Keeping politicians' hands off the Net & everything else related to technology
We all know how governments enjoy levying “sin taxes” on alcohol and tobacco, so it shouldn’t be at all surprisingly that someone is now proposing to impose one on online porn viewing. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, (D-Ark.) is apparently going to drop a bill next week that would impose a federal excise tax on transactions with [...]
I’m not too surprised to see populist interest groups on the right and left jump on an intellectually incoherent but crowd-pleasing proposal like “a la carte” cable, but Matt Yglesias should know better. What everyone seems to miss in this debate is that a cable channel isn’t like a banana. If every grocery store somehow [...]
The lead sentence of an editorial in this week’s Economist includes five words not normally found in a news magazine (they are *****, *******, *, *****, and *****) A desperate ploy for circulation? No, the magazine is merely quoting from an FCC decision on what can and can not be said over U.S. airwaves. The [...]
At the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee panel discussion on Tuesday, most people seemed to agree on one point about the Grokster decision – we don’t need new copyright legislation (at least not yet). This general consensus concurs with my recent article on Grokster. It’s just too early to tell how the courts will apply [...]
One of the most common arguments in favor of government censorship of media–whether it’s TV, radio, movies, or video games–is that parents are simply powerless to stop the onslaught of objectionable content that their children might be able to access. As a parent, there are times when I can sympathize with those who feel this [...]
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal today (p. A4), FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said he might consider “a la carte” mandates on cable and satellite operators as a possible way to clean up content on pay TV. He told the Journal, “I saw a quote recently where one person said ‘I can call [...]
I disagree with James on cell phone bans. First of all, as one of his commenters point out, cell phones are not the only distracting thing in the car. They’re probably not even the most distracting. People eat, yell at their kids, change the station on the radio, apply make-up, and do all manner of [...]
Cell phones are not nearly as dangerous as people think. There’s no evidence they cause cancer. They do not cause gas pumps to explode. And they are not unsafe on airplanes. (See Adam’s excellent piece on that below). Time and again, wireless telephony, like other new technologies, has been the victim of an overactive culture [...]
Well, for once I find myself in perfect agreement with Democratic FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein about something. In a Wall Street Journal (pg. B4) story today about FCC prohibitions on cell phone use during airline flights, Adelstein argues that, “Our job is to determine if it’s technologically feasible and safe. Our job is not to [...]
Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) proposed new legislation on Thursday that would make it a federal offense for retailers to sell a minor a video game that includes violent or sexual themes. Her bill would impose a $5000 fine on any retailer that sold a youngster a game that was classified as mature or violent under [...]
May 24, 2012
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.
