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
Op-Eds
Targeting Digital Platforms
President Biden’s antitrust regulators have filed a pair of lawsuits targeting tech platforms, claiming they abuse their position as intermediaries between consumers and third parties.
National Review
Please, Somebody Google ‘Hubris’
The pretense of knowledge is on full display in the Department of Justice’s proposed remedies for the Google trial. The government’s…
Forbes
A Trump 2.0 Agenda For Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence represents an unprecedented economic opportunity as well as a complex security challenge for the United States. As Trump gets set to begin his…
Search Posts
Blog
Why Do States Still Require Phone Books to Be Delivered?
Did you know that some states require companies to deliver phone books to state residents? Never mind the fact that most people don’t use phone…
Op-Eds
The FDA Needs Strong Medicine
Christmas came a couple of weeks late to the business sectors regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. The greatest threat to the success of…
The WHIR
What’s hampering innovation?
The WHIR discusses regulation approval processes with Wayne Crews. Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute took the first position. He feels that…
The WHIR
Sack Vilsack!
Something is very wrong at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The secretary, Tom Vilsack, is letting hypothetical claims by organic farmers–who produce less than 1%…
The WHIR
What the New Congress Can Do For the Technology Sector
This week the Consumer Electronics Show will eat Las Vegas whole, and it’s an awesome thing to behold. Here’s hoping that the affiliated…
PC World
What’s Next for the FCC and Net Neutrality?
Blog
FCC Net Neutrality: Some Networks are More Neutral than Others
Today’s decision [by FCC bureaucrats] will help preserve the free and open nature of the Internet [as defined by the government] while encouraging innovation [as…
Blog
Will Net Neutrality Save the Internet?
Reason.TV created an excellent video explaining Net Neutrality and arguing against it. I’ve heard too many people irrationally claim that big corporations are going to…
Study
Recognize the Role of Private Enterprise in Protecting Critical Infrastructure and Cybersecurity
Full Document Available in PDF…
Study
Protect Incentives for Pharmaceutical Innovation
Full Document Available in PDF In recent years, Congress has faced mounting public pressure…
Boston.com
FCC passes ‘net neutrality’ Internet regulations
Study
Protect Free Speech by Rejecting Content Regulation
Full Document Available in PDF In recent years, the First Amendment’s…
Study
Avoid Hampering the Internet through Net Neutrality Regulation
Full Document Available in PDF Some observers have speculated that 2009…
Study
Keep Government’s Hands off the Net and E-Commerce
Full Document Available in PDF As a network of networks, the…
Study
Avoid Privacy Regulation that Could Worsen Personal Security
Full Document Available in PDF There are two great ironies in…
Study
Liberalize Telecommunications
Full Document Available in PDF Appeals to the “public interest” and claims of airwave scarcity have long been…
News Release
FCC Commissioners Should Reject Net Neutrality Rules
Washington, D.C., December 20, 2010 – Tomorrow morning, the FCC will hold a vote on network neutrality rules, mere days before Christmas celebrations begin.
Blog
Online Poker is Not Illegal: U.S. Courts
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff of New York sentenced convicted felon Anurag Dikshit, the co-founder of PartyGaming.com, to a meager year of probation and indicated his…
Blog
Interchange Price Controls: Gift to Big Merchants, Lump of Coal for Consumers and Community Financial Institutions
On Thursday, the Federal Reserve — at the direction of Congress in the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank financial “reform” bill — will give…
Blog
TSA’s Bad Policies Aren’t Going Away
Public outrage at the TSA's new policies has died down. That's a real shame, because people are still having experiences like this one.
Boston.com
Keep Privacy Policies Private
Like the lame duck itself, the online privacy turkey waddles on this December. It’s headed for January and the next Congress. Along with proposed legislation,…
Blog
Does Wikileaks Have a First Amendment Case Against Joe Lieberman?
Amazon made headlines last week when it abruptly cut off service to Wikileaks, allegedly on the grounds that the site had violated Amazon's…
Blog
Wikileaks’ Assange to Australian Times: “I’m Not Sorry”
Julian Assange wrote an op-ed in the Australian Times today essentially saying, “I’m not sorry”: I grew up in a Queensland country…
Blog
Homeland Security Violating Due Process and Free Speech In Internet Power Grab?
Law professor David Post notes that the Department of Homeland Security is seizing entire domain names, not to protect national security, but to enforce…
Local Tech Wire
Opinion: ‘Net neutrality’ will hurt consumers, limit investment
IT Pro Portal
EU Google antitrust probe will hurt consumers
IT Pro Portal reports on the Google antitrust lawsuit and references comments by Wayne Crews and Ryan Radia on the case. However, competition…
Blog
European Commission Should Leave Internet Search Alone
Today, the European Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation into Google to probe allegations that the firm rigged its search engine to discriminate against…
Ecomerce Times
Google Denies Rankings Hanky-Panky as EU Pursues Probe
News Release
FCC Presses Forward With Destructive Net Neutrality Rules
Washington, D.C., December 1, 2010—This morning, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski announced that the Commission will vote on net neutrality rules during…
Washington Post
Feds pledge some action on privacy, less on net neutrality
The Washington Post cite CEI's Wayne Crews and Ryan Radia's comments on net neutrality. Other observers like the FCC's new deal even less.
Huffington Post
Yes, Mr. FCC Chairman, There Is a Santa Claus
The Huffington Post cites Wayne Crews's comments on the FCC's net neutrality rule. The would-be chairmen of the House Energy and Commerce Committee are…
News Release
EU Antitrust Investigation Into Google Will Hurt Consumers
Washington, D.C., November 30, 2010 – Today, the European Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation into Google to probe allegations that the firm rigged…
Blog
An Intrusive, Ineffective, Unionized TSA?
Much has been written about the backlash against the TSA’s intrusive new screening methods. Law professor Jeff Rosen has argued that they violate…
Blog
TSA Roundup
The Thanksgiving travel rush is officially underway.
Blog
Six Ways Congress Can Fix COICA Copyright Bill
Over at the Technology Liberation Front, I discuss the “Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeits Act” (COICA), which the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously…
Tech Liberation
Five Ways Congress Can Fix COICA Copyright Bill
On November 18, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved the “Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeits Act” (COICA). The bill would enable the U.S. Attorney General…
News Release
Congress Should Amend COICA, Think Tank Argues
Washington, D.C., November 19, 2010 — Yesterday, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to approve the “Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeits Act” (COICA).
Blog
TSA’s John Pistole Offers to Probe Senators: Shouldn’t He Buy Them Dinner First?
TSA chief John Pistole offered to give enhanced pat-downs to senators at a hearing today on TSA's new screening policies.
Blog
CEI Podcast — November 15, 2010: Free Speech and Video Games
Associate Director of Technology Studies Ryan Radia gives his take on a Supreme Court case concerning California’s ban of violent video game sales to minors.
Associated Content
National Deficit Commission: Eliminate Commercial Space Subsidies
Associated Content
Big Government’s Final Frontier
There’s something about space policy that makes conservatives forget their principles. Just one mention of NASA, and conservatives are quite happy to check their small-government…
Blog
Video Games are More than Just Good for Kids
They will be a primary way that we learn, teach, produce and advance in the future. Jane McGonigal of Institute for the Future has…
Blog
Should Geoengineering be Banned?
Since one day the sun will expand into a red-giant star, humans in the distant multi-millennial future will either have to leave the Earth, geoengineer…
Blog
On Google: If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It!
Scores.org has a post suggesting that Google is a monopoly because its “tentacles tap into sizable market shares” referring to the search engine, map services,…
Blog
Butcher’s Bill for Texting While Driving
In my LA Times piece “Texters, You’d Be Better off Driving Drunk,” Oct. 3, I stated “There are no reliable studies regarding deaths associated…
Mac World
Mobile Phone Bill Shock: FCC, Carriers Face Off
Blog
A Republican Sweep Might Not Stop Online Gambling
Many analysts and pollsters are predicting a Republican sweep of the coming midterm elections in the House. While Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) seems untouchable,…
Blog
Video Killed the Radio Star: 2010 Telephony Edition
One hundred and twenty-six years after Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone, AT&T, America’s largest provider of fixed telephony (and third largest non-oil company in…
CIO
Mobile phone bill shock: FCC, carriers face off
PC World
Mobile Phone Bill Shock: FCC, Carriers Face Off
Blog
Bill Shock Shouldn’t Be A Federal Issue
The FCC proposed new rules today aimed at combating wireless “bill shock,” a term that describes mobile subscribers getting hit with overage charges they…
Modern Healthcare
Enterprise group to FCC: No new Net neutrality rules
Blog
Our Driverless Future?
Google has been making headlines after the company revealed over the weekend that its driverless cars have logged nearly 140,000 miles on public roads…
Blog
Is the Internet’s Future in Jeopardy?
Last week, I had the pleasure of discussing net neutrality with James Boyle, a Duke Law Professor and the co-founder of the…
Blog
Texting on the Stygian Ferry
“Border collie jill surveying the view from atop the sand dune.” Those were the last words of Malibu plastic surgeon Frank Ryan, best known for…
Newsletter
CEI Weekly: Congress Should Liberate to Stimulate
CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features John Berlau's debate with Heather Boushey from the Center for…
Blog
CEI Weekly: Congress Should Liberate to Stimulate
CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features John Berlau's debate with Heather Boushey from the Center for…
News Release
Free Market Groups Urge Congress to Update U.S. Privacy Laws
Washington, D.C., September 23, 2010 — If you store sensitive files on your personal computer which law enforcement authorities wish to examine, they generally…
Comment
Joint-Statement Submitted to House and Senate Committees on Reforming the Electronic Communications Privacy Act
The House and Senate Committees on the Judiciary held separate hearings on the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) on September 22, 2010, and September 23,…
Modern Healthcare
An Industry, not a Bureaucracy
Online security problems are real, but the increasing tendency to treat cybersecurity as a government-spearheaded function asks for big trouble. Case in point is the…
Adage
Look to the Marketplace for Stronger Privacy Protection
A series of recent high-profile privacy gaffes involving internet firms such as Google, Microsoft and Facebook has spurred a public outcry for stronger privacy…
Information Week
Google Becomes Focus Of Federal Antitrust Hearing
Information Week reports on Wayne Crews's statements at a Congressional hearing on competition in the changing digital marketplace. Another speaker, Wayne Crews, vice…
Blog
New CEI Podcast: Creating High-Tech Jobs
Ryan Radia, CEI's Associate Director of Technology Studies, talks about obstacles and opportunities for job creation in the high-tech sector.
Blog
Clearing the Way for High-Tech Jobs
Over at RealClearMarkets.c0m, my colleague Ryan Radia offer some ideas for how to create more high-tech jobs. Our main points:…
PC World
The Pros and Cons of Craigslist’s Shutdown of the Adult Services Section
Heartland
Broadcast Spectrum Bill Raises Property Rights Concerns
Blog
Video: The Open Internet and Lessons from the Ma Bell Era
Earlier this week, The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart summed up the debate over net neutrality by stating, “On one side [are] those who want…
News Release
The Open Internet and Lessons from the Ma Bell Era
Washington, D.C., August 19, 2010 — Earlier this week, The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart summed up the debate over net neutrality by stating, “On one…
Blog
Privacy Isn’t Dead, It’s Evolving
Recent revelations about Microsoft’s internal debate over Internet Explorer’s handling of tracking cookies, as chronicled by The Wall Street Journal earlier this month, have…
Heartland
Nothing New About Privacy Fears
“Did we pronounce privacy dead this week?” asked a recent CNET headline, capturing the frenzy that now surrounds the Internet and privacy. Both the House…
Heartland
FCC takes another step towards regulating the internet
Blog
Obama Justice Department Uses Americans with Disabilities Act to Harm the Disabled, Risk Lives, and Undermine Safety
“Amazon.com . . . tried to sell a talking Kindle reader, but” the Justice Department “said it couldn’t because the button to make the…
Game Pro
Is Net Neutrality Good for Gaming?
Newsletter
Kagan Confirmed, Ford Motor’s Finances and Critiquing Obama’s Economic Policy
The U.S. Senate confirms Elena Kagan to be the next member of the Supreme Court. President Obama announced a $250 million government loan to Ford…
Game Pro
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World
The Federal Communications Commission has called off closed-door talks with tech lobbyists, talks meant to iron out a government driven compromise on “net neutrality.”…
VOA News
UAE BlackBerry Ban is Latest Clash Over Information Control
Blog
Give & Take: Fifth Amendment Complicates Net Neutrality
Opponents of net neutrality, including the Competitive Enterprise Institute, have pointed to numerous grounds upon which the detrimental scheme could be challenged. These…
News Release
House Privacy Bill Endangers Privacy Competition, E-Commerce
Contacts: Ryan Radia, 202-331-2281 Richard Morrison, 202-331-2273 House Privacy Bill Endangers Privacy Competition, E-Commerce Government…
Newsletter
National Security, Federal Red Tape and Private Government in Florida
The Washington Post reports that 854,000 people have top-secret security clearances. The Federal Register for 2010 now exceeds 40,000 pages. Just outside of Florida’s Walt…
Seattle Times
U.S. Tech Firms’ China Presence Furthers Internet Freedom
On July 9, China renewed Google's license to operate in that country, leading critics to condemn the firm for acceding to China's oppressive policies. But…
Comment
CEI Comments to the FCC in the matter of Framework For Broadband Internet Service
Full Document Available in PDF Reclassifying the transmission component of…
Newsletter
Financial Regulation, the Gulf Oil Spill, and Privacy on Facebook
Congress passes the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill. The New York Times chronicles the economic fallout from the BP oil spill. Pundits argue that Facebook is…
Blog
Responding to Media Matters
This ad hominem attack deserves a rebuttal. The Daily Caller was kind enough to run mine this morning. I hope you will take a few…
Blog
Cell Phones Don’t Cause Cancer
Over at the Daily Caller, I debunk the fear that long-term cell phone use can cause brain tumors.
Newsletter
A Beer Stimulus, Comcast Merger Questions and Urban Beekeeping
A proposed “Beer Stimulus Bill” would reduce the federal excise tax that small brewers must pay. Yesterday lawmakers conducted a field hearing questioning “Who Benefits?”…
Ecomerce Times
Opposition Pipes Up as Comcast/NBC Deal Goes Back to the Exam Table
News Release
Let Comcast-NBC/Universal Merge
Tomorrow the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet will conduct a field hearing questioning “Who Benefits?” from the proposed…
CEI Planet
CEI Planet: May – June 2010
To view this issue of the CEI Planet, please click here to download the PDF file. Below are selected articles from the May-June 2010 issue: Collective…
Blog
California poker players: 1 – Free market opponents: 0
As I wrote yesterday, California was on the verge of passing a bill that would have allowed residents to play poker online at one…
Blog
For Whom the Dell Tolls
Less than fifteen years ago, Dell computers were the hot desktop brand. In a rapidly growing market, Dell developed a unique business model which…
Blog
Supreme Court Dooms Chicago Gun Ban; Obama Judicial Nominees Oppose Gun Rights; Religious Clubs Lose First Amendment Case; Removal of High-Ranking Bureaucrats Made Easier
The Supreme Court doomed Chicago’s handgun ban Monday by ruling 5-to-4 that the Second Amendment applies to state and local governments…
Ecomerce Times
Wayne Crews on Cybersecurity and the Presidential “Kill Switch”
Competitive Enterprise Institute Director of Technology Studies Wayne Crews discusses the need for a decentralized and competitive approach of cybersecurity.
News Release
Lieberman-Collins-Carper Bill Threatens Nation’s Cybersecurity
Washington, D.C., June 24, 2010 – This afternoon, the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee begins markup of the Lieberman-Collins-Carper cybersecurity bill, which contains controversial provisions…
PC World
Senate Panel Approves Controversial Cybersecurity Bill
PC World reports on the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act and discuss issues with the bill with Wayne Crews. One critic said Thursday…
Cable Fax
FCC Releases Title II Broadband NOI for Comment
News Release
FCC’s Destructive Inquiry Demands Congressional Action
Reactions by Competitive Enterprise Institute telecom policy analysts Ryan Radia and Wayne Crews on the Federal Communications Commission's Notice of Inquiry on broadband regulatory classification.
Blog
Choosing individual liberty is no gamble.
On June 1st the Oregonian published an opinion piece by the editorial staff, titled “Legalization would be a gamble, too” The basis for the…
Blog
Cell Phone Cancer Scare Refuses to Die
Some people are scared that cell phones cause brain tumors. There are enough of these bedwetters that San Francisco just passed a new law requiring…
News Release
Lieberman-Collins Bill Threatens Cybersecurity, Internet Freedom
Contacts: Ryan Radia, 202-331-2281 Lieberman-Collins Bill Threatens Cybersecurity, Internet Freedom Statement by Wayne Crews Vice President for Policy…
Newsletter
Internet Gambling, Carbon Regulations and FDA’s Energy Drink Crackdown
Restrictions on Internet gambling go into effect this week. The Senate will soon vote on Lisa Murkowski’s resolution to stop the EPA from regulating carbon…
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