Keeping politicians' hands off the Net & everything else related to technology
The Comcast-NBC deal has the traditional media world all atwitter—well, better call it aflutter. “Atwitter” is losing its old media connotations. So the New York Times rounded up a foursome of advocates to air their views, among them Adam Thierer and yours truly. Huzzahs and rotten fruit in the comments, please. (And you can see [...]
Today, Jim Harper and I took on Andy Schwartzman of Media Access Projects and Gigi Sohn of Public Knowledge in this New York Times online debate about, “Should Consumers Fear the Comcast Deal?” Like other media critics, Schwartzman and Sohn adopt the gloom and doom tone that many worrywarts use when discussing the deal. Andy [...]
The New York Times has a great summary of yesterday’s Exploring Privacy workshop at the FTC, where Adam and I made the case that restrictive, preemptive privacy regulations affecting online advertising is likely to harm, not help, consumers. Check out Adam’s excellent summary here. Adotas notes: … the highlight was the third panel, when Jeff [...]
The White House announces its open government plans today, live at 11:00 am Eastern, on Whitehouse.gov. But what about the president’s promise to run his own White House more transparently? In a post on Cato@Liberty this morning, I look into a new development on the Sunlight Before Signing promise, which he has violated more than [...]
Today, Berin Szoka and I both testified at the first of three Federal Trade Commission workshops on “Exploring Privacy.” Today’s all-day event featured five panel discussions, and remarks by FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour, and David C. Vladeck, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. Our TLF co-blogging colleague Jim Harper [...]
As I noted in my recent paper, “A Brief History of Media Merger Hysteria: From AOL-Time Warner to Comcast-NBC,” every time a media merger is proposed we hear all sorts of silly Chicken Little predictions of impending doom. Among the more entertaining claims we hear are conspiracy theories about supposed nefarious schemes to take over [...]
If you’re interested in supporting the cause of free markets and entrepreneurship in space, now is your chance! The Space Frontier Foundation (on whose board I sit) is wrapping up their annual fund-raising drive today (12/4) with a 1:1 donation matching program. More about the Foundation follows below in a letter from our Chairman, Bob [...]
Bidding has begun on Comcast’s acquisition of a majority stake in NBC Universal. No, not the bidding between GE and Comcast over the terms of the sale. That was the comparatively easy part. The real bidding is over at the FCC, as various interests work to get concessions and pledges from Comcast as a condition of FCC approval [...]
If you follow privacy policy, you won’t want to miss these two great events. First, on Monday (12/7), the Federal Trade Commission will be holding the first of three “Exploring Privacy” roundtables at its conference center (601 New Jersey Avenue, NW). This all-day event (agenda) will include five panel discussions, and remarks by FTC Chairman [...]
January 29, 2012
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.
