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
News Release
Market-based Reforms Needed to Correct Failures of Universal Service Subsidies, Congress Urged to Act
A new report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) highlights the pervasive failures of the Universal Service Fund (USF) subsidies and calls on Congress…
Blog
Good things happen when spectrum is allocated to the marketplace
There has been recent legislative activity on spectrum allocation, so it is a good time to remind ourselves why moving as much spectrum as…
Blog
For the sake of user privacy, keep Google search remedies narrow and germane
The movement in the Biden and Trump administrations of antitrust officials away from consumer welfare and towards a federal judiciary of active regulation is on…
Search Posts
Wall Street Journal
Do You Want a New Internet?
Wall Street Journal cites Wayne Crews's on Internet regulation. On the Technology Liberation Front, Adam Thierer suggests another option: “splinternets.” Clyde Wayne Crews…
Newsletter
Stimulus Upon Us, Lethal Wildfires Down Under and Satellite Radio Takes a Hit
Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress reach a deal to spend $789 billion in taxpayer money on “economic stimulus.” The death toll from wildfires in…
Op-Eds
Don’t overhype privacy fears on G1
Online users need to be careful with their information, but hyping privacy fears is unwarranted.
Blog
Sirius XM Bankruptcy: Thank Washington for the Delay
Sirius XM Satellite Radio—the company born from the merger of Sirius Satelllite Radio and XM Satellite Radio—has “been working with advisers to prepare for a…
Blog
Usage Caps and the DLC Model
I just read an intriguing post by Mike Masnick over at Techdirt. Masnick points out that ISPs keep changing the definition…
Blog
Why “doing nothing” is something really big: Stopping the Anti-Stimulus
Robert Higgs, he of the famous “ratchet effect” theory of government growth (up but never down in answer to a crisis), has…
Blog
Broadband Stimulus Cut
Bloomberg is reporting that an agreement on a stimulus package has been reached in the Senate. Included in the compromise was…
Blog
Senate Broad Stimulus & Avoiding Federal “Strings”
Aside from the fact that the Senate lacks the necessary votes to pass its version of the stimulus, the bill does…
Blog
FACT Check the Internet’s Future
The Future of American Communications (FACT) working group funded by the Media Democracy Fund released its official report on the 26th of January. The report,…
Newsletter
Stimulus to Nowhere, Banning Cell Phone Cameras and More Money for Ethanol
Republicans on Capitol Hill attack the $825 billion economic stimulus bill championed by President Obama. Rep. Peter King (R-NY) introduces legislation to ban silent cell…
News Release
CEI Unveils Agenda for Congress
Washington, D.C., January 26, 2009—With the incoming Obama administration and the opening of the new Congress, the House and Senate are…
Blog
Gateway Neutrality: Just A Taste
Right behind the broadband stimulus goldmine within the Obama administrations stimulus plan sits Sec. 3102 (E). Sec. 3102 (E) is a fairly simple bit…
Newsletter
Global Warming Bottoms Out, the Future of Digital TV in Doubt and Cap-and-Trade on the Horizon
A new poll finds that global warming has dropped to the bottom of the list of issues concerning the American public. The future of digital…
Blog
TV Transition follies: Plaguing consumers then and now.
Looks like the “digital television transition” to abandon analog and make high-definition broadcasts the standard is not going to happen as planned, but is…
Blog
Avoiding Political Erectile Dysfunction
According to the Congressional Budget Office, “Bailout to Nowhere” money for the proposed new infrastructure stimulus won’t be spent within the next two years–far too…
Blog
Barack Obama’s ‘Digital Lines’ to Nowhere
When Barack Obama said in his inaugural address, "We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce…
News Release
European Antitrust Officials Target Microsoft over Internet Explorer
The European Commission may order Microsoft to strip Internet Explorer (IE) from certain versions of Windows, according to a preliminary ruling against Microsoft…
Blog
$6 Billion For Broadband, Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And LOL At The Recovery Act
Speeding its way across the Internetz today are copies of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Eager policy analysts, lobbyists, and grassroots organizations…
Blog
PEOTUS Behavioral Targeted Advertising Adventure
The prevention of regulation and the Rule of Law pounding its mighty fist within a medium or sector of business is generally something that is…
Blog
Telecom Lobbyists in the DTV Henhouse?
With the election of a new president and new Democratic majorities in Congress, the era of corporate influence is over in Washington, D.C. Or, at…
Newsletter
The FCC and Media Ownership, Ford’s Auto Bailout and Vilsack for Agriculture
President-elect Obama’s pick to head the Federal Communications Commission favors stronger diversity and “media ownership” regulations. Poor sales figures may push the Ford Motor Company…
News Release
Statement on the Nomination of Julius Genachowski to Be Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style…
Newsletter
Climate War with Canada, Net Neutrality and Hollywood’s Eco-Horror
American University professor James Lee predicts that global warming will lead to a military conflict between the U.S. and Canada. Google fields criticism over its…
Blog
Costa’s Confusion on Net Neutrality
As PC Magazine ends its run as a print publication and moves to an online-only model, columnist Dan Costa pens a good, yet confused, column.
Blog
Prediction 2009: No Net Neutrality Regulation
Perhaps this is just wishful thinking, but I think that 2009 may see the death of calls for net neutrality regulation and may even see…
Blog
How Do Regulations Stack Up as a Small Firm Grows?
Tomorrow, electric utilities and green groups team up at the National Press Club to ask for billions of new spending on what they term energy…
Blog
Solis: Could have been worse…but not much
According to the Associated Press, President-elect Barack Obama is about to name Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) as Secretary of Labor. If Rep. Solis’s voting…
Blog
Taylor Tells of Tol’s Ton Toll
Jerry Taylor of Cato has an excellent summary of what the scientific literature tells us about the social cost of carbon emissions, drawing on…
Newsletter
Fed Chairman in Trouble, Kids’ TV Goes Green and Google Goes Edge-Caching
Critics of the financial bailout allege that the federal government has exceeded its Constitutional powers. The Nickelodeon TV network for kids begins an environmental awareness…
Blog
Coming to an ISP Near You: Google Servers
Over at the Tech Liberation Front, the Internet’s premier free market technology blog, we’re discussing the implications of Google’s OpenEdge program. The program plans to…
Blog
The Cloverfield Monster of the Internet
Earlier posts today dealt with the hoo-ha over Net Neutrality. By coincidence, an anonymous colleague put the following old 1996 quote by Sen. James Exon…
Blog
“Net Neutrality,” RIP? Well, One Can Hope
Net neutrality has long been a threat to Internet users. Despite the rhetoric and appeals to “openness,” it was always an anti-consumer enterprise, irretrievably and…
Blog
Federally Sanctioned Propaganda Machine
Apple's 1984 "Big Brother" ad An article over at Ad Age brings up an angle on the whole…
Blog
Censorship and Bailouts for the Rich
George Will has an interesting column on how the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” that many liberal lawmakers want to reimpose in order to shut down…
Newsletter
Obama’s Public Works, FCC Diversity Mandates and the Auto Bailout
President-elect Obama promises the largest spending program on public works programs since the 1950s. Obama tech advisor Henry Rivera endorses a proposal to expand minority…
Blog
Claim of consumers’ fear of auto bankruptcy a canard in bailout debate
Eli, in answer to the blog post you phrased as a question, the argument from the individual you heard, echoed by other Big 3…
Blog
Abarackadabra! A 21st Century “New Steal”
JOBS, ROADS, BRIDGES, SCHOOLS, BROADBAND, ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS, ENERGY…blares the Drudge Report. It’s President-elect Obama’s weekend plan—not to produce, but to transfer yet…
Blog
Wealth-Creating Alternatives to Pelosi’s Destructive Infrastructure “Stimulus”
Well, who can possibly be surprised by the revelation that “The federal government's economic stimulus package will include investment in broadband Internet infrastructure and…
Blog
This week’s Least Objectionable Bureaucrat
My occasional “Least Objectionable Legislator Award” (no prize) takes a detour today and goes to a bureaucrat instead. So the LOL Award (pun intended, I…
Newsletter
Obama’s Attorney General, More Stimulus Spending and Defending Deregulation
Barack Obama’s choice for attorney general comes under scrutiny for his record on civil liberties. Democrats in Congress plan to seek additional billions in taxpayer…
Blog
Stimulus as if Capitalism Mattered
Those dispensing the "Bailout to Nowhere" proceeds seemingly answer to no one (here's one article behaving as if this were unexpected and surprising). Today…
Blog
DeLorean disproves domsayers in debate over auto bankruptcies
In the debate about bailing out the Big 3 automakers, it is said that we just can’t allow a bankruptcy. Despite the fact that Chapter…
Blog
America the Ungovernable
With respect to the ongoing series of bailouts, my colleague Iain Murray pointed out that some sensible British commentators note that one of the ways…
Newsletter
Obama’s Treasury Pick, Waxman’s Chairmanship and the Big Tobacco Deal
President-Elect Obama prepares to nominate New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) wins control of the powerful…
Blog
Hollywood Rep. to Wield Power Over Copyright Law
My colleague Cord asked me about proposing a tech agenda for Congress given the ascendancy today of Henry Waxman to Energy and Commerce Chairmanship;…
Blog
More on Waxman and Tech
As Cord mentioned earlier, Henry Waxman has been named incoming Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, of which the Subcommittee on Telecommunications…
Newsletter
Yahoo’s Fortunes, Chevron’s Strange Ads and the Battle over Bottled Water
Shares of web pioneer Yahoo Inc. rise upon departure of CEO Jerry Yang. Chevron launches a series of ads aimed at reducing energy consumption. A…
News Release
CEI Blasts New Banking, Internet Gambling Regulations
Washington, D.C., November 13, 2008—In its final weeks, the Bush administration is trying to rush through ill-considered regulations aimed at preventing Internet gambling. Two Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Blog
An Agenda for the Monday a.m. Obama and Bush Meeting
Since the President and President-elect start spending quality Oval Office time together today, and since the incoming admistration's advisors can't settle on either pushing…
Blog
We’re Proof Blogging Isn’t Dead
There are all sorts of pieces about the future of "New Media" floating around these days from Andrew Sullivan's "Why I Blog" in the…
Newsletter
Online Ads, Regulatory Reform and Free Trade
Google and Yahoo abandon a proposed advertising partnership amid antitrust concerns. President-Elect Obama begins transition work with the current White House staff. Rep. Rahm Emanuel…
Blog
Obama’s win through the web…a myth?
[caption id="attachment_5754" align="alignleft" width="270" caption=" "][/caption] O'Reilly writer Andy Oram makes the case that the assertion…
Blog
“Card Check” May Trigger Beatings, Intimidation
Clayton Cramer, who grew up in a union household, explains why the “card-check” bill favored by liberal lawmakers and Obama may lead to physical…
Newsletter
Michael Crichton, Press Censorship and a Technology Czar
Bestselling author Michael Crichton dies at age 66. Members of the Bureaucrash Activist Network join forces with free speech activists to protest press censorship in…
Newsletter
E-voting, the Fairness Doctrine and Economic Unrest in Ecuador
Problems with electronic voting machines are reported in several states. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) argues for the re-imposition of the “Fairness Doctrine” for TV and…
Blog
No “Technology Czar,” Please
Like everybody else in town, we're pondering the implications of the transition to the Obama Administration for various policy areas here at CEI. On the…
Wall Street Journal
the prospect of a national “Technology Czar”
Blog
FreeRoots
Some of the brightest minds in the online conservative movement — John Hawkins, Patrick Ruffini and Mark Tapscott — are discussing what…
Blog
My apologies to the Swiss (hold firm against OECD meddling)
Last week, the German government said that Switzerland should be placed on the international blacklist…
Newsletter
Internet Censorship, Reforming Fannie and Freddie and Free Trade with Colombia
American tech companies announce new guidelines for doing business in nations threatened by censorship. Lawmakers urge embattled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to…
Newsletter
Credit Card Settlements, Wireless Networks and What’s ‘Killing the Earth’
Visa and MasterCard reach a $2.75 billion settlement with Discover Card over an antitrust complaint first brought in 1998. Cox Communications plans to roll out…
Newsletter
Greenhouse Gases, Broadband Speeds and the Future of Transit
California officials ignore the high costs of implementing the state’s greenhouse gas reduction plan. Comcast implements upgrades for broadband customers that will double download speeds…
All Things D
Broadband Speed Upgrades
Tech Dirt
Broadband Price War
DSL Reports
Broadband Competition
Tech World News
Broadband Competition
Blog
I’m Sorry, Your Candidate Is in Another Castle
The presidential campaign of a certain U.S. senator has just expanded the bounds of the political advertising universe with in-game ads inside popular EA…
Blog
FCC Might Actually Roll Back an Outdated Regulation!
If you wanted to communicate over long distances in real-time 25 years ago, you had little choice but to rely on your local phone company…
Blog
Stopping “Badvertising” at Yahoogle.
As an indicator of how perverse wealth-draining antitrust policy has become, have a look at the “concessions” being squeezed out of Google and Yahoo…
Newsletter
Lehman Brothers Hearing, Consequences of the Bailout and Online Ad Controversy
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee holds a hearing to investigate the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The Wall Street bailout fails to slow economic…
Newsletter
Internet Radio, Mark-to-Market Accounting and Private Mortgage Insurance
The Senate approves a bill to regulate royalties for web-based radio services. The Security and Exchanges Commission relaxes accounting rules that may have worsened current…
Newsletter
Mortgage Madness, Media Diversity and World Car Free Day
The bailout of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is attacked as unfair to responsible consumers. The Federal Communication Commission considers reinstating the “Fairness…
Newsletter
Economic Projections, Comcast Sues the FCC and Cholesterol Drugs
A new report from the Federal Reserve projects continued slow growth and a weak business climate. Comcast sues the Federal Communications Commission over…
Op-Eds
Minot Line
Over the past decade, the Internet has given new life to one of the oldest forms of media: the urban legend. Sometimes an…
Products
CEI Planet: September – October 2008
View the new Montly Planet by downloading the PDF of the issue. Below you’ll find previews of the articles in this issue:…
Newsletter
Oil Speculators, Immunity for Phone Companies and Global Warming Reports
Members of Congress blame oil “speculators” for driving up the cost of oil with their investments. Legal wrangling continues over Congress’ grant of immunity to…
Ecomerce Times
FCC Comcast Net Neutrality Ruling
Blog
DMCA takedown notices should take fair use into consideration
A U.S. district judge got it right yesterday when he refused to dismiss a lawsuit against Universal, ruling that copyright holders should take…
Newsletter
Hurricane Damage, Wind Power and Comcast in the Crosshairs
Florida residents watch the shifting course of Tropical Storm Fay. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveils a plan to build a series of windmills…
Blog
Your Cable Company Also Rents You a Cable Box? Sue ‘Em!
Time Warner Cable is getting slapped with an anti-tying lawsuit. The plaintiff claims that by renting him a cable box, the company engaged…
Blog
Google Dominates Search, But Forever?
"If these trends continue" is a dangerous way to begin a sentence in the new economy Ars reports that Google has expanded…
Blog
Downloading: The Green Way to Buy
I just posted on several states’ new taxes on internet downloads. Over at TLF, tech liberator Braden Cox just published an interesting…
Newsletter
Home Schooling, Online Privacy and Oil Drilling
A California appeals court issues a major new ruling on home schooling. Members of Congress investigate online privacy and the use of “behavioral advertising.” New…
Blog
War in Georgia Goes Cyber
A follow-up to Hans Bader’s informative post on the Russia-Georgia war: Ars reports that the war is going on in cyberspace as well.
Op-Eds
In Defense of Early Termination Fees
If early termination fees reduce competition in the cell phone marketplace, then why is there so much of it?…
Newsletter
Losses at Fannie Mae, Satellite TV Merger and Toxic Chemicals
Mortgage giant Fannie Mae reports a loss of $2.3 billion. Cable TV provider Dish Network proposes a merger with DirecTV. Former New York Times environmental…
Blog
DNS Internet Flaw: How Much Worse It Could Have Been
By now, most tech-savvy readers have probably heard about the vulernability in the structure of the internet, specifically involving DNS lookups. Apparently, the flaw…
Newsletter
Video Gamers Win in Court, Free Speech on Campus and the Impact of Biofuels
The state of California is ordered to pay video game makers $280,000 in legal fees over an unconstitutional law that sought to restrict game sales.
Ecomerce Times
U.S. tech companies in China
Op-Eds
Online marketing myopia
We are in the middle of an advertising revolution, driven by technology. Congress is up in arms over "behavioral advertising" online by…
Tech Dirt
Selectable Output Control
Blog
EFF/CDT Brief in MySpace Case: Terms of Service not Crimes
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Democracy and Technology, Public Citizen, and 14 law professors have jointly submitted an amicus brief in the…
Newsletter
Obama on Offshore Drilling, Tobacco Lawyer Goes to Prison and Video Game Violence
Sen. Barack Obama changes his position on offshore oil drilling. One of the nation’s richest attorneys begins a prison sentence for bribery. The government of…
Blog
Facebook and Scrabulous: Safe Harbor in a Web 2.0 World
CNET has a great piece on Facebook's role in the Scrabulous battle. For those unfamiliar with the case, Facebook is a social…
Tech Dirt
the FCC and net neutrality
Blog
States Begin to Regulate Nano
So far, nanotech has been left blessingly unregulated by the feds. Nanotech has been responsible for the great advances in computer technology.
Newsletter
FCC Takes on Comcast, GM Crops and the Housing Bailout
The Federal Communications Commission puts Comcast in the hot seat over its network management practices. Security becomes the number one cost for scientists developing genetically…
News Release
FCC Stages Broadband Power Grab
Washington, D.C., July 28, 2008—The Federal Communications Commission is preparing this week to expand its control over how telecom firms manage…
Newsletter
Fairness Doctrine, Wind Power and Flood Insurance
Lawmakers debate the return of the “Fairness Doctrine” for news broadcasts. Famed Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens launches a multimedia campaign to replace oil use…
Blog
Italy Criminally Charges Google
The Times reports: Google is to face criminal charges in Italy over a video which appeared on one of its sites showing a…
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