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US move to ban TikTok a troubling signal for our great experiment in self-determination
As a part of a foreign aid funding package, the Senate passed a bill mandating TikTok’s divestiture from Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance. Biden…
Blog
Important question: How many people will new AI regulations kill?
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently released a draft memorandum outlining new requirements for federal agencies using artificial intelligence (AI).
Blog
Central banks are watching. Let’s watch them back.
One of the biggest dangers of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), I and others have warned, is that it would give a government that…
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Blog
US move to ban TikTok a troubling signal for our great experiment in self-determination
As a part of a foreign aid funding package, the Senate passed a bill mandating TikTok’s divestiture from Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance. Biden…
Blog
Important question: How many people will new AI regulations kill?
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently released a draft memorandum outlining new requirements for federal agencies using artificial intelligence (AI).
Blog
Central banks are watching. Let’s watch them back.
One of the biggest dangers of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), I and others have warned, is that it would give a government that…
Comment
CEI Comments on the Proposed Regulation on Digital Discrimination of Access
Introduction. On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), we respectfully submit the following comments in response to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) notice of…
News Release
House Republican-Led Investigation into TikTok Data Practices Highlights Concerns with Blurred Lines Between Private Entities and Government
WASHINGTON—Two senior House Republicans announced a national security-focused investigation into TikTok today. Rep. James Comer (R-KY), ranking member of the House Oversight and Reform…
News Release
Congress Has Bad Ideas on Tech Regulation: CEI Report
Congress has some bad ideas on regulating Big Tech, and a new Competitive Enterprise Institute report breaks it all down. “Lawmakers say they are concerned…
Study
How Congress and the Federal Communications Commission Can Help Improve Affordable Internet Access to Underserved Populations
June 30, 2022 …
Blog
The American Data Privacy and Protection Act Fails to Streamline Privacy Laws Nationwide and Promote Technological Innovation
As more states pass state-level data privacy laws, federal privacy law is becoming increasingly necessary to prevent a patchwork of confusing state-level legislation.
News Release
EU Digital Markets Act Threatens Consumer Access to Online Services, Products
A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report examines a European Union proposal to impose restrictions on technology companies, like stopping companies from preferencing house-brand products…
Blog
Ten Terrible Tech Bills from the 117th Congress: Banning Surveillance Advertising Act of 2022
DuckDuckGo is a success story. Launched in 2008, the online search engine has centered its product around privacy. In short, they “don’t collect or…
Blog
Ten Terrible Tech Bills from the 117th Congress: Open App Markets Act
Congress has an unhealthy fixation with app stores—and Congress isn’t alone. Both government and private parties filed antitrust lawsuits last year against the largest…
Blog
Escalation of Surveillance Threatens Right to Anonymity
The Biden administration has pressured big tech social media platforms to advance its policies in areas like cultural debates, climate interventions, and to stifle dissent…
Real Clear Policy
How Congress Can Build the Right Data Privacy Framework
Last month, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed into law the Utah Consumer Privacy Act, making Utah the fourth U.S. state —…
Study
Central Bank Digital Currencies Threaten Global Stability and Financial Privacy
Executive Summary As digital currencies go mainstream around the world, governments and international financial bodies are seeking to develop ways to regulate them. Some countries…
Blog
Lawmakers Should Tread Carefully When Trying to Balance Privacy with Security
It’s been said that a compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes he has the biggest…
Blog
Virginia, Famed for Its Ham, Delivers a Turkey on Privacy
The Virginia House of Delegates and Senate recently passed consumer privacy legislation, the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. The bill has elements similar to its…
Blog
Biden Tech Policy Preview
Joe Biden has been declared the president-elect (I’m pretty sure). Here’s what a Biden administration and a (presumably) divided Congress might mean for tech issues.
Blog
FinCEN Files Shows Regulatory and Privacy Concerns with the Bank Secrecy Act and the Necessity for Reform or Repeal
Last month, BuzzFeed News published an investigative report that alleged that banks sat on their hands while criminals laundered trillions of dollars over the…
Blog
SAFE DATA Act a Risk for Consumers
Republican members of the Senate Commerce Committee recently introduced the SAFE DATA Act. While the bill includes much needed federal preemption of state privacy laws,…
Study
Policy Principles: Consumer Privacy
PRIVACY The right to privacy is a bedrock principle of a free society and essential to today’s economy. Yet, privacy protection is an ever-evolving field.
Blog
Gingrich Praise of Huawei is Dangerously Misguided
After attempting to cover up the spread of the novel coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese Communist Party is now engaged in a…
Blog
California’s New Privacy Law Will Harm Consumers and Innovation
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) goes into effect January 1, 2020. The law requires companies of a certain size that collect information on customers…
Blog
Cautiously Optimistic about Facebook’s New Approach to Speech
It seems increasingly the case that there is a lot more to like about what Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has to say than not. His…
News Release
How to Sell Your Data without Selling Your Soul
In the Internet Age, the use and analysis of personal data holds an enormous amount of economic value, but use of that data can expose…
Study
Selling Your Data without Selling Your Soul
Humans have always sought to defend a zone of privacy around themselves—to protect their personal information, their intimate actions and relationships, and their thoughts and…
Blog
Facebook’s $5 Billion Privacy Fine Almost Certainly Too High
Facebook has faced intense criticism from lawmakers and regulators since last spring, when The Observer and The New York Times reported that data from over…
News Release
Breaking Up Tech Companies Will Harm Consumers and Halt Industry Dynamism
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust is holding a hearing today to consider the merits of antitrust regulation of large technology companies, including Amazon, Apple,…
News Release
Regulators Should Let Consumers and Merchants Decide the Fate of Facebook’s Cryptocurrency
Facebook, Inc. today released a white paper outlining plans to launch a new cryptocurrency named “Libra.” According to the white paper, Libra would be built…
Blog
Costs of Loss of Anonymity in Administrative Surveillance State
The ability of citizens to communicate privately and to retain anonymity if desired are foundational rights slipping away in the regulatory panopticon of the administrative…
Blog
White House Uses Discredited Complaints Tactic against Social Media Companies
My colleague Wayne Crews has already slammed the White House for a first step towards government regulation of online speech in its “tech bias” complaints…
Blog
Breaking up and Regulating Facebook: Unfair, Un-American, Unacceptable
Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, former publisher of The New Republic, argues in a long essay for The New York Times that the company should be…
Blog
Don’t Let Facebook Team up with Big Government to Censor the Web
Facebook’s expulsion of several controversial figures from its platform last week is an example of a company managing its own private property to what it…
Blog
Americans Optimistic about Role of Tech and Platforms
At a time when big tech companies are being attacked over bigness, privacy, elections, and the ordering of their news feeds, the Charles Koch Institute…
Blog
Facebook’s Call for Regulation Could Lead to Government Censorship
The Internet is unique in history not because it lacked “rules” about free expression, but that it expanded that broadcast freedom to all, not just…
Blog
Move Slowly and Establish Rules: Facebook’s Call for Regulation
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s motto used to be “Move fast and break things.” Now that his company is under increased political scrutiny—and facing calls for…
Fox Business
VIDEO: Ryan Radia Discusses Facebook Privacy Concerns on Cavuto Coast to Coast
Competitive Enterprise Institute Research Fellow Ryan Radia joined Cavuto Coast to Coast to discuss Facebook privacy concerns.
Blog
Agenda for the 116th Congress: Tech and Telecom
As technology and telecommunications evolve, new challenges inevitably arise for policy makers. New mandates or prohibitions should be avoided in all but the most exceptional…
Blog
What Do the Midterms Mean for Big Tech?
For the big technology firms, the midterm elections were never going to change much. Whatever the result, they were going to face more scrutiny over the…
Blog
Ditch Antitrust Regulation in Favor of Competing Bigness
The Federal Trade Commission (born in 1914, fathered by Woodrow Wilson) is hosting a series of hearings and discussions on “Competition and Consumer Protection…
News Release
Supreme Court Refuses to Consider If Searching Internet IPs Requires Warrant
The Competitive Enterprise Institute is disappointed that the Supreme Court has refused to consider if the government can search what websites a person accesses online…
News Release
CEI Commends Supreme Court’s Decision Protecting Carpenter Against Unreasonable Search
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Timothy Carpenter in Carpenter v. United States, finding that the government violated his Fourth Amendment protection against…
France24
Heightened Debate in US as EU Privacy Rules Take Effect
France24 cited Ryan Radia on the market conditions created by GDPR. Ryan Radia of the Competitive Enterprise Institute said that although GDPR…
The Daily Caller
Facebook And Google Accused Of Violating Europe’s New Law On The First Day
The Daily Caller cited Ryan Radia on the impact of GDPR in enabling favorable market conditions to the dismay of small businesses. “The…
News Release
CEI Report: Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation Costs Everyone, Provides Little
In a new Competitive Enterprise Institute report released today, CEI’s regulatory counsel and technology policy expert Ryan Radia argues that the EU’s new privacy rules…
Study
European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation and Lessons for U.S. Privacy Policy
The European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which enters into effect on May 25, 2018, is the most significant policy change regarding data…
Blog
Facebook Privacy Critics Ignore Benefits of Social Media
Facebook is not a tool designed to violate privacy nor fan the flames of hate, but it and other social media platforms have been some…
Blog
Senator Grills Zuckerberg While Gathering His Own Facebook User Data
One of the most glaring moments of hypocrisy during yesterday's Facebook hearing came from Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) telling Zuckerberg that he felt “betrayed”…
Blog
Zuckerberg Testimony Hints at Devil’s Bargain with Big Government
Much of the political class in Washington, D.C. is currently holding its breath for the big event of the week: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s long-awaited…
Forbes
Mark Zuckerberg Testimony: Will Washington Cast The First Stone At Facebook?
As Facebook is embroiled in three separate privacy crises, let he who never transacts commercially or politically cast the first stone.
Blog
Congress Impatient for Zuckerberg Privacy Testimony
With Facebook in Congress’s crosshairs, America’s leading Internet companies—sometimes known as “big tech”—arguably face a greater risk of regulation than at any time in their…