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
Rule by Vibes, Ruined by Reality: Why the FTC’s HSR Loss Demands a Legislative Fix
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is doubling down on a losing hand. Despite a stinging courtroom defeat last week that vacated its 2024 premerger…
National Review
Chasing Platforms Instead of Ambulances: Social Media Liability Trial Kicks Off in California
Proceedings have commenced in a trial poised to redefine the boundaries of free expression on the internet. The first-of-its-kind test case will determine if social media…
News Release
Who Will Write the Future? CEI Releases New Video on the Artificial Intelligence
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) today released a new video exploring the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and the policy decisions necessary for the United States to…
Search Posts
The Hill
Big Brother? How SOPRA can help restore proper authority
The Internet as we know it may soon become unrecognizable. That’s because the freewheeling “network of networks” soon will be regulated by bureaucrats. The D.C.
Foundation for Economic Education
Fear Not Malevolent AI Robots
I’ve recently become hooked on Michael Solona’s new podcast series, “Anatomy of Next: Utopia,”a fascinating analysis of our most advanced and rapidly developing technologies…
Blog
The Custody Battle for Your Internet Privacy
Google, Facebook, and YouTube; how do these large websites stay free? Internet advertising is part of a huge economy of $27.5 billion that allows the…
Comment
CEI and Tech Freedom Comments to the FCC on Protecting Broadband Customers’ Privacy
Full Document Available in PDF Chutzpah, wrote Leo Rostein in his 1968 classic, The Joys of Yiddish, is “that quality enshrined in a…
Blog
Chicago Home-Sharing Rules a Loss for Residents
Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emanuel negotiated an armistice with the sharing economy last week. Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb have promised comply with the new rules, which…
Blog
Will the Sharing Economy Give Us Greater Economic Mobility?
Last night the R Street Institute sponsored a fascinating policy panel here in Washington, D.C., “Boost or Barrier? Upward mobility in the on-demand economy.”…
Blog
RealClear Radio Hour: Innovation Economy & State Fiscal Breakdown
This week on RealClear Radio Hour, guests Garrett Johnson and Eileen Norcross explain the importance of developing a more technologically nimble and fiscally responsible government.
Blog
Coming Soon: International Mayors for Inconvenient Travel
While we wait to see whether Gov. Andrew Cuomo will sign legislation targeting home-share listings in New York, the governmental response to the sharing economy’s…
Blog
New York Rules DFS a “Game of Skill,” Maintains Ban on Internet Poker
Human beings have been gambling since at least the dawn of recorded history and perhaps one of the most enduring games is poker.
Blog
New York Legislature Piles on Fines for Home-Share Listings
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is currently reviewing legislation recently passed by the state’s Senate and Assembly that would establish new penalties for advertising one’s…
Fortune
Here’s Why the Drone Industry Just Had A Milestone Moment
Fortune discusses the Federal Aviation Administration's new rules on small unmanned aircraft systems with Marc Scribner. Not everyone is pleased with the new…
PC World
New FAA rules mean you won’t get Amazon drone delivery anytime soon
PC World discusses the Federal Aviation Administration's new rules on drones with Marc Scribner. Marc Scribner, a fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
Daily Caller
Business Leaders Unsurprisingly Tepid About FAA’s New 624-Page Drone Rulebook
The Daily Caller discusses the Federal Aviation Administration's new regulations on drones with Marc Scribner. “The new FAA drone rules are disappointing and…
News Release
CEI Comments on FAA Drone Regulations
Today, June 21, 2016, the Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration finalized their operational rules for commercial use of small unmanned aircraft systems. Transportation policy expert Marc Scribner responded:…
Blog
RealClear Radio Hour: Futurism and Genius
This week’s guests share a contagious, limitless optimism about our technological future and individual achievement.
Blog
Building on the Optimism of “Uber-Positive” Attitudes
There’s a new resource for understanding the state of play between politics and developments in the sharing economy, the pleasantly slim volume by the Manhattan…
Blog
Wireless Net Neutrality: You Were Warned
Hundreds of people have been burrowing into this week’s D.C. District Court of Appeals 2-1 decision giving the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) everything it wanted…
Blog
FCC Cannot Rewrite Federal Law to Regulate the Internet
By upholding the entirety of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) Open Internet Order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has sanctioned the…
Daily Caller
Upholding Net Neutrality Will Put Us Back In The Slow Lane
The Daily Caller reports on the cost of federal regulations with Wayne Crews. This is but one recent example of the unintended consequences…
Blog
Congress Must Rein in FCC on Net Neutrality
Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the FCC’s 2015 “Open Internet Order” in US Telecom Association v. FCC.
Blog
“Open Internet” Ruling Will Encourage ISPs to Block Content
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has upheld the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) “Open Internet Order” which purports to implement “net neutrality”…
Daily Caller
The FCC Is Now One Step Closer To Taking Over The Internet
The Daily Caller discusses with Ryan Radia a federal court's ruling to uphold the Federal Communication Commision's net neutrality plan. Ryan Radia, a…
News Release
Net Neutrality Ruling is a Loss of Freedom, Increase in Government Control
Today’s federal court ruling upholding the Obama Administration’s net neutrality plan is a boon for more agency power and an opportunity for Congress to rein…
Comment
CEI Petitions FCC to Reconsider Conditions Imposed on Charter-Time Warner Cable Merger
Full Document Available in PDF The Competitive Enterprise Institute, John France, Daniel Frank, Jean-Claude Gruffat, and Charles Haywood seek reconsideration of the…
Blog
FCC Could end up “Protecting” Consumers from Cheaper Internet Access
Net neutrality proponents have seen their lines splinter over the issue of “zero rating,” the practice of not counting data used to access certain sites…
Forbes
Bureaucracy’s Paradox: When Fewer Regulations Mean Less Freedom
"To limit abuse by the rulers, ancient Rome wrote down the law and permitted citizens to read it. Under Dodd-Frank, regulatory authority is…
Blog
Court Will Soon Decide Fate of FCC’s Ill-Conceived Internet Regulations
Any day now, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is expected to release its decision in U.S. Telecom Association v. FCC.
Washington Examiner
Critics charge FCC with suppressing comments on privacy ruling
The Washington Examiner reports on a coalition CEI signed urging the Federal Communications Commission to extend its deadline for comment on broadband rules. …
Washington Times
Conservatives trend liberal over Facebook
Conservatives are hopping mad about Facebook allegedly manipulating its Trending Topics to discriminate against right-leaning news stories. And some want to do something about…
Blog
FCC’s Cable Box Mandate: Costly, Illegal, and Unnecessary
Regulators at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) want to dictate how cable and satellite television providers design their so-called “set-top boxes”—a fancy term for…
New York Times
Monopolies, Like Google, Are Innovators, Which Is Good for Consumers
Last week, the European Commission brought new antitrust charges against Google, alleging the company unfairly favors its own services on smartphones running its Android operating…
Blog
Congress Must Pass Email Privacy Act
This week, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 699) sponsored by Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.). The Competitive Enterprise…
Comment
CEI and Tech Freedom Comments to the FCC on “Set-Top Box” Regulations
Full Document Available in PDF The FCC claims it is trying to “Unlock the Box” to “empower consumers to choose how they…
Argus Leader
Online sales tax coming to your inbox
Argus Leader discusses the online sales tax with CEI's Jessica Melugin. In a letter to Congress in 2013, groups such as Americans for…
Blog
Congress Should Strip the FCC of the Power to Regulate Broadband Prices
The U.S. House of Representatives will soon vote on a bill known as the “No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act.” Just as…
Blog
Netflix’s Throttling Scandal: Possibly Illegal, But Not an FCC Matter
As one of the chief agitators behind the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) controversial effort to regulate Internet service providers like public utilities, Netflix has long portrayed…
Forbes
Protecting Our Semi-Privacy After The Department Of Justice Apple iPhone Hack
The Department of Justice-sponsored unlocking of the Apple iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino murderers without Apple’s help reaffirmed that an overly encryption-based…
Blog
The Sharing Economy Is More than Just Uber
In an article for The New York Times, columnist Farhad Manjoo worries that the Uber model of app-based service companies has run its course. He points out…
U.S. News & World Report
Apple Employees: Just Say No
The FBI is putting relentless pressure on Apple to hack the encrypted iPhone recovered from the San Bernardino shooters. For thwarting ongoing efforts to force…
Blog
After the Incentive Auction: Reimbursing Broadcasters for Channel Relocation Costs
This month, the FCC will kick off a much-awaited incentive auction that could reshape America’s airwaves.
Blog
FCC’s New Privacy Mandates – What’s Next, Internet Czar?
Today, the Federal Communications Commission unveiled a proposal to regulate how broadband providers may collect and use their customers’ information. If the FCC’s impending privacy…
Blog
Barack Obama as FCC Chairman
The saga of executive branch overreach continues, and we got a twofer today. The House Judiciary Task Force on Executive Overreach held a hearing this…
Blog
UnChartered Cronyism: The FCC’s Attempts to Block Cable Merger
When you hear about “crony capitalism,” what comes to mind? The Export-Import Bank? The ethanol mandate? Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Tax credits and loan…
Blog
The One Year Anniversary of Net Neutrality
In the pen and phone era, one of the many examples of the descent into arbitrary lawmaking influencing an entire sector of the economy is…
The Hill
Tech group sues feds over drone registrations
The Hill reports on CEI's response to the FAA's drone registration rules. Critics have been threatening to sue the FAA over the registration…
Blog
Permanent Moratorium on Internet Taxation in Customs Bill
Today the Senate voted 75-20 in favor of the conference report accompanying H.R. 644, the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, the so-called customs…
Blog
PITFA a Poor Hostage for Internet Sales Taxes
Despite the premise of many a political cartoon, U.S. senators aren’t stupid. But a few of them are hoping to bamboozle at least 60 of their…
Engadget
Confusion over FAA drone registry results in privacy problems
Engadget mentions Marc Scribner's statement in response to the FAA's refusal to allow public comments on its drone registration plan. The FAA decided to apply…
Letters
CEI Joins 20 Organizations Opposing Utah Internet Sales Tax Proposal
Full Document Available in PDF Dear Utah State legislator: On behalf of our organizations and the millions of citizens we represent, we…
Al Jazeera
US prepares skies to track recreational drones
Al Jazeera reports on the Federal Aviation Administrations rule requires operators of drones must have a permit, and quotes Marc Scribner's comments on the rule. …
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