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
We’re Proof Blogging Isn’t Dead
There are all sorts of pieces about the future of "New Media" floating around these days from Andrew Sullivan's "Why I Blog" in the…
Newsletter
Online Ads, Regulatory Reform and Free Trade
Google and Yahoo abandon a proposed advertising partnership amid antitrust concerns. President-Elect Obama begins transition work with the current White House staff. Rep. Rahm Emanuel…
Blog
Obama’s win through the web…a myth?
[caption id="attachment_5754" align="alignleft" width="270" caption=" "][/caption] O'Reilly writer Andy Oram makes the case that the assertion…
Blog
“Card Check” May Trigger Beatings, Intimidation
Clayton Cramer, who grew up in a union household, explains why the “card-check” bill favored by liberal lawmakers and Obama may lead to physical…
Newsletter
Michael Crichton, Press Censorship and a Technology Czar
Bestselling author Michael Crichton dies at age 66. Members of the Bureaucrash Activist Network join forces with free speech activists to protest press censorship in…
Newsletter
E-voting, the Fairness Doctrine and Economic Unrest in Ecuador
Problems with electronic voting machines are reported in several states. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) argues for the re-imposition of the “Fairness Doctrine” for TV and…
Blog
No “Technology Czar,” Please
Like everybody else in town, we're pondering the implications of the transition to the Obama Administration for various policy areas here at CEI. On the…
Citation
the prospect of a national “Technology Czar”
Blog
FreeRoots
Some of the brightest minds in the online conservative movement — John Hawkins, Patrick Ruffini and Mark Tapscott — are discussing what…
Blog
My apologies to the Swiss (hold firm against OECD meddling)
Last week, the German government said that Switzerland should be placed on the international blacklist…
Newsletter
Internet Censorship, Reforming Fannie and Freddie and Free Trade with Colombia
American tech companies announce new guidelines for doing business in nations threatened by censorship. Lawmakers urge embattled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to…
Newsletter
Credit Card Settlements, Wireless Networks and What’s ‘Killing the Earth’
Visa and MasterCard reach a $2.75 billion settlement with Discover Card over an antitrust complaint first brought in 1998. Cox Communications plans to roll out…
Newsletter
Greenhouse Gases, Broadband Speeds and the Future of Transit
California officials ignore the high costs of implementing the state’s greenhouse gas reduction plan. Comcast implements upgrades for broadband customers that will double download speeds…
All Things D
Broadband Speed Upgrades
Tech Dirt
Broadband Price War
DSL Reports
Broadband Competition
Tech World News
Broadband Competition
Blog
I’m Sorry, Your Candidate Is in Another Castle
The presidential campaign of a certain U.S. senator has just expanded the bounds of the political advertising universe with in-game ads inside popular EA…
Blog
FCC Might Actually Roll Back an Outdated Regulation!
If you wanted to communicate over long distances in real-time 25 years ago, you had little choice but to rely on your local phone company…
Blog
Stopping “Badvertising” at Yahoogle.
As an indicator of how perverse wealth-draining antitrust policy has become, have a look at the “concessions” being squeezed out of Google and Yahoo…
Newsletter
Lehman Brothers Hearing, Consequences of the Bailout and Online Ad Controversy
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee holds a hearing to investigate the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The Wall Street bailout fails to slow economic…
Newsletter
Internet Radio, Mark-to-Market Accounting and Private Mortgage Insurance
The Senate approves a bill to regulate royalties for web-based radio services. The Security and Exchanges Commission relaxes accounting rules that may have worsened current…
Newsletter
Mortgage Madness, Media Diversity and World Car Free Day
The bailout of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is attacked as unfair to responsible consumers. The Federal Communication Commission considers reinstating the “Fairness…
Newsletter
Economic Projections, Comcast Sues the FCC and Cholesterol Drugs
A new report from the Federal Reserve projects continued slow growth and a weak business climate. Comcast sues the Federal Communications Commission over…
Op-Eds
Minot Line
Over the past decade, the Internet has given new life to one of the oldest forms of media: the urban legend. Sometimes an…
Products
CEI Planet: September – October 2008
View the new Montly Planet by downloading the PDF of the issue. Below you’ll find previews of the articles in this issue:…
Newsletter
Oil Speculators, Immunity for Phone Companies and Global Warming Reports
Members of Congress blame oil “speculators” for driving up the cost of oil with their investments. Legal wrangling continues over Congress’ grant of immunity to…
Ecomerce Times
FCC Comcast Net Neutrality Ruling
Blog
DMCA takedown notices should take fair use into consideration
A U.S. district judge got it right yesterday when he refused to dismiss a lawsuit against Universal, ruling that copyright holders should take…
Newsletter
Hurricane Damage, Wind Power and Comcast in the Crosshairs
Florida residents watch the shifting course of Tropical Storm Fay. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveils a plan to build a series of windmills…
Blog
Your Cable Company Also Rents You a Cable Box? Sue ‘Em!
Time Warner Cable is getting slapped with an anti-tying lawsuit. The plaintiff claims that by renting him a cable box, the company engaged…
Blog
Google Dominates Search, But Forever?
"If these trends continue" is a dangerous way to begin a sentence in the new economy Ars reports that Google has expanded…
Blog
Downloading: The Green Way to Buy
I just posted on several states’ new taxes on internet downloads. Over at TLF, tech liberator Braden Cox just published an interesting…
Newsletter
Home Schooling, Online Privacy and Oil Drilling
A California appeals court issues a major new ruling on home schooling. Members of Congress investigate online privacy and the use of “behavioral advertising.” New…
Blog
War in Georgia Goes Cyber
A follow-up to Hans Bader’s informative post on the Russia-Georgia war: Ars reports that the war is going on in cyberspace as well.
Op-Eds
In Defense of Early Termination Fees
If early termination fees reduce competition in the cell phone marketplace, then why is there so much of it?…
Newsletter
Losses at Fannie Mae, Satellite TV Merger and Toxic Chemicals
Mortgage giant Fannie Mae reports a loss of $2.3 billion. Cable TV provider Dish Network proposes a merger with DirecTV. Former New York Times environmental…
Blog
DNS Internet Flaw: How Much Worse It Could Have Been
By now, most tech-savvy readers have probably heard about the vulernability in the structure of the internet, specifically involving DNS lookups. Apparently, the flaw…
Newsletter
Video Gamers Win in Court, Free Speech on Campus and the Impact of Biofuels
The state of California is ordered to pay video game makers $280,000 in legal fees over an unconstitutional law that sought to restrict game sales.
Ecomerce Times
U.S. tech companies in China
Op-Eds
Online marketing myopia
We are in the middle of an advertising revolution, driven by technology. Congress is up in arms over "behavioral advertising" online by…
Tech Dirt
Selectable Output Control
Blog
EFF/CDT Brief in MySpace Case: Terms of Service not Crimes
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Democracy and Technology, Public Citizen, and 14 law professors have jointly submitted an amicus brief in the…
Newsletter
Obama on Offshore Drilling, Tobacco Lawyer Goes to Prison and Video Game Violence
Sen. Barack Obama changes his position on offshore oil drilling. One of the nation’s richest attorneys begins a prison sentence for bribery. The government of…
Blog
Facebook and Scrabulous: Safe Harbor in a Web 2.0 World
CNET has a great piece on Facebook's role in the Scrabulous battle. For those unfamiliar with the case, Facebook is a social…
Tech Dirt
the FCC and net neutrality
Blog
States Begin to Regulate Nano
So far, nanotech has been left blessingly unregulated by the feds. Nanotech has been responsible for the great advances in computer technology.
Newsletter
FCC Takes on Comcast, GM Crops and the Housing Bailout
The Federal Communications Commission puts Comcast in the hot seat over its network management practices. Security becomes the number one cost for scientists developing genetically…
News Release
FCC Stages Broadband Power Grab
Washington, D.C., July 28, 2008—The Federal Communications Commission is preparing this week to expand its control over how telecom firms manage…
Newsletter
Fairness Doctrine, Wind Power and Flood Insurance
Lawmakers debate the return of the “Fairness Doctrine” for news broadcasts. Famed Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens launches a multimedia campaign to replace oil use…
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