Senate Internet Hearings
As a technical matter, it is the case that the Internet is more like cable TV than the telephone network. While the Internet does support interpersonal communication, its primary role is publishing audio, video, pictures, and text. And like cable TV, it’s a platform in which advertising is a very important source of revenue.
Mysteries and Loopholes in the Open Internet Order
The claim that Internet regulation can only be carried out by an agency with rulemaking power remains to be proved because we don’t actually have concrete rules yet.
A Fresh Look at Internet Management
The FTC takes action to stop and prevent unfair business practices that are likely to reduce competition and lead to higher prices, reduced quality or levels of service, or less innovation. Anticompetitive practices include activities like price fixing, group boycotts, and exclusionary exclusive dealing contracts or trade association rules, and are generally grouped into two types: agreements between competitors, also referred to as horizontal conduct; and monopolization, also referred to as single firm conduct
FCC Course Correction
The FCC has made a number of expected decisions on pending issues and signalled a willingness to alter the course of network regulation in a more permissive, innovation-friendly direction. Here are some highlights of recent actions.
Chairman Pai’s FCC Challenge
In this podcast, Shane Tews and Richard discuss key issues likely to grab the FCC’s attention this year, the impact of Chairman Pai, and whether the FCC needs to be reorganized. Beyond the issues themselves, Chairman Pai is likely to invest a lot of effort in changing the tone at the agency. Rather than forcing questionable issues through the agenda, expect him to work for consensus solutions that will outlast his tenure.
Is Net Neutrality Doomed?
Net neutrality is doomed by history and technology regardless of who sits atop the FCC. Neutrality is forced modularity, a losing proposition in every long run. Our reverence for for forced modularity comes from a fluke of history.
Reimagining the FCC for the 21st Century
I read an intriguing article on Airbus’s plans for flying cars in Digital Trends. Before the end of the year, Europe’s aircraft maker will be testing both single-passenger and no-passenger flying…
Landing Team Invades the Echo Chamber
Technology regulation is a gatekeeper with an enormous role in determining the kind of future we will enjoy. Engineers can create awesome new systems, but if we can’t get buy-in…
Trump Administration Telecom Program
The Trump Administration is going to chart its own course through the tech policy issues we discuss here, as AEI’s Jeff Eisenach explained on the Communicators last Friday. The Trump Administration…
The FCC’s Privacy Nudge
Privacy defaults determine choices. Advertisers should compete on a level playing field where outcomes aren’t pre-determined.