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
The GUARD Act dis-GUARDs the First Amendment and competition
When looking at Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) GUARD Act (S. 3062 – Guidelines for User Age-verification and Responsible Dialogue Act), the puns write themselves.
Blog
An easy win possible on affordability for California regulators
Whether “affordability” is a serious policy prescription or just a campaign buzzword remains to be seen, but California’s Public Utilities Commission has a golden opportunity…
Blog
Congress needs to curtail the FCC’s public interest authority
How do we know when a broadcaster is acting in the “public interest”? Under current law, the answer is simple: when the Federal Communications Commission…
Search Posts
Blog
Settlement: FTC Ends Google Antitrust Investigation
Today, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) cleared Google of accusations of "Search Bias," and inappropriately harming rivals. The investigation lasted nearly…
News Release
Web Users Dodge Bullet as FTC Closes Google Probe
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 3, 2013 — Today, the Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement with Google, marking the end of a two-year antitrust probe…
ARS Technica
Senator introduces bill to regulate data caps
Ryan Radia and Fred Campbell, technology policy experts at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, argue against a bill sponsored by…
ARS Technica
Senator introduces bill to regulate data caps
But Ryan Radia of the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute was less enthusiastic about Wyden's proposal. He believes that data caps can serve useful purposes beyond…
Forbes
Lesson From The Google Case: There Is No Such Thing As Antitrust Policy
“Don’t get Scroogled‘” Seen that one yet? It’s a Microsoft Bing TV ad criticizing Google‘s search results for causing a kitchen fire. It’s cute, emblematic…
The Washington Times
Internet sales taxes attack states’ rights
Proponents of Internet sales taxes are asking the lame-duck Congress to bless their state tax cartel as part of a larger tax reform package by…
News Release
Decades-Old ECPA Needs Update, CEI Urges
Washington, D.C., November 29, 2012 — This morning, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on an amendment to the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy…
The Washington Times
Petraeus: Poster child for email privacy
Nojeim’s group, meanwhile, is playing a leading role in the Digital Due…
The Washington Times
Tech Policy in 2013 Roundtable
The event is the first in a series of three roundtables exploring “Tech Policy in 2013,” co-hosted by TechFreedom and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The…
Blog
D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh Still Doesn’t Understand Driverless Cars
Last Sunday, The Washington Post published my op-ed criticizing the approach taken by Councilmember Mary Cheh's introduced legislation to legalize driverless cars in Washington,…
Blog
CEI Podcast For November 1, 2012: Is Google’s Search Dominance Permanent?
Associate Director of Technology Studies Ryan Radia argues that Google's current dominance as an Internet search engine service is a fragile thing. Creative destruction is…
CNET
Google is many things — but not an illegal monopoly
The Internet market is notoriously dynamic. Its giants rise and fall far faster than their brick-and-mortar counterparts. This dynamism perplexes and worries many — especially…
Tech News World
EU Gives Google a Privacy To-Do List
The list of potential uses will be long, complex and no doubt written in legalese, which the consumer will gloss over, predicted Radia. "I can't…
Tech News World
Google Antitrust Case Could Come From FTC by End of 2012: Report
From Todd R. Weiss’ article in eWeek: The settlement was criticized by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, an industry group, as “a dangerously overbroad…
CNET
Verizon Draws Fire for Monitoring App Usage, Browsing Habits
From Declan McCullagh's article in CNet: Ryan Radia, associate director of technology studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute think tank, agrees with the…
CNET
On Tap Today
The Communications & Liberty Innovation Project and Competitive Enterprise Institute host a panel on Internet transformation, with an introduction by FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai.
Blog
At Brookings, Susan Crawford Fostering Internet Competition
Yesterday, the Brookings Institute held a panel that purported to discuss “Fostering Internet Competition”. But who is to do the fostering? Federal regulators, of course.
Blog
FCC Broadband Test May Enable Warrantless Snooping, Coalition Warns
Consumers who test their broadband connections on a government website may be turning over information that could allow law enforcement agencies to review their Internet activity…
Letters
Coalition Letter to FCC on Broadband Tests
Full Document Available in PDF We, the undersigned public interest organizations, write to express our strong concerns regarding the consumer privacy risks…
Blog
RIP Prince Roy of Sealand, Seasteading Pioneer
For as long as there have been states, there have been people seeking to escape state authority. Throughout most of history, such escape has meant…
News Release
FCC Broadband Test May Enable Warrantless Snooping, Coalition Warns
WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 10, 2012 – Consumers who test their broadband connections on a government website may be turning over information that could allow…
Blog
Celebrate National Cybersecurity Month!
The summer may be over, but don’t put the barbecue away yet -- the president just declared this October “National Cybersecurity Month.” It’s the…
Blog
Japan’s War On Copyright Infringment
Japan is one-upping the U.S. when it comes to draconian copyright enforcement. The BBC reports that an amendment to Japan’s copyright law approved…
Blog
Google Fiber Project: A Product Of The Free Market Or Government Interference?
Google will soon launch Google Fiber service to select residents in Kansas City. Fred Campbell, Director of CEI’s Communications Liberty and Innovation Project, lauded…
CNET
Market demand knocks down regulatory barriers in Kansas City fiber deployment
In response to my analysis of Google Fiber, Timothy B. Lee at Ars Technica says the Google Fiber deployment is “hardly an example of the…
Blog
In Rejecting EPIC’s Petition On TSA’s Strip-Search Machines, Court Effectively Orders Rulemaking Timetable
This afternoon, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s (EPIC) petition for writ of mandamus, which called on the court…
Blog
Driverless Cars Legalized In California
Just after 1pm PDT, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law SB 1298, which explicitly legalizes the use and testing of driverless cars in the…
Blog
Copyright Bots Are Here To Stay
A string of mistaken, high-profile takedowns has caused some talk about the services video hosting sites like Ustream and YouTube use to police…
Denver Post
A victory for e-book buyers
From The Denver Post: The settlement orders the publishers to end their contracts with Apple and allow retailers to set their own prices…
Denver Post
Obama, Romney unlikely to share Bush’s space-travel ambitions
From Gus Taylor’s article in The Washington Times: “The real problem is Congress. They don’t really care about actually doing anything in space,”…
Blog
Science And Technology Policy And The Democratic Convention
Now it's the Democrats' turn to gather for their convention in Charlotte and one element of the platform in common with basic Republican philosophy is…
Denver Post
Congress looks at sales taxes for online purchases
From Burton Speakman’s article in Vindy: Jessica Melugin, an adjunct analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, argued it would be burdensome to ask online…
Blog
Regulation Of The Day 227: Returning From The Moon
When Armstrong, Aldrin, and Michael Collins returned to Earth after the Apollo 11 mission, they actually filled out a customs form.
Denver Post
Tech issues infuse RNC and DNC platforms
From Ted Johnson’s article in Variety: Fred Campbell, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Communications, Liberty and Innovation Project, said that the significance…
Blog
Solyndra In Space?
Here we go again. It's unfortunate that so many conservatives are opposed to competitive markets in spaceflight, to the point that they are willing to…
Daily Caller
GOP Platform includes Internet Freedom, language indicates influence of Rand Paul and libertarian-Republicans
From Josh Peterson's article in The Daily Caller: The GOP efforts are currently being modeled on the recent stance taken by the Ron…
Human Events
Internet Freedom Enters the Final Draft of the GOP Platform
From John Hayward's post in Human Events: These ideals have gained increasing support from many quarters of the libertarian and conservative movements, and…
Human Events
Facebook And FTC Agree Settlement Over Privacy Row
From Nathan Eddy’s post in TechWeekEurope: The FTC said it took action after Google violated a previous settlement with the…
QC Online
Editorial: Naked truth about TSA
From an editorial in The Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus: The fact that TSA is pursuing the case is no surprise given…
Blog
Capitalism In Space
Over at National Review Online today, I have a piece on the current state of play in U.S. human spaceflight. It’s…
Blog
CEI Podcast For August 9, 2012: Getting TSA To Follow The Law
When the TSA installed full-body scanners in airports across the country, they did so illegally. Land-use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner explains how a…
E Week
Google $22.5M Settlement With FTC Over Privacy Criticized by Industry Group
From Robert J. Mullin's article in eWeek: A group promoting competitive innovation on the Internet has criticized the FTC’s “headline-grabbing settlement” for $22.5…
News Release
FTC’s Record Fine Sends Ominous Warning to Internet Innovators
Washington, D.C., August 9, 2012 − Google will pay $22.5 million to settle an FTC complaint claiming the company misled Safari users about its…
Blog
When Violations Of The Law Have No Remedy: The Case Of Warrantless Wiretapping
Yesterday, in Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, Inc. v. Obama, a panel for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal government did not…
E Week
Womack Seeks to Close Quill Loophole, Force Online Stores to Pay State Sales Tax
From Neil McCabe’s column in Townhall: Christie said taxation of online sales an important issue to all the nation’s governors and endorsed federal…
Blog
Update On TSA’s Lawlessness Over Body Scanners
As I noted previously, the Transportation Security Administration has failed to comply with a court order demanding that they initiate a notice-and-comment rulemaking regarding…
Blog
CEI Podcast For August 2, 2012: Cybersecurity Bill Fails
Today the Senate shot down a controversial cybersecurity bill that Associate Director of Technology Policy Studies Ryan Radia believes would have been a disaster.
McClatchy DC
TSA Flouts the Law on Body Scanners
Also appeared in: The Charlotte Observer, Tulsa World, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Press of Atlantic City, and Juneau Empire. For more than…
Daily Caller
Cyber Bill Shouldn’t Gut Private Contracts
(Written with TechFreedom president Berin Szoka) Days before August recess, Senate Democrats are scrambling to pass legislation creating a…
Daily Caller
State of the Web: Which vision of an ‘open Internet’ would you fight for?
The physical layer of the Internet is owned by a tight cabal of powerful corporations that includes behemoths like AT&T and Verizon Communications. During the…
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