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
Time’s up for the equal time rule
Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines “anachronism” as a person or thing that is chronologically out of place, “especially: one from a former age that is…
Blog
Otherwise Objectionable episode 6: ‘The Rest of the World’
The sixth episode of Otherwise Objectionable, the narrative-driven podcast that tells the true story of Section 230 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, focuses on…
Blog
How valuable will anonymous comments be to the Ferguson FTC?
Comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for its “Inquiry on Tech Censorship” are due next month on May 21, 2025, and the public has…
Search Posts
Citation
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…
Blog
Losing the Universe with LOST
The Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) has been languishing in the Senate for decades, but led by Massachusetts senator John Kerry, there is growing…
Forbes
Norquist, Conservative Groups Petition FCC in Favor of Latest Verizon Deal
From Josh Peterson’s Daily Caller article: “Demand for wireless broadband is more than doubling annually, but vast swaths of valuable spectrum — the…
Blog
Tapping Space Resources
Over at The Washington Times, Bob Zubrin says that we need space property rights. Gee, I wonder…
Blog
Cut The Budget By Cutting Republican Sacred Space Cows
Over at Forbes, Cato’s Doug Bandow says that the Republicans need to lead by example: Presumptive Republican Party nominee Mitt Romney…
Forbes
Former FCC Official Takes Stance Against FCC’s Possible 4G LTE Technology Mandate
From Josh Peterson’s article in The Daily Caller: Fred Campbell, director of the Communications Liberty and Innovation Project — a new project by…
Comment
CEI’s CLIP Submits Comments Before the FCC on 700 MHz Interoperability
Full Document Available in PDF The Communications Liberty and Innovation Project submits these comments…
Blog
New Space Property Rights Criticism
Over at the Space and Cyberlaw blog, Eric Dawson takes issue with my issue analysis on space…
News Release
Competitive Enterprise Institute Launches Program to Advance Innovation in Telecommunications
Washington, D.C., June 1, 2012 – Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) launched the Communications Liberty and Innovation Project (CLIP), a program of…
News Release
CLIP Takes Bold Stance Against FCC Technology Mandate
WASHINGTON, D.C, June 1, 2012 – Fred Campbell, Director of the Communications Liberty and Innovation Project (CLIP) at the Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
Wall Street Journal
Letter to the Editor: ‘Modest’ Doesn’t Describe the CISPA
Your editorial "Who's Afraid of #CISPA?" (May 21) rightly argues that facilitating voluntary information sharing is a vastly superior approach to bolstering America's cyber defenses…
Blog
If Only All Policemen were Leroy Jethro Gibbs
As a fan of NCIS, I’m quite aware of the government's ability to track the location of individuals through their cell phones. One of the…
Blog
Classic Obfuscation: The New America Foundation’s Search for the “Public Interest”
Milton Friedman once quipped that “Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.” Perhaps he would add the outmoded idea of the “public interest”…
Blog
CEI Podcast for May 24, 2012: Driverless Cars
A prototype driverless car made by Google recently made the rounds in Washington, DC, and Land-use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner got to take…
Tech News World
Apple, Samsung Chiefs Pick Up Their Marbles and Go Home
From Erika Morphy's article in E-Commerce Times: Judges will often order two sides to try mediation before a legal action, Ryan Radia, an…
Blog
A Fit of Sanity on ITAR
Over at Space Politics, Jeff Foust reports that the House has passed a bill allowing the administration to remove satellites from…
Blog
The Future of Automobility Is (Almost) Here: Google’s Self-Driving Car
[caption id="attachment_55209" align="alignleft" width="350" caption="CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman about to take a spin in the Google car. (Photo by Marc Scribner)"][/caption] This morning,…
Forbes
Comcast’s Puny Data Cap Increase
From Timothy B. Lee's op-ed on Forbes: Ryan Radia wants to know what I think of Comcast’s announcement that it’s raising…
Blog
The Constellation Empire Strikes Back
Constellation, the Bush administration's plan to return to the moon, was canceled a couple years ago. But not all of Constellation was canceled. The Orion…
Blog
FCC Delays Threaten to Hurt Wireless Consumers
America’s communications regulatory regime is broken. Case in point: prior government approval is needed for what should be a run of the mill marketplace transaction.
Letters
Coalition Letter on Cyber Security Act of 2012
Full Document Available in PDF We, the undersigned organizations, write to express our deep concerns with S. 2105, the Cyber…
Blog
Republican Space Socialism Update
Last time we checked in on this topic, House Appropriations Chairman Frank Wolf (R-Virginia) was decrying the wastefulness of competition. Well,…
Blog
The Remote Sensing Problem
Over at the Washington Post, in discussing the coming crisis in weathersats, the editorial board can't resist taking an ignorant dig…
Blog
When Commodities Analysts Should Stick To Commodities
Some analysts at Barclays attempt to understand the business case for Planetary Resources, and massively fail: Their…
Blog
CEI Podcast for April 26, 2012: The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA)
Associate Director of Technology Studies Ryan Radia goes over CISPA's privacy problems and discusses the bill's political prospects.
Daily Caller
Internet Bill Could Allow DHS to Spy on Congress, Supreme Court
From Josh Peterson's article on The Daily Caller: “Ryan Radia, associate director of technology studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian-leaning think tank…
Daily Caller
How a Cybersecurity Protection Bill Might Differ From CISPA
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on “CISPA,” the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act this week. Whatever advocates’ frustrations, it’s not clear…
News Release
CEI Urges Members to Vote No on CISPA
Washington, D.C., April 26, 2012 — Tomorrow, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on final passage of H.R. 3523, the Cyber Intelligence…
Daily Caller
Proposed CISPA Amendments Do Little to Appease Critics
From Declan McCullagh’s article in CNET: A fourth amendment, also from Jackson Lee, would extend CISPA by allowing Homeland Security to “intercept”…
Blog
A Bad Week For Shuttlyndra Supporters
Two serious blows were struck against the Senate Launch System this week, though based on previous behavior, when knocked down by…
CNET
CISPA Revision Allows DHS Internet ‘Countermeasures’
From Declan McCullagh's article on CNET: Ryan Radia, associate director of technology studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian-leaning think tank that…
Reason
Building a 21st Century FDA
From Ronald Bailey's article in Reason: Delaying access to new drugs kills people. As Competitive Enterprise Institute general counsel Sam Kazman has…
Reason
Conservative Groups Slam House Cybersecurity Bill
From Brendan Sasso’s article in The Hill: Six leading conservative groups urged Congress to re-work the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA)…
News Release
Free Market Coalition: Amend CISPA to Preserve Freedom, Prevent Gov’t Overreach
Washington, D.C., April 21, 2012 — The House of Representatives is expected to vote next week on the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act…
Letters
Free Market Coalition Letter on CISPA
Full Document Available in PDF As public interest groups dedicated to free enterprise and limited government, we applaud bipartisan congressional efforts to…
Orange County Register
DOJ Hungry for a Bite of Apple Inc.
From an Orange County Register editorial: "You could actually say that Apple is bringing more competition to the market, not less," through its…
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