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
Blog
Experimental Tech Helps Get Puerto Rico’s Telecom Services Back on Line
The freedom to try something without getting explicit and advanced permission from regulators is what allows innovations to be tried, tested, and either integrated or…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition in Support of International Communications Privacy Act
View Full Document as PDF Dear Chairman Grassley, Ranking Member Feinstein, Chairman Goodlatte and Ranking Member Conyers: We write to you today…
Blog
Politicians and Entrepreneurs: Let Internet Flourish without Burden of Government Regulation
If government is the creator of monopolies and the suppressor of innovation, why not push back against both FCC and FTC regulation of the Internet? …
Forbes
The Internet of Things Wants to Know Where Its 5G Is
A major pledge of the Trump Administration was cutting red tape and boosting America’s infrastructure. Ten months in, there are lots of moving parts to…
News Release
CEI Leads Supreme Court Amicus Brief in Support of Internet Freedom
It is crucial that the Supreme Court confirm that the Telecommunications Act doesn't give the FCC broad power to regulate the Internet.
Blog
Ghouls and Goblins and Guidances
You could consider CEI to be the Ghostbusters of Washington, fighting back ghouls and goblins on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Blog
Federal Communications Commission Rightly Relaxes Media Ownership Rules
The FCC’s announcement that it will relax media ownership rules is good news for consumers. It’s heartening to see the agency act to eliminate…
News Release
CEI Applauds FCC Announcement Relaxing Media Ownership Rules
Today the FCC announced plans to revise media ownership rules, freeing up the industry to function with greater competition and less restrictions. These changes are…
The Hill
Right-Leaning Groups Back International Data Privacy Bill
The Hill covers CEI and other groups’ support of the International Communications Privacy Act. A coalition of right-leaning groups is pressing Congress to act…
The Washington Times
Conservatives Fear More Left-Leaning Media with AT&T, Time Warner merger
The Washington Times discusses the AT&T-Time Warner merger with Wayne Crews. The proposed AT&T merger with Time Warner has some conservatives nervous about its…
News Release
FCC Reauthorization Should Be A Deauthorization
The Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Ryan Radia offered comment prior to the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing today on the Federal…
The Wall Street Journal
Oil and Spectrum Rights Models Offer a Clue
Thomas W. Hazlett’s “How Politics Stalls Wireless Innovation” (op-ed, Oct. 2) outlines the irrationality of the current political mismanagement of the electromagnetic spectrum and…
News Release
CEI Comments on Pending Nomination of Pai to FCC
Jessica Melugin, adjunct fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, commented on the pending nomination of Ajit Pai to the Federal Communications Commission: “The Senate should…
InsideSources
Three Early Lessons From the Equifax Hack
InsideSources covers the Equifax breach and Jim Harper‘s response to it. It’s been almost two weeks since Equifax reported the hack of 143…
Foundation for Economic Education
People Are Complaining About iPhone X Because That’s How Innovation Works
The iPhone X has not even been released and people are already complaining about it. That shouldn’t be surprising. It is one of the…
News Release
CEI Responds to NHTSA Self-Driving Car Guidance Updates
Marc Scribner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute responded today to the NHTSA announcement of updated guidance for self-driving cars: “The Department of Transportation’s…
Blog
Net Neutrality Rules Threaten Internet Free Speech
The supposed good intentions of net neutrality advocates don’t justify the real world harm of those regulations. …
Federal Times
Report Calls for Drastic Workforce Cuts at Regulatory Agencies
Federal Times covers CEI’s publication Shrinking Government Bureaucracy. The non-profit Competitive Enterprise Institute is all about shrinking government. In a newly released report…
Blog
The Equifax Breach and Regulation
In the Equifax breach, regulation is a likely contributor to the problem. It is probably not a good solution.
Blog
Why Should Millennials Want to Shrink Government Bureaucracy?
Free markets and limited government are for every generation.
Forbes
IRS Responds To Privacy, Other Challenges In Bitcoin Records Fight
Forbes covers the amicus brief filed in Coinbase v. United States. The federal government fired back last week as answered opposition to its…
Blog
Who Benefits from FCC’s “No-Blocking” Rule?
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) 2015 Open Internet Order included a “no-blocking” rule that prohibits Internet service providers (ISPs) from charging content providers a fee…
Comment
CEI Submitted Comments to the FCC on Restoring Internet Freedom
View Full Document as PDF On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), we respectfully submit these reply comments regarding the FCC’s…
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Wagner, McCaskill Efforts to Go After Backpage Site Attracting Powerful Foes
St. Louis Post-Dispatch covers CEI’s statements in a letter to Congress regarding an internet freedom bill. Efforts by several members of the Missouri…
Blog
President’s Summer Policy Update
When it comes to the institutions of capitalism, the advance of human welfare, and liberty, we are here because we love the work.
Blog
Net Neutrality: Market Competition or Political Control?
The Internet is no exception to the rule that markets work better than the federal government does.
Comment
Coalition of 83 Organizations, Elected Officials, and Individuals Submit Comments In the Matter of Restoring Internet Freedom
View Full Document as PDF Dear Chairman Pai, Commissioner O’Rielly, and Commissioner Clyburn: These coalition comments are updated from the July 17,…
Washington Free Beacon
Report: Reducing Regulatory Agencies’ Authority Could Boost Economy, Increase Job Creation
The Washington Free Beacon covers CEI’s latest publication Shrinking Government Bureaucracy. Reducing some of government’s regulatory agencies’ authority could boost economic growth and…
TechCrunch
Privacy Advocates Advise Supreme Court to Protect Phone Location Data under the 4th Amendment
TechCrunch covers CEI’s amicus brief in Carpenter v. United States. Among the Supreme Court’s many upcoming cases is Carpenter v. United States,…
Study
Rethinking the Federal Communications Commission
View Full Document as PDF Created by the Communications Act of 1934, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) wields broad authority to regulate…
Cato
To Apply the Fourth Amendment in the Digital Age, Go Back to Its Text
Cato covers CEI’s amicus brief in Carpenter v. United States. Timothy Carpenter and Timothy Sanders were convicted in federal court on charges stemming…
Blog
Defending 4th Amendment Privacy Protections for Digital Property
People have property rights in data about themselves that is allocated by contract between them and their service providers.
Blog
TechFreedom Hosts Policy Summit on Future of Technology Regulation
Our friends at TechFreedom recently treated technology policy nerds in D.C. to a policy summit.
Fox Business Network
VIDEO: Jim Harper Discusses NSA Spying on Kennedy
Jim Harper, Vice President of CEI, discusses NSA spying on Fox Business Network’s Kennedy.
Blog
For the Sake of Financial Privacy, IRS Subpoena of Coinbase Should Go
Our brief in United States v. Coinbase might have a lot to say about what the future of financial privacy looks like.
Blog
Protect Free Speech Guarantees of Communications Decency Act
If operators of websites were responsible for what each of their users posted online, they could be on the hook for every potential defamation, infliction…
Blog
Online Sales Taxes in Congress’ Crosshairs
The No Regulation Without Representation Act would prevent states from imposing tax or regulatory obligations on businesses that lack a physical presence in that state.
Coindesk
Understanding Bitcoin’s Scaling Debate: Politics Comes First
Software programmers are usually collegial and collaborative, but parts of the bitcoin developer community are currently displaying the kind of acrimony familiar to political capitols…
Coindesk
‘Bitcoin Sign Guy’ Has a New Job, But He’s Keeping His Identity Secret
Coindesk discusses Bitcoin Sign Guy’s new job at CEI with his boss Jim Harper. It’s been a tumultuous week since the man known as…
News Release
President Trump and Net Neutrality Rulemaking at FCC
White House press briefing, Principal Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said, in reference to the current net neutrality debate, “The Trump administration believes the rules…
Comment
CEI Comments to the FCC on Restoring Internet Freedom
View full document as PDF On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), we respectfully submit these comments regarding the FCC’s proposed…
Forbes
Net Neutrality Day Of Action Platitudes To Ensnare Corporate Proponents
Amazon, Google, Facebook and others in the tech world…you’re really going to keep poking on net neutrality? Some of you seem a tad less…
Blog
Net Neutrality ‘Day of Action’ Endorses Government Power to Suppress Free Speech
This week's net neutrality “Day of Action” seeks to defend a regulatory regime that ultimately facilities the suppression of free speech by a federal agency:…
The Daily Caller
RAWA: One Casino Billionaire’s Quest to Kill Internet Gambling
The Daily Caller covers the Restoration of America’s Wire Act and cites a paper written by Michelle Minton on the subject. Enter the…
News Release
CEI Calls European Union Ruling and Fine in Antitrust Case Against Google “Flawed”
In a landmark ruling on Tuesday, the European Union fined Alphabet Inc’s Google, a record $2.7 billion dollars, for favoring its own search entity…
Op-Eds
No, Amazon isn’t a monopoly just because it bought Whole Foods
Amazon announced a deal last week to purchase the grocery chain Whole Foods for nearly $14 billion. The company’s largest proposed transaction…
Blog
Federal Government Finally Powers Down on Y2K Crisis
Regulating new technologies is especially risky. The high-tech sector is an evolving frontier. Frontiers are always a bit chaotic, and it is inherent in their…
Forbes
The Technology And Telecommunications Sectors And Trump’s Crucial Second 100 Days
Is it possible to keep federal government regulators’ hands off the technology sector? We’re in the middle of president Donald Trump’s second “100 Days,” and…
Fox Business Network
VIDEO: Jim Harper Discusses NSA Leak on Fox Business Network
Jim Harper, Vice President of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, discusses a recent NSA Leak with Kennedy on Fox Business Network.
Inside Sources
Point: Net Neutrality Bad for Consumers
The FCC’s proposed rollback of its 2015 Open Internet Order has put the term “net neutrality” back in the political zeitgeist. The phrase itself is…
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