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
Time’s up for the equal time rule
Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines “anachronism” as a person or thing that is chronologically out of place, “especially: one from a former age that is…
Blog
Otherwise Objectionable episode 6: ‘The Rest of the World’
The sixth episode of Otherwise Objectionable, the narrative-driven podcast that tells the true story of Section 230 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, focuses on…
Blog
How valuable will anonymous comments be to the Ferguson FTC?
Comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for its “Inquiry on Tech Censorship” are due next month on May 21, 2025, and the public has…
Search Posts
Op-Eds
Old Law vs. The New Economy: How New Deal-era Regulations Stifle Flexible Work Arrangements
Delong Article Published In Reason Magazine<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> In August 1997, a certain Mr. T. Trahan of CSC…
News Release
Senate Tackles E-Commerce Taxation
Washington, DC, August 1, 2001 – In testimony presented today to the Senate Committee on Finance, Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Comment
Michael Greve Testifies on Internet Sales Tax Issue
View Full Document as PDF Michael S. Greve cites CEI research in his testimony on Internet sales taxation before the U.S. Senate…
Products
Tax Simplification To What End? Today’s Simplification Could Be Tomorrow’s Higher Sales Taxes
From the August 2001 Edition of CEI Update ‘Tis a gift to be simple, so the song goes. But nothing…
Op-Eds
An Interest-rate Target With No Bull’s-eye: Kemp Nationally Syndicated Column
Nationally Syndicated Column Copley News Service Distributed by Copley News Service July 2, 2001 It's disconcerting to hear calls for…
News Release
Statements on the Microsoft Appeals Court Decision
James L. Gattuso<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Vice President for Policy Competitive Enterprise Institute …
News Release
New Study of Consumer Privacy and Survey Data Available
Competitive Enterprise Institute scholar Solveig Singleton and Privacilla.org editor James Harper today released the final version of their new study on consumer privacy surveys containing…
News Release
Surveys of Consumer Privacy Poor Foundation for Policy
Washington, DC, May 8, 2001— Competitive Enterprise Institute scholar Solveig Singleton and Privacilla.org editor James Harper today released a…
News Release
Jack Kemp Speaks Out on High Tech Regulation
Tyson’s Corner, VA, March 6, 2001- Jack Kemp, former GOP vice presidential candidate, Distinguished Fellow of the Washington, D.C. based Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
News Release
CEI Expert Testifies Before Congress on Privacy
Washington, D.C., March 1, 2001 – In testimony presented today to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Competitive Enterprise Institute senior analyst…
News Release
Gattuso Testifies on Future of Digital Television
Washington, D.C., March 1, 2001 – In testimony presented today to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,…
Products
Wall Street Speech Police
Late last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission implemented Regulation FD, a restriction meant to guarantee “fair disclosure” of corporate information to investors in publicly…
News Release
State Officials Rebuked for Regulatory Fervor Concerning Online Privacy
Washington DC, January 4, 2001 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute this week took state attorneys general to task for endorsing an extreme set…
Study
Tech Briefing 2001
High tech issues are at center stage in the 107th Congress. Broadband deployment, intellectual property, internet regulation and taxation, the “digital divide,”…
Op-Eds
The Govs Who Stole Christmas: Jessica Melugin Op-Ed
Chances are you purchased at least one gift over the Internet this Christmas season. The online shopping mall and research service Bizrate.com reported that shoppers…
News Release
FTC Considers Privacy Violation Charges Against Amazon
Washington, DC, December 6, 2000 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute today warned the commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission not to let…
Op-Eds
Melugin Letter To The FTC
December 5, 2000Robert PitofskyChairmanThe Federal Trade Commission600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.Washington, DC 20580 Dear Chairman Pitofsky: Recently, Amazon.com contacted its…
Study
Paging the New Congress: Demand-Driven Spectrum Reform at the FCC
On November 9, the Federal Communications Commission announced new plans for the distribution of the electromagnetic spectrum used by wireless communications companies. The…
Op-Eds
No Fool For Microsoft
Next February, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will sit en banc for two days to hear the appeal of United States…
Products
CEI Book Review: Lessig’s Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace
From the October/November issue of CEI UpDate Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace Lawrence Lessig Basic Books · 1999…
Op-Eds
High Tech Industry Suffers When Companies Curry Federal Favors
Delong Op-Ed on Tech Central Station. This week I was talking with Roger Cochetti, vice president of Network Solutions and experienced observer of…
Op-Eds
Antitrust Threat to New Technologies: Pieler Op-Ed in Washington Times
Published in the Washington Times <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> October 16, 2000 Nothing…
Op-Eds
Put a Lid on Antitrust Zealots: Pieler Deseret News Op-Ed
Published in the Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT) <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Distributed by Scripps Howard…
Citation
Government Should Protect Our Online Privacy
Op-Eds
Wired – Or Tangled? (Letter to the Editor)
Today’s monopoly electricity market is the result of conscious political design, not natural monopoly characteristics. A monopoly cannot sustain itself—and hardly is “natural”—if those who…
Op-Eds
Delay is Not a Four-Letter Word: Gattuso Op-Ed in Washington Times
Published in the Washington Times <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> October 2, 2000 …
Op-Eds
Supreme Court Gives Reality A Chance To Catch Up To Politics: DeLong Op-Ed
Distributed by Bridge News Service<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> September 29, 2000 Headline: By…
Op-Eds
Feds Should Make Web Cookie Crumble: Kemp Op-Ed in Seattle P-I
Published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Distributed by Copley News Service<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> September 27, 2000…
Op-Eds
Amazon.com Puts Consumers in Control: Melugin in TechCentralStation.com
Published in TechCentralStation.com<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> September 25, 2000 …
News Release
Gattuso/Singleton Letter to Rep. Tauzin on Reciprocal Compensation
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> September 11, 2000…
Products
Prohibition, Privacy & Protection: The Real Online Gamble
From the August/September 2000 issue of CEI UpDate. On August 10, Jay Cohen was sentenced to 21 months in prison and a $5,000 fine. His…
Products
Fannie and Freddie: Fiscal Frauds
From the August/September 2000 issue of CEI UpDate Those who fear that undue accumulations of power are destabilizing the American economy always…
Products
An Instant Message to AOL’s Competitors
From the August/September 2000 issue of CEI UpDate In late July, the Federal Communiations Commission held a hearing on issues…
Study
Publicity Value of Having Someone Do a Take-Off on Your Commercial: Priceless
Last week, MasterCard filed a $5 million law suit against Ralph Nader’s presidential campaign for piggybacking on its “Priceless” ad series. …
Op-Eds
Privacy Precepts Learned the Hard Way: Melugin Op-Ed in Washington Times
For recently bankrupt Toysmart.com, trying to liquidate its customer information database has been more like playing with matches than children’s toys. Last week’s…
Op-Eds
Swap New For Old: Congress Shouldn’t Impose Tired Rules On OTC Derivatives — Sheehan in IBD
Published in Investor’s Business Daily Published in Investor’s Business Daily August 9, 2000 America's continued financial leadership…
Op-Eds
Double-Click For Consumers: Melugin Op-Ed in Washington Times
Published in The Washington Times<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> August 1, 2000 “We…
Op-Eds
Child Online Protection Act Won’t Protect Our Children: Alban Op-Ed in Idaho Statesman
Published in The Idaho Statesman July 20, 2000 <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Who could be…
Op-Eds
Protecting Privacy on the Internet: Melugin Op-Ed in Washington Times
Published in the Washington Times<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> July 5, 2000 The…
Products
Politics & Privacy
New developments in the online-privacy debate are threatening to push federal and state bureaucrats’ desire for regulatory control to critical mass. Not only…
Products
Kemp — Real Tax Reform First: Don’t Tackle Net Taxation until We Overhaul the System
More than 100 million American adults now use the Internet, up from 65 million in mid-1998 and 84 million at the end of 1998. …
News Release
CEI Statement on the Microsoft Case
Washington, DC, June 7, 2000 – Today’s Microsoft verdict represents an unjustified assault on the information revolution and the welfare of consumers, in favor…
Op-Eds
James Gattuso Reviews “Winners, Losers and Microsoft”
Artemus Ward once remarked that the problem with the world isn’t what we don’t know: “It’s the things we know that just ain’t…
Products
Empowering Consumers on the Internet
The Federal Trade Commission’s latest online privacy report, released last month, calls for federal regulation of the way Internet companies collect and use…
Study
Empowering Consumers on the Internet: How Privacy-Protecting Technologies Have Rendered Regulation Unnecessary
The Federal Trade Commission’s latest online privacy report, released earlier this week, calls for federal regulation of the way Internet companies collect and…
Study
Internet Taxation: Why Wyden Won’t Wash
View Full Document as PDF After only three weeks of what apparently passes for congressional deliberation these days, the Internet tax…
Study
Internet Taxation: Controversy Likely to Continue
Less than a month after the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce (ACEC) delivered its report to Congress, the House Judiciary Committee has passed a…
Study
End the “Bank Anti-Secrecy” Assault on Financial Privacy
View Full Document as PDF Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers recently announced plans to ask Congress to greatly expand the powers of the…
Products
Judge Greene of the 21st Century?
The Justice Department’s plan was simple. Just break up the company into separate firms, based upon product lines. The parts with monopoly or bottleneck…
Products
Drop the Limits! Limits on Foreign Technology Workers Hurt America
The technology sector accounts for close to one-third of the productivity growth in today’s economy, but the pool of qualified American tech workers…
Citation
Government Wants Control of MS
News Release
Bust Up Microsoft? CEI Weighs In
Statement of James L. Gattuso, Vice President, and Clyde Wayne Crews, Director, Competition and Regulation Policy, April 28, 2000 “The extreme plan…
Op-Eds
Break up Microsoft? (Letter to the Editor)
To the Editor: Of course Paul Krugman is right, that, along with the loss of a uniform standard that allows many kinds of software to…
Op-Eds
Anti-Trust Law For Dummies
There's a secret to anti-trust law, but learning it isn't likely to reassure a high tech investor pondering the implications of the Microsoft verdict. The…
Op-Eds
The US versus Microsoft: Winners and Losers — Melugin Op-Ed in Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Let Consumers – Not the Government – Play Favorites…
News Release
Microsoft Stands Up for Consumers and Innovation
Washington, DC, April 3, 2000 – Consumers and the Competitive Enterprise Institute today praised Microsoft for refusing to sell out consumers’ interests by settling…
Products
California, Here They Come
Last month, I briefly visited the San Francisco Bay area. I’ve been in the region numerous times during the past few years, and each…
Study
Internet Sales Taxation: Beyond the Moratorium
The Internet sales tax debate has been between the National Governors Association’s proposal to grant states the power of remote taxation and the…
Study
Antitrust Not On Internet Time: Microsoft Remedies Discount Serious Competitive Threats
Many have come to believe that the technology industry requires strict governmental policing of allegedly anti-competitive behavior. But today’s software and Internet companies…
Study
Privacy Disclosure Requirements: Boon or Bane?
View Full Document as PDF Après Reg P: Le Deluge–You’ve Got (Lots of) Mail The booming US economy demonstrates the…
Op-Eds
Rocket Fuel for Tech Stocks
Delong Op-Ed in Tech Central Station Last week, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair harrumphed about ownership rights in human genetic research, and biotech…
News Release
Institute Proposes ‘Golden Rule’ of E-Commerce
Washington, DC, March 20, 2000 – “I urge the Advisory Commission of Electronic Commerce to do the right thing this week and oppose taxation…
Products
Keep Internet Privacy Privatized
The Federal Trade Commission announced to some fanfare recently it would be investigating various health care Web sites, along with Internet advertising agency DoubleClick,…
Op-Eds
Don’t Tax the Net: Fred Smith in Economic Affairs
Published in Economic Affairs, the journal of the Institute of Economic Affairs<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Edited…
News Release
High Tech Expert Joins CEI
Washington, DC, February 2, 2000 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute announced today that Jessica Melugin has joined the staff as a Policy Analyst. Prior…
Products
AOL Time Warner? Not Big Enough for Tomorrow’s Internet
The America Online-Time Warner alliance is important not just for its size nor for the synergy it may create. It demonstrates in the real…
Study
Windows and the “Applications Barrier to Entry”: Fact or Fantasy?
View Full Document as PDF Very soon, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson is expected to issue his conclusions of law…
Study
The Future of Financial Privacy
Chapters Now Available In PDF Format In The Future of Financial Privacy, a new book from the Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
News Release
CEI to Commission: Don’t Shackle E-Commerce with Taxes
Washington, DC, December 14, 1999 – Internet taxes would cause irreparable harm to the New Economy, millions of Internet consumers, and the cause of…
Study
Privacy and Human Rights: Comparing the United States to Europe
One premise shaping the debate about privacy law in the United States is that the European Data Protection Directive is a more advanced…
Products
In the Dark at Sun
Products
Method to Telecom Merger Madness
The telecommunications world was rocked in October with news of the merger between MCI-WorldCom and Sprint–in dollar terms the largest merger in US history.
Products
Rush to Tax Could Produce Net Loss
In the great Kurosawa Akira movie, The Seven Samurai, a bandit gang rides to a hillside and looks down on a small village. One…
Comment
Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce
Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce September 14-15, 1999 New York, New York Executive Summary Statement of Frances B. Smith Executive Director, Consumer Alert September 9,…
Op-Eds
New Pricing Plans Are Good
This isn’t your father’s telecommunications market. Long-distance pricing was once onesize-fits-all, with high, distance-sensitive rates cast in stone by regulators. Now that is changing, as…
Study
Microsoft Trial: The Heat is On
View Full Document as PDF This summer, the heat is on Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson even more than the rest of…
Study
The Data Access Law: Promoting Accountability and Privacy
With the passage of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in 1966, our society decided to promote government transparency: what is done in government’s name…
Op-Eds
Closing Electronic Frontiers?
On May 6, the world of telecommunications was rocked by the announcement of AT&T’s $54 billion acquisition of MediaOne, the nation’s fourth-largest cable television company.
Op-Eds
Enemies Of The Stasis
Full Article Available in PDF Format Executive Summary Virginia Postrel's excellent book “The Future and Its Enemies” details the…
News Release
Jack Kemp Named Distinguished Fellow At Competitive Enterprise Institute
Washington, DC, April 29, 1999 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute is pleased to announce that the Honorable Jack Kemp has been named CEI’s first…
News Release
The Case Against The Case Against Microsoft: New Study Criticizes DOJ Case
Washington, DC, April 27, 1999 – Are Microsoft’s current business practices hurting consumers? A new study by Barry Fagin, Senior Fellow in Technology Policy…
Energy Central
CEI Analyst Says Scrap Open Access Legislation
Energy Central
Is More Privacy a Good Idea? (Letter to the Editor)
To the Editor: Amitai Etzioni (“Privacy. Isn’t Dead Yet,” Op-Ed, April 6) vastly understates the availability of technologies that provide “cyberspace anonymity.” His worries about…
Study
The Case Against The Case Against Microsoft
Full Document Available in PDF The current antitrust case against Microsoft has…
Op-Eds
The New Trustbusters
Joel Klein is a famous man. The head of the Antitrust Division at the U.S. Department of Justice usually toils in anonymity, known only…
Study
A Defective Product: Consumer Groups’ Study of Microsoft In Need of Recall
View Full Document as PDF Consumer groups are supposed to be on the side of consumers. But three such groups – the…
Energy Central
Customers Granted Microsoft its 90 Percent Market Share
Op-Eds
Mandatory Open Access for Electricity: Is there a better way?
“Mandatory open access to the power grid is the wrong paradigm for restructuring. Although open access is advocated by virtually all of today’s reformers, it…
Op-Eds
Government Research Funding And Economic Distortion
Full Chapter Available in PDF Format Executive Summary Science and technology are good things. Still, there are many good…
Study
Why Robert Bork Is Wrong:
Is there a clear legal precedent for the successful prosecution of Microsoft? Robert H. Bork seems to think so. He has stated emphatically…
Study
Computers and Competition: A Primer for Congress
With a new Microsoft hearing in the Senate on Thursday, legislators should keep in mind some crucial facts that argue against interference in…
Products
Derivatives Regulation: Problems and Prospects
Derivatives regulation in the United States is a jumble of legal fields, including banking, securities, commodities, and bankruptcy law. And any time multiple areas…
Study
Bill, Bob, and Browsers: Why DOJ’s Case Against Microsoft is Flawed
While Microsoft has been pilloried by newspaper pundits, a trial court judge, and other alleged computer experts for not submitting to the federal government,…
Study
Network Effects: Does Luck or Talent Rule the High-Technology Market?
Does luck matter more than talent in the marketplace after all? Many of today’s calls for antitrust interference in the marketplace are rooted in a…
Op-Eds
Coveted Internet Cash Cow?
Published in the Washington Times <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> January 30, 1998 Excerpted in…
News Release
Ralph Nader’s Anti-Microsoft Campaign Hurts Consumers
WASHINGTON, DC, November 12 , 1997 — The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) suspects that Ralph Nader does not speak for all consumers in his…
Products
Whose Information Is It Anyway?
Everyone is for privacy, but not everyone agrees what “privacy” means. Privacy as used in popular parlance can become little more than an…
News Release
James Gattuso Joins CEI as Vice President
Washington, D. C., December 22nd, 1997 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) announced today that James Gattuso has joined the staff as Vice President…
Products
Playing Politics With ATMs
If you’ve ever said to yourself, "There ought to be a law," then you have a friend in the U.S. Senate, and his name…
News Release
Antitrust Enforcement Punishes Consumers, Protects Business
Two new publications from the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Antitrust Reform Project unmask antitrust law as a bad deal for consumers. Though purported to regulate…
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