rulemaking On Strip-Search Machines
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) filed a brief of amici curiae in support of the Electronic Privacy Information Center's (EPIC) petition for writ…
Legal Brief
Brief of Amici Curiae Supporting EPIC’s Petition for Writ of Mandamus (EPIC v. DHS)
In the last half decade, as millions of Americans have undergone AIT screening by the TSA, none have been afforded an opportunity to comment on…
Blog
TSA Roundup
Everyone's favorite sexy-searchers are back in the news, but not for the right reasons.
Law Fare Blog
‘Internet freedom’ becomes hot cause for politicians across political spectrum
From Brandon Sasso’s article in The Hill: On Tuesday, a coalition of more than 100 advocacy groups unveiled their “Declaration of Internet Freedom,”…
Blog
Google, Antitrust Antagonism, Patent Trolling, and Joseph Schumpeter
Google has been in the news lately for all the right reasons, but also some wrong ones. The FTC is investigating its use of patents…
Law Fare Blog
Groups Release Dueling Internet Freedom Declarations
From Grant Gross’ article in CIO: One declaration, backed by Free Press, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Democracy and Technology and…
Law Fare Blog
Groups That Fought Anti-Piracy Bills Post Their ‘Declaration of Internet Freedom’
From Jennifer Martinez’ article in The Hill: Libertarian groups TechFreedom and the Competitive Enterprise Institute released their own declaration over the weekend and…
The Wire
This Declaration of Internet Freedom Is Vague
From Rebecca Greenfield's article in The Atlantic: We're not the only ones to find this declaration too simple. As a direct response, TechFreedom…
The Wire
Anti-SOPA Veterans Issue Declaration of Internet Freedom
From Timothy B. Lee’s article on ArsTechnica: But not everyone was enthusiastic about the declaration. Indeed, a coalition of right-of-center organizations promoted…
Forbes
The New York Times’ Impotent Whining About Apple Inc.
They're at it again, and this time it's not about the evils of outsourcing or the un-Western factory conditions in Asia. It's not about workplace…
News Release
Future of Video Forecast: Sunny, With a Chance of Regulation
Washington, D.C., June 26, 2012 — Tomorrow morning, the U.S. House of Representatives Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing…
Blog
Google and Antitrust: Economic Liberty in the Balance
Way back when the DOJ brought an antitrust suit against Microsoft in 1990s, Milton Friedman had this to say to The Wall Street…
Blog
Net Neutrality: Two Concepts of Liberty
Two Concepts of Liberty In December of 2010, the FCC passed a network neutrality order mandating, among other things, that ISPs allow content to…
Staff & Scholars
Jessica Melugin
Director of the Center for Technology & Innovation
- Antitrust
- Innovation
- Media, Speech and Internet Freedoms
Clyde Wayne Crews
Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation
Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Founder; Chairman Emeritus
- Automobiles and Roads
- Aviation
- Business and Government