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 compound interest of innovation: Wi-Fi and the power of unlicensed spectrum
Investors understand the power of compound interest. Over time, small gains accumulate into exponential growth. Innovation often works the same way. One breakthrough creates the…
Blog
The Little Red Hen goes digital: No data centers, no internet
The politics of data centers increasingly resemble the fable of The Little Red Hen. Everyone wants the bread — AI, cloud computing, streaming, financial…
Blog
From Ma Bell to FaceTime: Why the next Telecom Act must embrace innovation over regulation
This year is the 30th anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Telecom Act), a landmark law that Congress is considering updating. Lawmakers should…
Search Posts
Blog
TSA Chatterboxes Not as Friendly as they Seem
You may get some extra-special attention from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in the near future — but this isn’t just another pat-down or…
Comment
Written Submission Of the Competitive Enterprise Institute Regarding the Telecom & High Tech Manufacturing Sector
Full Document Available in PDF Commerce Secretary…
Study
Freedom of Information vs Right to Privacy
The free movement of information throughout the economy and in government benefits Arizonans as citizens and consumers. At the same time, the right to privacy…
Comment
Comments on Telemarketing Rulemaking Comment Before the FTC
The Competitive Enterprise Institute has several concerns about the FTC’s proposal to create a Do Not Call registry. Part I outlines existing Do Not Call…
Letters
Letter to Assistant AG on Microsoft Settlement
The staff of the Antitrust Division has designated a limited set of comments on the proposed settlement as “major.” It plans to engage in special…
News Release
Award-Winning Space Policy Expert Rand Simberg Joins CEI as Adjunct Scholar
Washington, DC, August 2, 2011 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute is pleased to announce space policy expert Rand Simberg has joined CEI as an…
Comment
Echostar Communications Corporation and Hughes Electronics Corp.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute is a non-profit public policy organization dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government. Since its beginning in…
Study
Hidden Truth: The Perils and Protection of Off-Label Drug and Medical Device Promotion
Full Document Available in PDF What can you do if you learn you have a life-threatening…
Blog
Mandatory Data Retention Rears its Ugly Head Again
This morning the House Judiciary Committee began markup on H.R. 1981, the “Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011,” which would among other things force…
News Release
Free Market Coalition Opposes Digital Dragnet
Washington, D.C., July 27, 2011 — This morning, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary will mark up H.R. 1981, a bill that…
Cop Block
Alyona Show: How to Cop Proof Your Cell Phone
News Release
House Holds Hearing Today on Future of Cybersecurity
The House Energy and Commerce Committee is today conducting a hearing on “Cybersecurity: An Overview of Risks to Critical Infrastructure.” The following is a…
Blog
Why Not the Era of Innovation?
On Thursday, Russia boasted that the world was now moving into the “Era of the Soyuz.” With the landing of the last U.S. shuttle, the…
Economic Times of India
Will Rivals Do to Google What Facebook Did to MySpace?
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition in Support of the Wireless Tax Fairness Act
Full Document Available as PDF CEI has signed a letter along with a coalition of other…
Bellingham (WA) Herald
Government to Google: All Search Results Must Appear First
According to legend, when Winston Churchill and his lifelong foe Clement Attlee ran into each other at a row of urinals in the House of…
Bellingham (WA) Herald
Scientists Developing Fungus-Resistant Wheat
Blog
Regulation of the Day 182: PowerPoint Presentations
A political party in Switzerland is seeking to ban Microsoft PowerPoint presentations in meetings.
Blog
Amazon.com Fights Board of Equalization
Amazon.com is standing strong against California’s attempts to extort money from the online bookseller. Just a few days ago, Governor Jerry Brown (…
Blog
Restricting Your Right to Superlatives: Anna Eshoo and the FCC
A California Democrat is seeking to expand the bureaucracy of the FCC in order to protect Americans from dropped calls. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.)…
Blog
Going to Jail for Linking? What Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s S. 978 Could Mean for You
Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved S. 978, a bill that would expand the scope of felony criminal copyright infringement under…
Blog
Tyranny in Farmville
Two days ago, the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog filed an anti-trust complaint with the FTC seeking an investigation of Facebook’s allegedly anti-competitive practices. These…
Mercury News
Why Google probe should worry consumers
Is Google too big? Some government officials in Washington, D.C., certainly seem to think so. Last week, the Federal Trade Commission launched a formal…
Ecomerce Times
1plusV Lobs Another Antitrust Grenade at Google
News Release
CEI Experts Respond to Today’s Senate Hearing on Consumer Data Security
Washington, D.C., June 29, 2011 – Today, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing on “Privacy and Data Security: Protecting…
Blog
Supreme Court: California’s Ban on Violent Video Game Sales to Minors Violates Free Speech
California's ban on the sale or rental of violent video games to minors has been struck down by the Supreme Court as a violation…
News Release
Conservative, Libertarian Leaders Discuss Regulatory Burdens, Fiscal and Privacy Concerns of Mandatory E-Verify Legislation
Washington, D.C. — On Thursday, June 30th, conservative and libertarian leaders will host a press conference call on controversial immigration enforcement legislation the House Judiciary…
News Release
FTC Assaults Free Enterprise With Google Investigation
Washington, D.C., June 24, 2011 — Today, Google disclosed that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has initiated a formal investigation of the company’s business…
Ecomerce Times
Catching Air Without NASA: How Will We Regulate Commercial Space Flight?
What if having a vibrant space program requires bypassing NASA? There exist great pressures for change despite NASA’s signature successes. The private experimental launches…
Tech News World
FCC Aims to Get Carriers’ Sticky Fingers Out of Customers’ Pockets
Blog
LulzSec and Bitcoin Confusion
Two things most people have never heard of before have been in the news recently: Bitcoin and LulzSec. Over the weekend the largest Bitcoin exchange,…
Blog
Where Do TSA-Confiscated Items Go?
The TSA has a habit of confiscating security-unrelated items. Over at The American Spectator, I recall just such an experience that I had at O'Hare.
Blog
Life, Liberty, and Internet?
Josh Smith reports in National Journal that Representative Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), has proposed legislation to provide subsidized Internet services to low-income Americans. The…
CDT
A Sledgehammer, a Silver Bullet, or Something in Between? Experts Debate ‘Do Not Track’
News Release
Think Tank Applauds Location Privacy Legislation
Today U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) introduced the Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance (GPS) Act to better protect Americans’…
News Release
Radia to Speak at CFP2011 Panel on Do Not Track Regulation
Washington, D.C., June 14, 2011 — CEI Associate Director of Technology Studies Ryan Radia is speaking today at the 2011 “Computers, Freedom & Privacy”…
Blog
The Last Nail in the Coffin for the Fairness Doctrine?
In response to calls by lawmakers for the Fairness Doctrine and related measures to be permanently removed from the Federal Register, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski…
Blog
California Social Networking Bill In Its Death Throes
In Sacramento, California, a bill that would regulate social networking is reportedly on its death bed after failing by five votes last week. The online…
Blog
Dismantling Sarbanes-Oxley
My colleague Ryan Radia and I recently wrote in an editorial for Investor's Business Daily that the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act should be dismantled for the…
News Release
Free Market Groups Applaud Proposed Privacy Law Reforms
Washington, D.C., May 17, 2011 – Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) today introduced legislation (S. 1011) to reform the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). The…
Blog
PROTECT IP Act: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Combating "rogue websites" is a top priority for many in Congress this year. Lawmakers have held several hearings over the past few months…
News Release
CEI Calls PROTECT IP Act “an Improvement” Over COICA
Today, three U.S. Senators introduced the PROTECT IP Act (bill text), which would establish new mechanisms for combating “rogue” Internet sites that are…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 173: Yellow Pages
San Francisco is phasing out the distribution of hard-copy Yellow Pages.
Blog
The FCC is Broken
A new report in The Hill notes House Republicans’ concern over “dysfunction” at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the need for overhaul. Their…
Seattle PI
Telecom deal not clear as a bell
The Washington Times
State Cartel Looking to Hike Internet Taxes
A handful of U.S. senators are teeing up legislation to capture more tax revenue on Internet purchases. Certainly there are valid (and some not so…
Blog
Laura Ingraham on Protecting Email from Unwarranted Governmental Access
On Wednesday, I appeared on the Laura Ingraham Show to discuss the Obama administration's stance on reforming the 1986 law that governs law enforcement access…
Statesman
Texas Lawmakers Should Reject a Tax on Satellite TV
No one likes new taxes especially ones that don't make sense. Unfortunately, politicians never seem to learn this simple lesson. Lawmakers in Austin are…
Blog
YouTube Introduces “Copyright School” to Educate Infringing Users
In the ongoing copyright debates, areas of common ground are seemingly few and far between. It's easy to forget that not all approaches to…
Heartland
FCC Issues CA Man $7,000 Forfeiture Order
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