Keeping politicians' hands off the Net & everything else related to technology
My last post on the opportunities presented by “The Great Stagnation” got a bit of attention, and I’m heartened by that because I’d like to develop my conception of “opting out” a bit more in later posts. Today I’d just like to respond to my friend and Colleague Tate Watkins who reacted to my post [...]
Today I filed roughly 30 pages worth of comments with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in its proceeding on “Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: a Proposed Framework for Businesses and Policy Makers.” [Other comments filed in the proceeding can be found here.] Down below, I’ve attached the Table of Contents from [...]
In his column on Monday, David Brooks put his finger on what I found most interesting about Tyler Cowen’s The Great Stagnation. Namely: It could be that in an industrial economy people develop a materialist mind-set and believe that improving their income is the same thing as improving their quality of life. But in an [...]
It was my pleasure today to debate the future of public media funding on Warren Olney’s NPR program, “To The Point“. I was 1 of 5 guests and I wasn’t brought into the show until about 29 minutes into the program, but I tried to reiterate some of the key points I made in my [...]
Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona today, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said he wants the service to become as ubiquitous and simple as tap water. But he should be careful what he wishes for. Search Engine Land is already asking, “Twitter As Utility, Like Running Water?” The thing about water is that it [...]
A new report out this week in State Tax Notes shows the discriminatory way in which Federal, state and local governments treat their citizens who subscribe to wireless services — and according to CTIA that’s about 93% of Americans. Federal, state and local taxes and fees for wireless services topped an average of 16.3% in [...]
Jaron Lanier, pioneering computer scientist, musician, visual artist, and author, discusses his book, You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto. Lanier discusses effects of the web becoming “regularized” and dangers he sees with “hive mind” production, which he claims leads to “crummy design.” He also explains why he thinks advertising is a misnomer, contending that modern advertising is more about access to potential consumers than expressive or creative form. Lanier also advocates for more peer-to-peer rather than hub-and-spoke transactions, discusses why he’s worried about the disappearance of the middle class, claims that “free” isn’t really free, talks about libertarian ideals, and explains why he’s ultimately hopeful about the future.
You’ll want to visit, follow, friend, and whatever-the-hell-else-people-do the new Digital Liberty project from Americans for Tax Reform. Digital Liberty’s introductory blog post says: Digital Liberty is dedicated to preserving a free market by pushing back against heavy regulation and taxation of all things Internet, tech, telecom, and media. DigitalLiberty.net will serve as a resource [...]
The folks at Reason magazine were kind enough to invite me to submit a review of Tim Wu’s new book, The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires based on my 6-part series on the book that I posted here on the TLF late last year. (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) [...]
A Texas tax official estimates in this story that Texas loses an estimated $600 million in Internet sales taxes every year. Its part of a long-running debate about whether state governments should be able to collect taxes from out-of-state retailers who send goods into their jurisdictions. What happens with the $600 million depends on what [...]
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.
