Keeping politicians' hands off the Net & everything else related to technology
Interesting upcoming event on April 21st at Georgetown University about “Digital Power and Its Discontents.” It’s described as: “A one-day conference exploring the ways digital technologies disrupt the balance of power between and among states, their citizens and the private sector.” Evgeny Morozov of Georgetown’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, which is organizing the [...]
In the latest PFF TechCast, I discuss the issues considered in the second essay in our ongoing series, “The Wrong Way to Reinvent Media.” In this 6-minute podcast, PFF’s press director Mike Wendy chats with me about proposals to impose taxes on broadcast spectrum licenses to funnel money to public media or “public interest” content. [...]
As I mentioned before, I’ve been actively seeking a replacement in my role as President of The Progress & Freedom Foundation. I’ve already grown tired of managerial duties, fundraising responsibilities, and so on. More importantly, it is slowly but surely destroying my ability to be a full-time policy wonk and focus all my energies on [...]
The city of Bellingham, Washington lies close to the Canadian border. It is a sleep town of 70,000 or so with a decent sized University, a pleasant waterfront and charming downtown. (Full disclosure, the author attended said University a decade ago) The town’s motto is, “the city of subdued excitement,” something that probably better fits [...]
Ed Roberts, designer of the first commercially successful personal computer, died yesterday in Georgia at the age of 68. Roberts founded the MITS company in 1970 and in 1975 developed the first personal computer, the Altair 8800. Soon Bill Gates and Paul Allen came calling, and later sold their first commercial software to Roberts. The [...]
This is a hot topic in the Valley at the moment, and for good reason. Here’s an excerpt from my column on the issue: Silicon Valley is known for innovative ideas in technology, and now some of the area’s greatest minds have come up with a new way to solve one of their biggest operational [...]
In a Cato@Liberty post, “Cell Phones and Ingratitude,” David Boaz reproaches the New America Foundation for today’s complaint-fest, “Can You Hear Me Now? Why Your Cell Phone is So Terrible”: This is an old story. Markets, property rights, and the rule of law provide a framework in which technology and prosperity soar, and some people [...]
As the Wall Street Journal is already reporting, today eBay sustained an important win in its long-running dispute with Tiffany over counterfeit goods sold through its marketplace. (The full opinion is available here.) I wrote about this case as my leading example of the legal problems that appear at the border between physical life and [...]
From our bulletin board at home: This cartoon takes its inspiration from a conversation—a real gut-buster!—that I had with my kids. April would have foolishness enough, given that dread date smack in its middle, without April Fool’s Day. You can thus take this joke seriously. [Crossposted at Agoraphilia, TechLiberation Front.]
We won’t know the actual effects of policies intended to promote broadband deployment unless we first understand how the market would have evolved without any policy changes.
January 27, 2012
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.
