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
Camelot and misuse of the public interest
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr has used the Communications Act’s public interest obligation to pressure broadcast licensees. This includes threatening ABC over…
Reason
5 Legal Reforms To Consider as Government Officials Lean on Critics
Reason cited CEI’s expert in new study on broadcasting regulation Also making that point is the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Brian A. Rankin in a …
News Release
New CEI paper: FCC should stop regulating news content
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has long used its role in licensing spectrum to broadcast television and radio stations to regulate those outlets under the…
Search Posts
Blog
Obama Signs Hate-Crimes Bill Into Law; Critics Say It Circumvents Constitutional Safeguards Against Double Jeopardy
Today, President Obama signed into law a bill that will dramatically expand the federal hate crimes law, enabling prosecutors to bring federal charges against…
Blog
Another Bill to Block Net Neutrality
Net Neutrality’s opponents are fighting back. Last week it was John McCain’s “Internet Freedom Act,” and yesterday, Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced…
Blog
Competition in Wireless Communication: Android Edition
The New York Times reports that several cell phone manufacturers are turning to Google’s free operating system, Android, to run on their upcoming smartphone…
Newsletter
Web Giants Battle over Networks, Obama on Climate and New Financial Regulations
Google and AT&T battle over web rules. President Obama won’t talk climate change at UN negotiations in Copenhagen. The House Financial Services Committee votes to…
Newsletter
Telecom Regulation, Maritime Recycling and the Economics Nobel
The Federal Communications Commission moves to regulate telecom networks in the name of “net neutrality.” Italian police investigate illegal disposal of “toxic” shipwrecks. Experts continue…
Blog
Sen. McCain Introduces Anti-Net Neutrality Bill
Senator John McCain introduced a bill yesterday to combat the FCC’s push for Net Neutrality. The “Internet Freedom Act of 2009” would limit the…
Blog
Net Neutrality at 28 kilobits per second.
Why didn’t the Federal Communications Commission impose net neutrality a decade ago? We don’t need all this multimedia and advanced services. They finally caught…
Newsletter
Health Care Competition, Financial Regulations in Court and Net Neutrality
The House Judiciary Committee votes to strip antitrust protections from health insurance companies who share risk information. Prominent officials and scholars endorse CEI’s Supreme Court…
News Release
Net Neutrality Rules Depress Investment, Reduce Competition
On Thursday, October 22, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would put government, rather than consumers and…
Blog
FTC Sets its Sights on Bloggers
In the past, guidelines have determined the kinds of research claims companies or celebrity endorsers can make about products in advertising. With the recent update,…
Ecomerce Times
Tech Heavies to FCC: Stay on Target
Blog
Regulation of the Day 61: Big Screen TVs – Mankind’s Doom!
On November 4, California regulators may vote to ban big-screen televisions. The large sets use more energy than they would prefer.
New York Times
Identity Chip Planted Under Skin Approved for Use in Health Care
The New York Times discusses implantible chips used for medical reasons with Wayne Crews. ''The fact that we're engaged in such a deep,…
Blog
DOJ Investigates IBM’s Mainframe Business
The lawyers at the US Department of Justice must be getting bored around the office. This week, antitrust regulators launched an investigation of IBM‘s…
New York Times
Feds Target Bloggers with New Disclosure Rules
Bloggers beware: Earlier this week, the Federal Trade Commission extended the heavy hand of government into the blogosphere (and other social media sites like…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 57: Minimum Price Agreements
A new Maryland law makes it illegal for manufacturers to set a minimum retail price for their products in sales contracts. The law is meant…
Blog
Corporate Human Rights?
Over at the Detroit News, Hans Bader and I explain why corporations have human rights despite not being human. The reason why? Transaction costs.
Blog
Net Neutrality and Rent-Seeking
Net neutrality proposals give companies the incentive to seek rents at each other’s expense when they could be benefitting from each other’s innovations instead.
New York Times
Letter to the Editor: Net Neutrality Has Many Facets, Some of Them Known
Your editorial explains congestion problems that will hamper the Internet under net neutrality regulations. In addition to that, technological innovation will also be stifled…
The Wall Street Journal
Letter to the Editor: Net Neutrality Has Many Facets, Some of Them Known
Mr. Jenkins suggests that Google would likely "shriek" if a startup were to mount its servers inside the network of a telecom provider. Google already…
Newsletter
Opposing Net Neutrality, TSA Unionizing and Banning Soft Toilet Paper
The Washington Post editorializes against the FCC’s proposed “net neutrality” regulations. The American Federation of Government Employees seeks to unionize airport safety screeners and other…
Blog
Truth-In-Labeling? Call the Federal Advertising Bureau
This week, the New America Foundation called for government-mandated “Truth-in-Labeling” from the nation’s broadband service providers. They’ve even created a mock-up of what they…
Blog
ACORN Sues Whistleblowers for Exposing Its Wrongdoing in Scandal
ACORN is now suing the whistleblowers who allegedly filmed it promoting illegal sexual activities for $2 million! And not just them, but…
Blog
The Economics of Net Neutrality
Over at the Washington Examiner's Opinion Zone, I apply what I learned back in Economics 101 to the net neutrality debate. It's all about scarcity.
NZ Herald
Web Users Applaud US Watchdog’s Neutrality
The NZ Herald discusses net neutrality with Wayne Crews. "Agencies should not pick sides between content and infrastructure providers in disputes over pricing,…
Washington Examiner
Is the FCC Neutralizing Innovation?
In a major speech Monday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced that one of his top policy goals is implementing network neutrality rules. That’s a sophisticated…
Newsletter
Obama on Global Warming, Blocking Net Neutrality and Car-Free Day
President Obama delivers a speech before the United Nations, saying that the U.S. is “determined to act” on global warming. Republican senators announce legislation that…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 53: Y2K
In which the case for regulatory sunset provisions is inadvertently made.
Newsletter
Net Neutrality, Treasury’s Global Warming Memos and Car-Free Day
The Federal Communications Commission plans to introduce so-called “net neutrality” regulations for ISPs, including wireless companies. Treasury Department memos estimating the cost of the White…
San Francisco Gate
Swift Response to Net Neutrality Proposals
Bloomberg Business
FCC Stirs Old Debate on ‘Net Neutrality’
Bloomberg Business quotes Wayne Crews on net neutrality. So it is hardly surprising that Genachowski's proposed new rules were immediately attacked. "Net neutrality…
News Release
Think Tank Calls For FCC Neutrality
On Monday morning, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced new “network neutrality” rules governing Internet providers, including wireless companies. …
Blog
Oregon DOJ Uses Copyright to Keep Public Records Behind Paywall
Imagine a state in which the public records retrieval process is so convoluted that the government needs to publish a user manual explaining how to…
Blog
Waxman Joins Markey Again to Sponsor a Terrible Bill
You know them from the cap-and-trade climate bill that failed to generate funding for Obama’s proposed health reforms. Now, they’re joining forces again. Rep. Henry…
Washington Examiner
Facebook Changes Privacy Policy to Appease Canadians
Facebook made headlines late last month when it overhauled its privacy policy, which governs the site's practices regarding user data. The move followed months of…
Blog
Intel Appeals Record-Breaking EU Fine
Intel accuses the Commission of having failed to prove that Intel's allegedly anticompetitive tactics actually harmed consumers in any way.
Blog
Again, U.S. Wireless Market is Intensely Competitive
More evidence that the wireless communications industry is highly competitive: Motorola is looking for more carriers for its new CLIQ smartphone. The CLIQ was…
Blog
AT&T, Content Creators Argue over “Broadband” Definition
Network owners and content providers are bumping heads again. Telecommunications giant AT&T filed comments with the FCC a couple of weeks ago urging the…
Blog
Leftist Prosecutor Tries to Censor Video Embarrassing to ACORN
ACORN, the group that helped launch Barack Obama’s career as a community organizer was recently caught in undercover stings advising about how to set up…
Blog
Outsourcing Parenting to the FCC
Ars Technica recently posed the question: Did Family Guy cause 179,997 FCC Indecency Complaints? Matt Lasar concludes that indeed it did: We go over…
Blog
Motorola, Sprint Compete in Supposedly Uncompetitive Industry
This week has been a disappointing one for critics of the wireless industry. First, Motorola launched its new CLIQ handset. The CLIQ,…
Blog
Do Corporations Have Human Rights?
Intel’s defense in its EU antitrust case has taken the surprising line that the company’s human rights were violated. Over at Real Clear Markets, CEI…
Washington Examiner
What do ‘Cybersecurity Emergency’ Powers Mean for the Internet
Could President Obama soon gain the power to shut down the Internet? This is a question that has vexed security experts, legal scholars, and…
Newsletter
The Not-So-Smart Grid, European Antitrust and Light Bulb Smuggling
Utilities compete for almost $4 billion of federal stimulus funds earmarked for the creation of an electrical “smart grid.” European regulators may delay the merger…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 43: Telemarketing
It is a federal offense for telemarketers to charge their customers without permission. In English, this is called stealing. Which was already against the law…
Newsletter
Cybersecurity, Consumer Snitching and an Insurance Downgrade
A new bill to would give the White House “cybersecurity emergency” powers. Consumer Reports magazine turns a high-performing showerhead over to the EPA for exceeding…
Washington Examiner
Slothful Bureaucracy Fails to Protect the Public
Gene Healy was right to criticize the bloated bureaucracy that is the Department of Homeland Security. Its worst feature is the Transportation Security Administration…
Blog
CEI Weekly: EPA Ponders Axing Whistleblower’s Department
CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week’s focus is on reports from InsideEPA.com that the EPA might axe…
Blog
Government gets ’emergency’ control of the internet in new Senate bill
This story just hit the Drudge Report’s front page. Declan McCullagh at CNET writes today about the…
Tech News World
Rights Groups Demand More Info on Arbitrary DHS Laptop Searches
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