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 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…
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.
Search Posts
Blog
“Big Media” Critics Miss the Big Picture on Comcast-NBC Deal
Media watchdogs are having a fit this week over the announced agreement between Comcast and NBC Universal. Under this deal, Comcast will hold 51%…
News Release
Banks, Credit Companies Get Brief Reprieve From Crushing Federal Regulation of Internet Gambling
Banks, Credit Companies Get Brief Reprieve From Crushing Federal Regulation of Internet Gambling Taxpayers Face $20 Million Cost to Enforce…
Blog
“I Can’t See the Objection”
The National Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind are seeking a preliminary injunction in federal court to stop…
Newsletter
Health Care Costs, Online Privacy and Workplace Safety
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announces a cost estimate for major new health care legislation. The Members of the House Commerce Committee hold a hearing…
Blog
Making Broadband Accessible: Innovation, Not Intervention
FCC regulators want to provide wider and cheaper broadband access by subsidizing it, raising taxes, and forcing network owners to share their network infrastructure with…
News Release
Congress Meddling in Online Privacy Protection May Backfire, Harm Consumers
Washington, D.C., November 18, 2009—A House subcommittee on Thursday will take a step closer to inserting government as the arbiter of consumer…
Blog
Wireless Customers Don’t Like Variable Billing
The Sunday New York Times ran an article over the weekend that digs into the apparent madness behind cell phone and wireless mobile service…
Blog
DOJ Asks For News Site’s Visitor Info
Declan McCullagh is reporting that earlier this year the Department of Justice subpoenaed the left-of-center news aggregation site Indymedia.us for information including visitor lists…
Blog
Andrew Cuomo Sues Intel
Over at the Washington Examiner's Opinion Zone, Wayne Crews and I explain why New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's antitrust lawsuit against Intel is a…
Washington Examiner
Andrew Cuomo Should Leave Intel Alone
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced on November 4 that he is suing Intel for antitrust violations. Cuomo’s lawsuit is a mistake. He…
Blog
Intel Settles With AMD
Intel and AMD have announced a settlement in their 4-year legal antitrust battle. As per the agreement, Intel will pay AMD $1.25 billion, an…
Blog
Free Government Money: Broadband Edition
As part of the America Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009, congress has set aside $7.2 billion for Obama’s national broadband plan. It should come…
Blog
Cell Phones, Cancer, and Certainty
Every dollar and every hour of researchers' time spent on lessening cancer risks from cell phones is money and time not spent curing heart disease,…
Blog
Sen. Amy Klobuchar Criticizes Verizon, Ignores Wireless Industry Realities
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) is once again proving that she has no understanding of either the wireless phone industry, the rationale behind contract law,…
Blog
European Regulators Target Another American Tech Company
The European Commission is once again targeting an American tech company with an antitrust investigation. This time the EC has its sights set on…
Forbes
Sued for Success
Computer chip maker Intel is back in court. On Wednesday, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against…
Newsletter
Intel v. Antitrust, U.S. Chamber Caves on Energy and Accounting for Unfunded Mandates
New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo files an antitrust lawsuit against Intel. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce caves into to special interest pressure on energy…
The Guardian
Intel Struggles Against Rising Tide of Accusations
The Guardian discusses the case against Intel with Wayne Crews. Calling Cuomo's case a "baseless attack", CEI official Wayne Crews suggested that Intel's dominance…
Blog
NY Attorney General Files Antitrust Suit Against Intel
Intel does not enjoy government protection of its market share, nor does it operate in a vacuum, immune from discipline if if its rebates are…
Blog
Nvidia Rumored to Compete in Supposedly Uncompetitive Market
Rumors abound that graphics chip maker Nvidia is getting set to enter the x86 processor market. Recall that, according to AMD’s lawyers, the…
News Release
Think Tank Blasts Cuomo’s Witch Hunt Against Intel
Washington, D.C., November 4, 2009—Today New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Intel Corporation. The suit, which accuses…
PC World
NY Intel Antitrust Lawsuit Gets Mixed Reviews
PC World discusses the antitrust lawsuit against Intel with Wayne Crews. "Let's remember what abusive monopoly power is supposed to mean: reduced quantity…
Blog
MPAA: Net Neutrality Will Kill Film Industry
The Motion Picture Association of America has come out against net neutrality… sort of. In its filing with the FCC[PDF] late last week,…
Newsletter
Cybersecurity, Tariffs and Union Elections
The Department of Homeland Security opens a new operations center to battle cyber attacks. The federal government continues to add tariffs to inexpensive consumer goods…
Blog
Net Neutrality Not Needed: New BitTorrent Version Throttles Itself
TorrentFreak reports that a new “network-aware” version of the BitTorrent protocol is being beta-tested. The new client, µTorrent 2.0 or µTP, will be able…
Blog
Government Incompetence Costs Woman Her Job
Wired reports that a Maryland woman recently lost her job due to an error in the FBI’s criminal database. Eschol Amelia “Amy” Studnitz, formerly…
Blog
Taxes without Borders
This month's issue of Info Tech & Telecom News contains an article by yours truly on certain states' attempts to collect sales taxes from out-of-state…
Newsletter
Climate Hearings, Blocking Net Neutrality and ‘Astroturf’ Lobbying
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee holds a hearing on proposed climate legislation. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduces a bill into the house to…
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…
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