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
DMA has its head in the Clouds
This week, the European Commission (EC) announced that Amazon’s AWS and Microsoft’s Azure Cloud services are being preliminarily designated as “gatekeepers” under the Digital…
Blog
The oasis in America’s affordability desert: Broadband gets faster while prices fall
Americans are understandably worried about affordability. Housing, health care, utilities, and groceries have all become more expensive in recent years, stretching household budgets…
Blog
Time to end the SEC’s surveillance of everybody’s finances
Today is the deadline for filing regulatory comments on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) program. The CAT is a…
Search Posts
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 8): The Essential Elements of Non-Destructive Rulemaking
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 7): Mandatory Dumb Pipes? But Why Sacrifice Genius?
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Real Clear Policy
The Feds Should Stay Out of the CBS Blackout
From Los Angeles to New York, 3 million Americans in eight U.S. cities haven't been able to watch CBS on cable for weeks, because of…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 6): Does “Market Failure” Demand Neutrality Regulation?
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 5): The Fallacies Motivating Net Neutrality
(Note: On September 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of…
Blog
CEI Podcast for August 22, 2013: Germany Legalizes Bitcoin
Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray discusses Germany's decision to legalize Bitcoin, a controversial digital currency. With the euro's future up in the air, competing…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 4): FCC Order Creates Political Vulnerability for All Market Participants
(Note: On Septe. 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of the…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 3): The FCC’s Disdain for Markets
(Note: On September 9, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 2): An Alternative Case for Agency Neutrality
(Note: On Sept. 9, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s…
Real Clear Policy
Is It Time to Fire the House and Senate Intelligence Committees
But instead of being given a voice, opponents of giving the NSA more power through CISPA were ridiculed by the Committee. Chairman Rogers (R-MI)…
Blog
Before Net Neutrality Eats the World, Part 1: Net Neutrality vs. Infrastructure Wealth
On September 9, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon's…
Letters
Coalition Letter in Support of the Amash Amendment
Full Document Available in PDF Dear Member of the U.S. House of Representatives: We write to urge you to vote yes on…
News Release
Free Market Coalition Urges House to Defund Suspicionless NSA Spying
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 24, 2013 – A free-market coalition today urged members of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote yes on Reps. Justin Amash…
Blog
CEI Podcast for July 18, 2013: The NSA Gets Sued
In the wake of the NSA’s spying scandal, several groups are filing a lawsuit challenging the NSA’s actions as unconstitutional. Associate Director of Technology Studies…
Real Clear Policy
Apple, Facebook, Google and others urge greater government transparency
More than 50 parties signed the letter, including the ACLU, American Library Association, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Demand Progress, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Human Rights Watch, Salesforce.com,…
Blog
The FTC’s Uneasy Relationship With Innovation
The Sherman and Clayton Acts form the backbone of U.S. antitrust policy. But another piece of legislation gives the government the power to regulate business…
Real Clear Policy
Should you worry about AT&T gobbling up Cricket?
But Fred Campbell, a former FCC staffer and an analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, disagrees. He contends that Leap’s business strategy, which focuses on…
Blog
The Apple E-Book Ruling and Antitrust Absurdity
A recent ruling against Apple over its e-book pricing policies highlights the absurdity of antitrust laws, as I point out in the Daily Caller:…
Blog
DHS Secretary Napolitano Resigns, TSA Body Scanner Scandal Remains Unresolved
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is resigning to become president of the University of California system. Republican politicians such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)…
News Release
CEI Expert to Speak at ‘Restore the Fourth’ Rally Tomorrow
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 3, 2013 – Ryan Radia, Associate Director of CEI’s Center for Technology & Innovation, will speak at tomorrow’s Restore the…
Blog
CEI Podcast for June 26, 2013: TSA Full-Body Scanner Transparency
Fellow in Land-use and Transportation Studies Marc Scribner discusses the TSA's lack of transparency and the scanners' ineffectiveness in deterring terrorism.
Blog
E-Verify: A Boon for Lawyers, Bad for Employers
I have written extensively about the threats to Americans’ civil liberties from E-Verify, the employment verification system contained within the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform (CIR)…
Blog
E-Verify National ID System Threatens Americans’ Privacy
“I’m not a criminal, so there’s really no reason for me to be in a criminal database.” That was James Shepherd, a Kentucky native…
Forbes
The Blackberry Q10 Delivers As Mike Lazaridis Reflects
I first met Mike Lazaridis, the retired co-CEO and founder of Research in Motion (RIM), in 1991 when I was a rogue marketing manager at…
Forbes
The Real Reason Amazon Flip-Flopped On Internet Sales Taxes
Proponents of the Marketplace Fairness Act claim it’s about fairness to traditional retailers and cash-strapped states. But the flip-flop by Amazon.com, now one of…
Forbes
FCC again balks on telephone network shutdown
According to Fred Campbell of the Competitive Enterprise Institute and a former bureau chief at the FCC, Friday’s notice is “more likely to…
Blog
Sorry, Daily Beast: E-Verify Will Be National ID
Daily Beast blogger Justin Green, who blogs on columnist David Frum’s Daily Beast blog, has responded to Wired’s recent article “Biometric Database of All…
Blog
Correcting Misconceptions about Autonomous Vehicles: Reason Magazine Edition
In the June issue of Reason, one of my favorite publications, Greg Beato has an article discussing the public policy implications of autonomous vehicles, such…
Blog
First Amendment Menace: Obama Administration to Expand Americans with Disabilities Act over Websites?
Can websites be forced to change to accommodate the disabled -- by using "simpler language" to appeal to the "intellectually disabled," or by making…
Forbes
Online sales-tax bill faces web of opposition in U.S. House
But Jessica Melugin, an adjunct policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington, D.C., public-policy group, said that would place an unfair burden on…
Forbes
US Senate approves Internet sales tax
Opposing the bill are several trade groups and Internet companies, including TechAmerica, the Financial Services Roundtable, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, eBay, Etsy, the Information Technology…
Blog
Housing Nominee Watt Flunks Privacy And Transparency Tests
Two prerequisites for any nominee for government posts is dedication to transparency in government and a respect for the privacy of citizens. Before we get…
Forbes
Jones aims to curb cyber-snooping
Under CISPA, private emails and a user’s Internet browser history could be sent to the federal government. Users would have no way of knowing whether…
Forbes
Gay Marriage, Polygamy, Bestiality, Abortion, Infanticide, Pot, Foie Gras, Plastic Bags, Big Gulps and Democracy
Consider the following list: 1) Marry someone of your same gender, 2) join a harem, 3) have sex with your donkey, 4) kill your baby the…
Forbes
The Internet Sales Tax Reveals Its Foolish Head Yet Again
They’re at it again: On Monday, the U.S. Senate voted 74-20 to proceed with debate on the “Marketplace Fairness Act.” The act would permit states…
Forbes
Pass CISPA. Don’t Pass a Big, Messy Copyright Bill
There’s still the matter of a new FCC chairman. It’s important that we get a humble FCC chairman, not a wild-eyed activist. A letter…
Forbes
The Circuit: MetroPCS shareholders approve T-Mobile deal
The letter, dated April 23, is signed by TechFreedom as well as Heritage Action, Americans for Tax Reform and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “We urge…
Blog
Separate Security Cameras and State
In his column today, The Wall Street Journal‘s Gordon Crovitz notes the significant help that video footage played in helping police identify the Boston…
Blog
CEI Podcast For April 18, 2013: CISPA Is The Wrong Approach To Cybersecurity
Today, the House passed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2013 (CISPA). Associate Director of Technology Studies Ryan Radia opposes the bill.
Study
Facts on the Marketplace Fairness Act (S. 743, formerly S. 336)
As the Marketplace Fairness Act winds its way through Congress, lawmakers should, at the very least, take into consideration concerns raised by opponents. That is…
News Release
CISPA Voids Private Contracts, Undermines Rule of Law
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 17, 2013 — The U.S. House of Representatives will soon vote on final passage of H.R. 624, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing…
E-Commerce Times
Google Bends to Dodge European Blow
It now seems that Google has offered to refrain from featuring its own content, Ryan Radia, analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told…
Blog
Americans Reject Actual E-Verify System
Imagine there was a free program that could guarantee for employers a legal workforce and eliminate illegal immigration. Would you favor such a system? Yes…
Blog
CEI Podcast For April 4, 2013: Reining In The CFAA
Under the CFAA, it is currently a federal crime to enter an incorrect age on your Facebook profile or an incorrect weight on a dating…
Forbes
Barack Obama’s BRAIN Initiative Vs. Bioengineered Gills And One-Wheeled SegWays
In a widely reported announcement, President Barack Obama outlined a major research initiative to map the human brain, building on…
Red Alert Politics
TSA finally agrees to comply with 2011 court order requiring them to take comments on use of full body scanners
“I wouldn’t applaud TSA for doing this since they were required by the D.C. Circuit to open this proceeding by the end of the month,”…
Red Alert Politics
Bills would require warrants for police to use GPS tracking
Groups voicing support for the GPS Act include the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans for Tax Reform’s DigitalLiberty.net, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Electronic Frontier…
Blog
Vitter Amendment To Ban Drug Patent Settlements Would Raise Pharmaceutical Prices
With time running out for the Senate to act on a continuing budget resolution, members are trying to find some magic pot of money that…
News Release
Senate Vote on Internet Sales Tax Endangers Small Business
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 22, 2013 – Today, the U.S. Senate voted to approve an amendment to the Senate Budget Resolution surreptitiously meant as a pathway…
Blog
Labor’s Loss: Secret Ballot Protection Advances In Virginia
This week Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell struck a little heralded — but much needed — blow for privacy rights in the Old Dominion by signing two…
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