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
Class is in session: Are educators ready for AI?
From the early internet to modern artificial intelligence (AI), technological change causes panic. News outlets often amplify fears surrounding AI. Teachers and…
Blog
FSC v. Paxton after one year: Age verification moves down the stack
This past June marked the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s FSC v. Paxton decision. The Court held that states may require age…
Blog
The epistemological mismatch of KOSA’s constructive knowledge standard
The Senate Commerce Committee has scheduled a markup on Wednesday for several online child safety bills, including the Kids Online Safety Act (…
Search Posts
Blog
Mississippi Should Tell CFPB to “Stop Spying on Me”
The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is coming to Mississippi Wednesday and Thursday with a public forum on "access to information." A vital question for Mississippians to…
Citation
How Chattanooga beat Google Fiber by half a decade
To understand why cable companies are so resistant, it helps to understand a bit about their business model. Because dense urban areas are more profitable…
Forbes
Is Uncle Sam Really The Greatest Entrepreneur Of All Time?
A new book titled The Entrepreneurial State that is now making the rounds gives credit to Uncle Sam for inventing many of the technologies we enjoy…
CBC
Verizon challenges FCC’s right to impose net neutrality
But business analysts argue that a perpetual "open access" is unrealistic and ignores the property rights of ISPs. OpenMarket.org blogger Wayne Crews says the FCC…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 15): Can We Please End This. Please.
Today, Monday, September 9, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge…
PC Mag
Verizon, FCC Face Off Over Net Neutrality: What You Need to Know
The Center for Democracy and Technology argued that Verizon's suit is "dangerous." "By trying to paint this case as raising a constitutional issue, Verizon hopes…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 14): What Should Congress Do?
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 13): What FCC Should Do Now
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 12): Why Net Neutrality Threatens Homeland Security and Cybersecurity
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 11): The Inappropriateness of Compulsory Transparency
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 10): Who’s Discriminating Online?
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Blog
CEI Podcast for August 29, 2013: Consequences of Net Neutrality
Have a listen here. In 2010, the FCC issued regulations to implement net neutrality. The resulting legal challenge is about to hit the D.C.
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 9): How to Expand Consumer Choice and Access to Content
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 8): The Essential Elements of Non-Destructive Rulemaking
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 7): Mandatory Dumb Pipes? But Why Sacrifice Genius?
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Real Clear Policy
The Feds Should Stay Out of the CBS Blackout
From Los Angeles to New York, 3 million Americans in eight U.S. cities haven't been able to watch CBS on cable for weeks, because of…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 6): Does “Market Failure” Demand Neutrality Regulation?
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 5): The Fallacies Motivating Net Neutrality
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Blog
CEI Podcast for August 22, 2013: Germany Legalizes Bitcoin
Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray discusses Germany's decision to legalize Bitcoin, a controversial digital currency. With the euro's future up in the air, competing…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 4): FCC Order Creates Political Vulnerability for All Market Participants
(Note: On Septe. 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of the…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 3): The FCC’s Disdain for Markets
(Note: On September 9, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 2): An Alternative Case for Agency Neutrality
(Note: On Sept. 9, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s…
Real Clear Policy
Is It Time to Fire the House and Senate Intelligence Committees
But instead of being given a voice, opponents of giving the NSA more power through CISPA were ridiculed by the Committee. Chairman Rogers (R-MI)…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World, Part 1: Net Neutrality vs. Infrastructure Wealth
On September 9, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon's…
Letters
Coalition Letter in Support of the Amash Amendment
Full Document Available in PDF Dear Member of the U.S. House of Representatives: We write to urge you to vote yes on…
News Release
Free Market Coalition Urges House to Defund Suspicionless NSA Spying
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 24, 2013 – A free-market coalition today urged members of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote yes on Reps. Justin Amash…
Blog
CEI Podcast for July 18, 2013: The NSA Gets Sued
In the wake of the NSA’s spying scandal, several groups are filing a lawsuit challenging the NSA’s actions as unconstitutional. Associate Director of Technology Studies…
Real Clear Policy
Apple, Facebook, Google and others urge greater government transparency
More than 50 parties signed the letter, including the ACLU, American Library Association, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Demand Progress, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Human Rights Watch, Salesforce.com,…
Blog
The FTC’s Uneasy Relationship With Innovation
The Sherman and Clayton Acts form the backbone of U.S. antitrust policy. But another piece of legislation gives the government the power to regulate business…
Real Clear Policy
Should you worry about AT&T gobbling up Cricket?
But Fred Campbell, a former FCC staffer and an analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, disagrees. He contends that Leap’s business strategy, which focuses on…
Blog
The Apple E-Book Ruling and Antitrust Absurdity
A recent ruling against Apple over its e-book pricing policies highlights the absurdity of antitrust laws, as I point out in the Daily Caller:…
Blog
DHS Secretary Napolitano Resigns, TSA Body Scanner Scandal Remains Unresolved
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is resigning to become president of the University of California system. Republican politicians such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)…
News Release
CEI Expert to Speak at ‘Restore the Fourth’ Rally Tomorrow
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 3, 2013 – Ryan Radia, Associate Director of CEI’s Center for Technology & Innovation, will speak at tomorrow’s Restore the…
Blog
CEI Podcast for June 26, 2013: TSA Full-Body Scanner Transparency
Fellow in Land-use and Transportation Studies Marc Scribner discusses the TSA's lack of transparency and the scanners' ineffectiveness in deterring terrorism.
Blog
E-Verify: A Boon for Lawyers, Bad for Employers
I have written extensively about the threats to Americans’ civil liberties from E-Verify, the employment verification system contained within the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform (CIR)…
Blog
E-Verify National ID System Threatens Americans’ Privacy
“I’m not a criminal, so there’s really no reason for me to be in a criminal database.” That was James Shepherd, a Kentucky native…
Forbes
The Blackberry Q10 Delivers As Mike Lazaridis Reflects
I first met Mike Lazaridis, the retired co-CEO and founder of Research in Motion (RIM), in 1991 when I was a rogue marketing manager at…
Forbes
The Real Reason Amazon Flip-Flopped On Internet Sales Taxes
Proponents of the Marketplace Fairness Act claim it’s about fairness to traditional retailers and cash-strapped states. But the flip-flop by Amazon.com, now one of…
Forbes
FCC again balks on telephone network shutdown
According to Fred Campbell of the Competitive Enterprise Institute and a former bureau chief at the FCC, Friday’s notice is “more likely to…
Blog
Sorry, Daily Beast: E-Verify Will Be National ID
Daily Beast blogger Justin Green, who blogs on columnist David Frum’s Daily Beast blog, has responded to Wired’s recent article “Biometric Database of All…
Blog
Correcting Misconceptions about Autonomous Vehicles: Reason Magazine Edition
In the June issue of Reason, one of my favorite publications, Greg Beato has an article discussing the public policy implications of autonomous vehicles, such…
Blog
First Amendment Menace: Obama Administration to Expand Americans with Disabilities Act over Websites?
Can websites be forced to change to accommodate the disabled -- by using "simpler language" to appeal to the "intellectually disabled," or by making…
Forbes
Online sales-tax bill faces web of opposition in U.S. House
But Jessica Melugin, an adjunct policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington, D.C., public-policy group, said that would place an unfair burden on…
Forbes
US Senate approves Internet sales tax
Opposing the bill are several trade groups and Internet companies, including TechAmerica, the Financial Services Roundtable, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, eBay, Etsy, the Information Technology…
Blog
Housing Nominee Watt Flunks Privacy And Transparency Tests
Two prerequisites for any nominee for government posts is dedication to transparency in government and a respect for the privacy of citizens. Before we get…
Forbes
Jones aims to curb cyber-snooping
Under CISPA, private emails and a user’s Internet browser history could be sent to the federal government. Users would have no way of knowing whether…
Forbes
Gay Marriage, Polygamy, Bestiality, Abortion, Infanticide, Pot, Foie Gras, Plastic Bags, Big Gulps and Democracy
Consider the following list: 1) Marry someone of your same gender, 2) join a harem, 3) have sex with your donkey, 4) kill your baby the…
Forbes
The Internet Sales Tax Reveals Its Foolish Head Yet Again
They’re at it again: On Monday, the U.S. Senate voted 74-20 to proceed with debate on the “Marketplace Fairness Act.” The act would permit states…
Forbes
Pass CISPA. Don’t Pass a Big, Messy Copyright Bill
There’s still the matter of a new FCC chairman. It’s important that we get a humble FCC chairman, not a wild-eyed activist. A letter…
Forbes
The Circuit: MetroPCS shareholders approve T-Mobile deal
The letter, dated April 23, is signed by TechFreedom as well as Heritage Action, Americans for Tax Reform and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “We urge…
Blog
Separate Security Cameras and State
In his column today, The Wall Street Journal‘s Gordon Crovitz notes the significant help that video footage played in helping police identify the Boston…
Blog
CEI Podcast For April 18, 2013: CISPA Is The Wrong Approach To Cybersecurity
Today, the House passed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2013 (CISPA). Associate Director of Technology Studies Ryan Radia opposes the bill.
Study
Facts on the Marketplace Fairness Act (S. 743, formerly S. 336)
As the Marketplace Fairness Act winds its way through Congress, lawmakers should, at the very least, take into consideration concerns raised by opponents. That is…
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…
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