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Forbes
NIST AI Guidelines Misplace Responsibility For Managing Risks
Policymakers are scrambling to keep pace with technological advancements in artificial intelligence. The recent release of draft guidelines from the U.S. AI Safety Institute, a…
Blog
The social significance of the Consolidated Audit Trail
Personal privacy is important. The ability of citizens to communicate and do business with one another – and to do so with some degree of…
Reason
Senate To Vote on Web Censorship Bill Disguised as Kids Safety
Reason cites Jessica Melugin on KOSA safety flaws “KOSA would trigger mandatory uploading of government id’s, face scans or social security numbers of…
Search Posts
Blog
Mr. Robot and the Future of Money
Last week, the cult USA channel TV show Mr. Robot showed once again why it is required viewing for anyone interested in technology.
Blog
Senators Examine Internet Naming Authority
This morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts will hold a hearing entitled “Protecting Internet Freedom: Implications…
Blog
Politics and Economics Collide with Pokémon Go
It seems strange to think it’s been barely a week since Pokémon Go became the dominant pop culture phenomenon of the summer. Publications better known…
Blog
Congress Must Pass Email Privacy Act
This week, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 699) sponsored by Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.). The Competitive Enterprise…
Forbes
Protecting Our Semi-Privacy After The Department Of Justice Apple iPhone Hack
The Department of Justice-sponsored unlocking of the Apple iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino murderers without Apple’s help reaffirmed that an overly encryption-based…
Blog
FCC’s New Privacy Mandates – What’s Next, Internet Czar?
Today, the Federal Communications Commission unveiled a proposal to regulate how broadband providers may collect and use their customers’ information. If the FCC’s impending privacy…
Blog
Why the Omnibus Shouldn’t Include Cybersecurity Legislation
Later this week, the House is slated to vote on a $1.1 trillion “omnibus” spending bill to fund the federal government through next fall. Naturally,…
Blog
CFPB’s Database Should Be Bipartisan Privacy Concern
The behemoth Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) played a big role in Tuesday night’s GOP presidential debate on Fox Business, both during the commercials and…
Blog
Passcode for Liberty: Why the Government Shouldn’t Restrict Encryption (Video)
Most Americans own a smartphone and use cloud computing services such as Gmail, Dropbox, and Facebook. Increasingly, we store sensitive data on our devices and…
Blog
As Senate Cybersecurity Vote Nears, CISA Remains Seriously Flawed
If Congress wants to lift barriers to beneficial information sharing without endangering individual privacy, it’s essential that legislation contains robust safeguards against unwanted uses of…
Blog
Court Upholds Legality of NSA’s Bulk Collection of Telephone Records
On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit handed down its much-awaited ruling in Obama v. Klayman, one of several lawsuits…
Blog
Did North Dakota Just Authorize Pepper-Spraying Police Drones?
The Daily Beast’s Justin Glawe has written an article about a North Dakota law aimed at limiting law enforcement use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), or…
Blog
Senate Prepares to Vote on Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA)
Today, the U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote on the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), which is a serious threat to civil liberties and…
The Heartlander
Online Poker Ban Gains Support in U.S. Senate
The Heartlander cites CEI`s Michellen Minton on the online poker ban: Hidden Agenda Competitive Enterprise Institute Fellow Michelle…
Real Clear Policy
USA FREEDOM Act: A Win for Privacy
For years, unbeknownst to the American people, a top-secret government program overseen by the National Security Agency collected and stored "metadata" about nearly all U.S.
Blog
Fix Cyber Information Sharing Bill, Free Market Groups Urge
The Competitive Enterprise Institute, TechFreedom and a coalition of free-market groups issued an open letter to Members of Congress, urging them to consider amendments…
Blog
House Intel Committee Chair Ignores Report Calling NSA Surveillance Illegal
At a recent event titled “A Statesman Forum on Cybersecurity Policy and Diplomacy” at George Washington University, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.)…
Blog
The Premises of Net Neutrality
In the electric power industry, if you run an extension cord across the street to serve another, you go to jail. The local utility has…
Blog
USDOT Calls for Connected Vehicle Mandate; Security and Privacy Concerns Remain
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced today it would chart a regulatory path that would require all new automobiles to be equipped with…
Blog
Target, Retailers Use Dodd-Frank to Skimp on Data Security
Chutzpah, thy name is the National Retail Federation! In the wake of the recent credit and debit card breach at Target that may have compromised…
Blog
Target Breach — Are Dodd-Frank “Swipe Fee” Price Controls to Blame?
Target wants you to know it is oh-so-sorry for any inconvenience its data SNAFU (as OpenMarket is a family blog, please look up the…
Real Clear Policy
Electronic surveillance capacity of state, local government creates strange bedfellows
There is growing bipartisan support in Congress for the USA Freedom Act, which would limit the bulk, suspicionless surveillance of Americans. While Congress considers the…
Daily Caller
Duffy protects privacy in the real world
Blog
Memo to Road Socialists: There Is Nothing Unlibertarian about Road Pricing
Virginia just elected Democrat Terry McAuliffe as governor, as had been predicted by every poll conducted during the past few months -- although at a…
Blog
Stop Watching Us: End Suspicionless NSA Mass Surveillance
By now, pretty much everybody has heard that the U.S. National Security Agency is indiscriminately collecting private information about all Americans who use a…
Blog
Gmail’s Targeted Advertising Accused of Being Wiretapping: Part 2
As I stated in my previous article, a federal court is currently hearing a lawsuit challenging Google’s “targeted advertising” practices. The plaintiffs claim the…
Blog
Gmail’s Targeted Advertising Accused of Being Wiretapping: Part 1
It has long been widely known that Google uses software that scans its users’ Gmail messages to generate targeted advertising. Recently,…
Daily Caller
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accused of violating transparency law
“Just about every time they’re convening, it has to be open to the public . . . and when it’s not open to the public…
Blog
Mississippi Should Tell CFPB to “Stop Spying on Me”
The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is coming to Mississippi Wednesday and Thursday with a public forum on "access to information." A vital question for Mississippians to…
Letters
Coalition Letter in Support of the Amash Amendment
Full Document Available in PDF Dear Member of the U.S. House of Representatives: We write to urge you to vote yes on…
News Release
Free Market Coalition Urges House to Defund Suspicionless NSA Spying
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 24, 2013 – A free-market coalition today urged members of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote yes on Reps. Justin Amash…
Blog
CEI Podcast for July 18, 2013: The NSA Gets Sued
In the wake of the NSA’s spying scandal, several groups are filing a lawsuit challenging the NSA’s actions as unconstitutional. Associate Director of Technology Studies…
Blog
DHS Secretary Napolitano Resigns, TSA Body Scanner Scandal Remains Unresolved
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is resigning to become president of the University of California system. Republican politicians such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)…
News Release
CEI Expert to Speak at ‘Restore the Fourth’ Rally Tomorrow
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 3, 2013 – Ryan Radia, Associate Director of CEI’s Center for Technology & Innovation, will speak at tomorrow’s Restore the…
Blog
CEI Podcast for June 26, 2013: TSA Full-Body Scanner Transparency
Fellow in Land-use and Transportation Studies Marc Scribner discusses the TSA's lack of transparency and the scanners' ineffectiveness in deterring terrorism.
Blog
E-Verify: A Boon for Lawyers, Bad for Employers
I have written extensively about the threats to Americans’ civil liberties from E-Verify, the employment verification system contained within the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform (CIR)…
Blog
E-Verify National ID System Threatens Americans’ Privacy
“I’m not a criminal, so there’s really no reason for me to be in a criminal database.” That was James Shepherd, a Kentucky native…
Blog
Sorry, Daily Beast: E-Verify Will Be National ID
Daily Beast blogger Justin Green, who blogs on columnist David Frum’s Daily Beast blog, has responded to Wired’s recent article “Biometric Database of All…
Blog
Correcting Misconceptions about Autonomous Vehicles: Reason Magazine Edition
In the June issue of Reason, one of my favorite publications, Greg Beato has an article discussing the public policy implications of autonomous vehicles, such…
Blog
Housing Nominee Watt Flunks Privacy And Transparency Tests
Two prerequisites for any nominee for government posts is dedication to transparency in government and a respect for the privacy of citizens. Before we get…
Daily Caller
Jones aims to curb cyber-snooping
Under CISPA, private emails and a user’s Internet browser history could be sent to the federal government. Users would have no way of knowing whether…
Daily Caller
Pass CISPA. Don’t Pass a Big, Messy Copyright Bill
There’s still the matter of a new FCC chairman. It’s important that we get a humble FCC chairman, not a wild-eyed activist. A letter…
Blog
Separate Security Cameras and State
In his column today, The Wall Street Journal‘s Gordon Crovitz notes the significant help that video footage played in helping police identify the Boston…
Blog
CEI Podcast For April 18, 2013: CISPA Is The Wrong Approach To Cybersecurity
Today, the House passed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2013 (CISPA). Associate Director of Technology Studies Ryan Radia opposes the bill.
News Release
CISPA Voids Private Contracts, Undermines Rule of Law
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 17, 2013 — The U.S. House of Representatives will soon vote on final passage of H.R. 624, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing…
Blog
Americans Reject Actual E-Verify System
Imagine there was a free program that could guarantee for employers a legal workforce and eliminate illegal immigration. Would you favor such a system? Yes…
Red Alert Politics
TSA finally agrees to comply with 2011 court order requiring them to take comments on use of full body scanners
“I wouldn’t applaud TSA for doing this since they were required by the D.C. Circuit to open this proceeding by the end of the month,”…
Red Alert Politics
Bills would require warrants for police to use GPS tracking
Groups voicing support for the GPS Act include the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans for Tax Reform’s DigitalLiberty.net, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Electronic Frontier…
Blog
Labor’s Loss: Secret Ballot Protection Advances In Virginia
This week Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell struck a little heralded — but much needed — blow for privacy rights in the Old Dominion by signing two…
News Release
Free Market Group Applauds Bipartisan GPS Act
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 21, 2013 — Today, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced the Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance (GPS) Act, which would limit the…
Blog
CEI In The Wall Street Journal: E-Verify Is A Threat To Liberty
CEI founder Fred Smith co-authored an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal today on E-Verify — the electronic employment verification system that will likely…
Blog
National ID Proponents’ Bad Arguments
America’s new national identification system is coming. President Obama and a bipartisan group of senators want to enact a national identification card that would…
Blog
The New National Identification System Is Coming
“Maybe we should just brand all the babies.” With this joke, Ronald Reagan swatted down a national identification card -- or an enhanced Social Security…
Blog
TSA’s Body Scanner Shuffle Continues, Agency Still Flouts The Law On Body Scanners
A great deal of news coverage today has been given to the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) decision to remove backscatter X-ray strip-search machines from U.S.
News Release
Decades-Old ECPA Needs Update, CEI Urges
Washington, D.C., November 29, 2012 — This morning, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on an amendment to the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy…
CNET
Verizon Draws Fire for Monitoring App Usage, Browsing Habits
From Declan McCullagh's article in CNet: Ryan Radia, associate director of technology studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute think tank, agrees with the…
Blog
In Rejecting EPIC’s Petition On TSA’s Strip-Search Machines, Court Effectively Orders Rulemaking Timetable
This afternoon, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s (EPIC) petition for writ of mandamus, which called on the court…
Blog
Science And Technology Policy And The Democratic Convention
Now it's the Democrats' turn to gather for their convention in Charlotte and one element of the platform in common with basic Republican philosophy is…
QC Online
Editorial: Naked truth about TSA
From an editorial in The Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus: The fact that TSA is pursuing the case is no surprise given…
Blog
CEI Podcast For August 9, 2012: Getting TSA To Follow The Law
When the TSA installed full-body scanners in airports across the country, they did so illegally. Land-use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner explains how a…
E Week
Google $22.5M Settlement With FTC Over Privacy Criticized by Industry Group
From Robert J. Mullin's article in eWeek: A group promoting competitive innovation on the Internet has criticized the FTC’s “headline-grabbing settlement” for $22.5…
News Release
FTC’s Record Fine Sends Ominous Warning to Internet Innovators
Washington, D.C., August 9, 2012 − Google will pay $22.5 million to settle an FTC complaint claiming the company misled Safari users about its…
Blog
When Violations Of The Law Have No Remedy: The Case Of Warrantless Wiretapping
Yesterday, in Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, Inc. v. Obama, a panel for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal government did not…
Blog
Update On TSA’s Lawlessness Over Body Scanners
As I noted previously, the Transportation Security Administration has failed to comply with a court order demanding that they initiate a notice-and-comment rulemaking regarding…
Blog
CEI Podcast For August 2, 2012: Cybersecurity Bill Fails
Today the Senate shot down a controversial cybersecurity bill that Associate Director of Technology Policy Studies Ryan Radia believes would have been a disaster.
McClatchy DC
TSA Flouts the Law on Body Scanners
Also appeared in: The Charlotte Observer, Tulsa World, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Press of Atlantic City, and Juneau Empire. For more than…
Daily Caller
Cyber Bill Shouldn’t Gut Private Contracts
(Written with TechFreedom president Berin Szoka) Days before August recess, Senate Democrats are scrambling to pass legislation creating a…
Blog
Amendment to Cybersecurity Act Would Deter Federal Government Privacy Abuses
[caption id="attachment_58589" align="alignright" width="150"] Lord Acton's beard absolutely knows that power corrupts[/caption] In the ongoing debate over the Senate’s Cybersecurity Act of 2012 (…
Blog
CEI Files Amicus Brief In Support Of EPIC’s Petition To Force A TSA Rulemaking On Strip-Search Machines
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) filed a brief of amici curiae in support of the Electronic Privacy Information Center's (EPIC) petition for writ…
Legal Brief
Brief of Amici Curiae Supporting EPIC’s Petition for Writ of Mandamus (EPIC v. DHS)
In the last half decade, as millions of Americans have undergone AIT screening by the TSA, none have been afforded an opportunity to comment on…
Blog
TSA Roundup
Everyone's favorite sexy-searchers are back in the news, but not for the right reasons.
Wall Street Journal
Letter to the Editor: ‘Modest’ Doesn’t Describe the CISPA
Your editorial "Who's Afraid of #CISPA?" (May 21) rightly argues that facilitating voluntary information sharing is a vastly superior approach to bolstering America's cyber defenses…
Blog
If Only All Policemen were Leroy Jethro Gibbs
As a fan of NCIS, I’m quite aware of the government's ability to track the location of individuals through their cell phones. One of the…
Letters
Coalition Letter on Cyber Security Act of 2012
Full Document Available in PDF We, the undersigned organizations, write to express our deep concerns with S. 2105, the Cyber…
Blog
CEI Podcast for April 26, 2012: The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA)
Associate Director of Technology Studies Ryan Radia goes over CISPA's privacy problems and discusses the bill's political prospects.
Wall Street Journal
How a Cybersecurity Protection Bill Might Differ From CISPA
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on “CISPA,” the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act this week. Whatever advocates’ frustrations, it’s not clear…
News Release
CEI Urges Members to Vote No on CISPA
Washington, D.C., April 26, 2012 — Tomorrow, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on final passage of H.R. 3523, the Cyber Intelligence…
News Release
Free Market Coalition: Amend CISPA to Preserve Freedom, Prevent Gov’t Overreach
Washington, D.C., April 21, 2012 — The House of Representatives is expected to vote next week on the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act…
Letters
Free Market Coalition Letter on CISPA
Full Document Available in PDF As public interest groups dedicated to free enterprise and limited government, we applaud bipartisan congressional efforts to…
Wall Street Journal
Ryan Radia: SOPA could change the way the internet works
SOPA could change the way the internet works. Now, some of the biggest websites in the world like Google and Wikipedia are going dark in…
Wall Street Journal
Grinches and Scrooges Dislike Facebook This Christmas
Seems it’s time once again to act surprised that Facebook is a social network. Surely you’ve noticed the “Sponsored Stories” ads on Facebook, noting that…
Letters
Coalition Letter Urges House Judiciary Committee to Consider Implications of SOPA
Full Document Available in PDF The Competitive Enterprise Institute, TechFreedom, Americans…
CNET
New Version of SOPA Copyright Bill, Old Complaints
CNET
SOPA Foes Marshal Opposition Before House Panel Vote
Yahoo! News
FCC Net Neutrality Rules Take Effect, Experts Doubt Longevity
E Week
Security Experts Blast House Anti-Piracy Bill’s DNS Filtering Provisions
E Week
Republicans, Democrats, Google, and Church of Sweden Unite to Halt Hollywood
E Week
U.S. House Considers Copyright Bill
CNET
SOPA Bill Won’t Make U.S. a ‘Repressive Regime,’ Democrat Says
News Release
Congress Should Amend SOPA to Address Cybersecurity, Due Process Concerns
Washington, D.C., November 16, 2011 — This morning, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Privacy Act. Below…
CNET
Showdown Looms Over Stop Online Piracy Act
CNET
Google, Facebook to Congress: Don’t Expect Us to Police Piracy
CNET
Stopping Piracy or Censorsing the Web? Groups Lash Out Over Bill
CNET
Lawless Net Neutrality vs. the “Resolution of Disapproval”
Today, the U.S. Senate takes up S.J.Res.6, the FCC Internet and Broadband Resolution of Disapproval, for up to four hours of debate. The controversy…
Daily Caller
Government Bureaucrats Can’t Prevent Data Breaches
Sony’s popular PlayStation Network suffered a massive data breach earlier this year, exposing 100 million users’ credit card numbers, home addresses and more. Numerous other…
Cato At Liberty
Three Libertarians Raise Concerns about the Stop Online Piracy Act
ARS Technica
The Stop Online Piracy Act: Big Content’s Full-On Assault Against the Safe Harbor
ACLU
I Went to Washington and Democracy Broke Out
ACLU
“Verbal Brawl” Erupts at House E-Verify Briefing
Read Write