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
Not Without A Warrant
Blog
Blame Congress and Pork, Not NASA
Over at National Review today, I have a lengthy but necessary rebuttal of a misbegotten post at…
Blog
The Fable of the Shoes
Jonah Goldberg praises Ron Paul's stance on health care, and takes to task the status-quo bias of even many Republicans, recalling…
News Release
E-Verify Bill Proposes Massive New Regulatory Mandate
Washington, D.C., September 21, 2011 — Today, the House Judiciary Committee passed the Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 2885) which mandates use of the electronic employment…
Blog
Some Commercial Crew Questions For NASA
One of the great controversies of the new space policy announced last year was the intent of NASA to turn over the transportation of cargo…
Blog
House Hearing on Effects of EU Privacy Directive
Yesterday the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade held a hearing addressing the economic consequences of the European Union’s internet privacy regulations. The…
Legal Brief
Brief of Amici Curiae Cato Institute, Reason Foundation, and Competitive Enterprise Institute in Support Of Petitioners in Mayo v. Prometheus Labs
Full Document Available in PDF Summary of Argument Prometheus’s patents are…
Blog
Infrastructure Si, Infrastructure Bank No
In his Forbes column, James Glassman provides a counterpoint to the Obama proposal to create a national infrastructure bank. Rather than direct funds through…
News Release
Think Tanks Urge Supreme Court to Reject Abstract Process Patents
Washington, D.C., September 15, 2011 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute, Cato Institute, and Reason Foundation have submitted an amicus curiae brief…
Blog
California Wins as Amazon Deals
Friday, I wrote for The Daily Caller about the negative impact a tax deal between Amazon.com and the state of California would have the debate…
Blog
Belt Tightening At FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation
Last week the House Appropriations Committee released its draft bill for funding of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. Of particular note is the appropriation…
Citation
A Plan Better than Obama’s to Create Jobs
Blog
Time To End Apollo Redux
Over at Cosmic Log, the blog of MSNBC science correspondent Alan Boyle, there is an interview with me based on a…
Blog
The “Overhead Smash” Of ITAR
Over at Beltway Confidential today, Tim Carney asks if one of the unintended (or perhaps not-so-unintended) consequences of Dodd-Frank will be to…
Blog
NASA’s Costly Risk Aversion
Over at Pajamas Media this past weekend, I describe the current travails of the International Space Station in the wake of…
Citation
Is Apollo’s Past Spoiling Our Future in Outer Space?
Orange County Register
Cellphone Merger a Good Call
Yahoo! News
Challenge To T-Mobile Deal Brings Out Fans and Critics
Blog
CEI Podcast for September 1, 2011: The Blocked AT&T-T-Mobile Merger
The Department of Justice sued this week to stop the proposed AT&T-T-Mobile merger. Associate Director of Technology Studies Ryan Radia thinks this is a mistake.
Blog
New Texas Satellite TV Taxes Dodged, But Cable Franchise Fee Abuse Persists
In April of this year, my colleague Ryan Radia and I wrote about a proposal making its way through the Texas State House to increase…
Los Angeles Times
U.S. Fears Lost Jobs If AT&T Merger is Approved
Los Angeles Times
The Day After: More Reaction To DoJ’s AT&T/T-Mobile Civil Suit
RBR
AT&T Vows to Pursue T-Mobile Merger Despite DOJ block
E Week
U.S. Suit to Block ATandT, T-Mobile Deal Draws Sharp Interest Group Reaction
Blog
The DOJ’s Antitrust Seers
The philosopher Yogi Berra once said that “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” Let’s apply his lesson to the proposed $39 billion…
News Release
DOJ Antitrust Lawsuit Subverts Free Enterprise, Job Creation
Washington, D.C., August 31, 2011 – This morning, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit seeking to block the proposed acquisition of…
Blog
AT&T-T-Mobile Merger Delayed
A few months ago, the FCC said it would hand down a decision on whether to allow AT&T and T-Mobile to merge within 180 days.
Blog
The Texas Empire Strikes Back
Well, I made a prediction here yesterday: It will be interesting to see how those in Congress who have been demanding…
E Week
Privacy Mandates are Bad News for Web Users
When Congress returns from its summer recess, Internet privacy will be high on its agenda. Half a dozen bills introduced this session aim to address…
Blog
CEI Podcast for August 25, 2011: Mr. Fuddlesticks
Mr. Fuddlesticks is an anonymous YouTube user who posted embarrassing videos about the Renton, Washington police department. They convinced a judge to let them request…
Blog
Our Space Policy Chickens Have Come Home To Roost
With the retirement of the Space Shuttle last month, the U.S. and its international partners are now entirely reliant on non-U.S. providers for transportation to…
Blog
FCC Repeals 83 Regulations
The repeals will become official upon publication in the Federal Register.
E Week
MrFuddlesticks, the Renton Police Department and Online Civil Liberties
In the last two decades, the Internet has revolutionized the way people communicate and socialize. Unfortunately, our legal system has yet to adapt to the…
Human Events
Big Brother Goes Green
Human Events
Medical Magellans
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules are supposedly intended to ensure the safety and efficacy of new drugs and medical devices. It is FDA’s technology…
Pittsburgh Live
Request for Social Media Curbs in Britain Spark Debate
Letters
Coalition Letter to US Senate on REAL ID Act
We, the undersigned organizations, representing millions of Americans urge you not to support the so-called “REAL ID Act”, whether attached to the emergency supplemental spending…
Legal Brief
Amicus Brief in Granholm vs Heald
Full Document Available in PDF As interstate commerce has grown, businesses have used a variety of…
Letters
Letter to Senate Committee on C.S.T. on Cable Prices and the Consumer Price Index
We write to share with you our analysis of the idea of a la carte regulation of cable television channels, in which you have shown…
Blog
TSA Chatterboxes Not as Friendly as they Seem
You may get some extra-special attention from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in the near future — but this isn’t just another pat-down or…
Comment
Written Submission Of the Competitive Enterprise Institute Regarding the Telecom & High Tech Manufacturing Sector
Full Document Available in PDF Commerce Secretary…
Study
Freedom of Information vs Right to Privacy
The free movement of information throughout the economy and in government benefits Arizonans as citizens and consumers. At the same time, the right to privacy…
Comment
Comments on Telemarketing Rulemaking Comment Before the FTC
The Competitive Enterprise Institute has several concerns about the FTC’s proposal to create a Do Not Call registry. Part I outlines existing Do Not Call…
Letters
Letter to Assistant AG on Microsoft Settlement
The staff of the Antitrust Division has designated a limited set of comments on the proposed settlement as “major.” It plans to engage in special…
News Release
Award-Winning Space Policy Expert Rand Simberg Joins CEI as Adjunct Scholar
Washington, DC, August 2, 2011 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute is pleased to announce space policy expert Rand Simberg has joined CEI as an…
Comment
Echostar Communications Corporation and Hughes Electronics Corp.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute is a non-profit public policy organization dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government. Since its beginning in…
Study
Hidden Truth: The Perils and Protection of Off-Label Drug and Medical Device Promotion
Full Document Available in PDF What can you do if you learn you have a life-threatening…
Blog
Mandatory Data Retention Rears its Ugly Head Again
This morning the House Judiciary Committee began markup on H.R. 1981, the “Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011,” which would among other things force…
News Release
Free Market Coalition Opposes Digital Dragnet
Washington, D.C., July 27, 2011 — This morning, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary will mark up H.R. 1981, a bill that…
Cop Block
Alyona Show: How to Cop Proof Your Cell Phone
News Release
House Holds Hearing Today on Future of Cybersecurity
The House Energy and Commerce Committee is today conducting a hearing on “Cybersecurity: An Overview of Risks to Critical Infrastructure.” The following is a…
Blog
Why Not the Era of Innovation?
On Thursday, Russia boasted that the world was now moving into the “Era of the Soyuz.” With the landing of the last U.S. shuttle, the…
Economic Times of India
Will Rivals Do to Google What Facebook Did to MySpace?
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition in Support of the Wireless Tax Fairness Act
Full Document Available as PDF CEI has signed a letter along with a coalition of other…
Bellingham (WA) Herald
Government to Google: All Search Results Must Appear First
According to legend, when Winston Churchill and his lifelong foe Clement Attlee ran into each other at a row of urinals in the House of…
Bellingham (WA) Herald
Scientists Developing Fungus-Resistant Wheat
Blog
Regulation of the Day 182: PowerPoint Presentations
A political party in Switzerland is seeking to ban Microsoft PowerPoint presentations in meetings.
Blog
Amazon.com Fights Board of Equalization
Amazon.com is standing strong against California’s attempts to extort money from the online bookseller. Just a few days ago, Governor Jerry Brown (…
Blog
Restricting Your Right to Superlatives: Anna Eshoo and the FCC
A California Democrat is seeking to expand the bureaucracy of the FCC in order to protect Americans from dropped calls. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.)…
Blog
Going to Jail for Linking? What Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s S. 978 Could Mean for You
Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved S. 978, a bill that would expand the scope of felony criminal copyright infringement under…
Blog
Tyranny in Farmville
Two days ago, the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog filed an anti-trust complaint with the FTC seeking an investigation of Facebook’s allegedly anti-competitive practices. These…
Mercury News
Why Google probe should worry consumers
Is Google too big? Some government officials in Washington, D.C., certainly seem to think so. Last week, the Federal Trade Commission launched a formal…
Ecomerce Times
1plusV Lobs Another Antitrust Grenade at Google
News Release
CEI Experts Respond to Today’s Senate Hearing on Consumer Data Security
Washington, D.C., June 29, 2011 – Today, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing on “Privacy and Data Security: Protecting…
Blog
Supreme Court: California’s Ban on Violent Video Game Sales to Minors Violates Free Speech
California's ban on the sale or rental of violent video games to minors has been struck down by the Supreme Court as a violation…
News Release
Conservative, Libertarian Leaders Discuss Regulatory Burdens, Fiscal and Privacy Concerns of Mandatory E-Verify Legislation
Washington, D.C. — On Thursday, June 30th, conservative and libertarian leaders will host a press conference call on controversial immigration enforcement legislation the House Judiciary…
News Release
FTC Assaults Free Enterprise With Google Investigation
Washington, D.C., June 24, 2011 — Today, Google disclosed that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has initiated a formal investigation of the company’s business…
Ecomerce Times
Catching Air Without NASA: How Will We Regulate Commercial Space Flight?
What if having a vibrant space program requires bypassing NASA? There exist great pressures for change despite NASA’s signature successes. The private experimental launches…
Tech News World
FCC Aims to Get Carriers’ Sticky Fingers Out of Customers’ Pockets
Blog
LulzSec and Bitcoin Confusion
Two things most people have never heard of before have been in the news recently: Bitcoin and LulzSec. Over the weekend the largest Bitcoin exchange,…
Blog
Where Do TSA-Confiscated Items Go?
The TSA has a habit of confiscating security-unrelated items. Over at The American Spectator, I recall just such an experience that I had at O'Hare.
Blog
Life, Liberty, and Internet?
Josh Smith reports in National Journal that Representative Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), has proposed legislation to provide subsidized Internet services to low-income Americans. The…
CDT
A Sledgehammer, a Silver Bullet, or Something in Between? Experts Debate ‘Do Not Track’
News Release
Think Tank Applauds Location Privacy Legislation
Today U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) introduced the Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance (GPS) Act to better protect Americans’…
News Release
Radia to Speak at CFP2011 Panel on Do Not Track Regulation
Washington, D.C., June 14, 2011 — CEI Associate Director of Technology Studies Ryan Radia is speaking today at the 2011 “Computers, Freedom & Privacy”…
Blog
The Last Nail in the Coffin for the Fairness Doctrine?
In response to calls by lawmakers for the Fairness Doctrine and related measures to be permanently removed from the Federal Register, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski…
Blog
California Social Networking Bill In Its Death Throes
In Sacramento, California, a bill that would regulate social networking is reportedly on its death bed after failing by five votes last week. The online…
Blog
Dismantling Sarbanes-Oxley
My colleague Ryan Radia and I recently wrote in an editorial for Investor's Business Daily that the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act should be dismantled for the…
News Release
Free Market Groups Applaud Proposed Privacy Law Reforms
Washington, D.C., May 17, 2011 – Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) today introduced legislation (S. 1011) to reform the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). The…
Blog
PROTECT IP Act: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Combating "rogue websites" is a top priority for many in Congress this year. Lawmakers have held several hearings over the past few months…
News Release
CEI Calls PROTECT IP Act “an Improvement” Over COICA
Today, three U.S. Senators introduced the PROTECT IP Act (bill text), which would establish new mechanisms for combating “rogue” Internet sites that are…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 173: Yellow Pages
San Francisco is phasing out the distribution of hard-copy Yellow Pages.
Blog
The FCC is Broken
A new report in The Hill notes House Republicans’ concern over “dysfunction” at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the need for overhaul. Their…
Seattle PI
Telecom deal not clear as a bell
The Washington Times
State Cartel Looking to Hike Internet Taxes
A handful of U.S. senators are teeing up legislation to capture more tax revenue on Internet purchases. Certainly there are valid (and some not so…
Blog
Laura Ingraham on Protecting Email from Unwarranted Governmental Access
On Wednesday, I appeared on the Laura Ingraham Show to discuss the Obama administration's stance on reforming the 1986 law that governs law enforcement access…
Statesman
Texas Lawmakers Should Reject a Tax on Satellite TV
No one likes new taxes especially ones that don't make sense. Unfortunately, politicians never seem to learn this simple lesson. Lawmakers in Austin are…
Blog
YouTube Introduces “Copyright School” to Educate Infringing Users
In the ongoing copyright debates, areas of common ground are seemingly few and far between. It's easy to forget that not all approaches to…
Heartland
FCC Issues CA Man $7,000 Forfeiture Order
The Mercury News
An Alternative to California Proposal to Tax E-Commerce
Painful awards shows aren’t the only odious things stirring in California these days. State lawmakers want to collect sales taxes on Californians’ purchases from…
CNET
Privacy dispute tests Obama’s earlier promises
News Release
Justice Department Approves Google’s ITA Acquisition, With Conditions
Contact: Lee Doren, 202-331-2259 Nicole Ciandella, 202-331-2773 Washington, D.C., April 8, 2011 – Today, the Department of Justice announced a proposed…
Daily Caller
House moves against net neutrality but obstacles remain
News Release
Leading Free Market Groups Urge Congress to Update U.S. Privacy Laws
Washington, D.C., April 6, 2011 — This morning, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will hear key administration officials testify about the statute that governs…
Letters
Coalition Letter Urging Congress to Update Privacy Laws
Full Document Available in PDF As public interest groups dedicated to limited, Constitutional…
Blog
Senators Seek to Censor Mobile App Stores, Disregarding Public Safety and the Constitution
In the latest example of big government run amok, several politicians think they ought to be in charge of which applications you should be able…
News Release
CEI Urges Congress to Address Orphan Works Problem
Today, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York rejected a proposed class action settlement agreement between Google, the Authors Guild,…
Blog
Are Text Messages an Antitrust Issue?
Text messages cost 20 cents to send, even though they use a fraction of a penny of bandwidth. What gives? Antitrust authorities want to know.
Daily Caller
Cybersecurity Theater vs. The Real Thing
Computer attacks cost mid-to large size businesses $3.8 million annually on average , and generate massive global damage. Some homeland security and cybersecurity specialists even warn…
News Release
Congress Should Reject Privacy-Killing Do Not Track Mandate
Washington, D.C., March 16, 2011 — Today, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on “The State of Online Consumer Privacy.” Below…
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