Keeping politicians' hands off the Net & everything else related to technology
Should the federal government regulate what blogger’s blog? Yes, said the Federal Trade Commission yesterday — at least when it comes to product endorsements. At issue were the FTC’s guidelines concerning the use of endorsements in advertising. These guidelines, among other things, require paid endorsers of products to disclose their relationships with advertisers. The goal [...]
Is the Internet in clear and present danger? Yes, say proponents of neutrality regulation of the Internet. In his speech last month calling for FCC neutrality regulations, Chairman Julius Genachowski stopped short of quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes, but did all he could to paint a dire picture of the Internet’s future: “This is not about [...]
FCC chair Julius Genachowski has certainly been busy. This week, of course, he’s been occupied with regulating the Internet. But last week, he was busy fending off charges on talk radio and elsewhere that the FCC has its very own “speech” or “diversity” czar. At issue was the appointment in August of ex-journalist and Center [...]
Haven’t they been punished enough? Inmates in our nation’s prisons may find themselves without over-the-air television next February, unless Congress acts to fill a gap in the subsidy program for TV converter boxes. That’s right: according to a story run last week by Associated Press, “the upcoming switch to digital television is presenting a challenge [...]
Communications Daily (subscription) reported today on the avalanche of lawsuits being filed challenging the FCC’s Comcast “net neutrality” order. Four were filed this week in four different U.S. appeals circuits — the lucky court that will actually decide the case will be decided by lottery. The story quotes Ben Scott of Free Press, the energizer [...]
Some good news for bloggers. This was posted today on the Heritage Foundation “Foundry” blog by Dave Mason, former chairman of the FEC (Mason is now working with us at Heritage as a Visiting Senior Fellow): “Bloggers and web site operators may support, oppose, link to, and work cooperatively with federal political candidates. This freedom [...]
An interesting poll out today by pollster Scott Rasmussen: Asked whether the government should require all radio and television stations to offer equal amounts of liberal and conservative political commentary, 47 percent — nearly half — said “yes.” (39 percent were opposed). Perhaps even more surprising, support has increased since last year, when Americans split [...]
This morning’s Drudge Report features the stories everyone is talking about today, with reports on U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps winning another couple of gold medals, the latest on the Russia-Georgia war, and — of course — FCC commissioner Robert McDowell on threat of the Fairness Doctrine and net neutrality regulation. Well, maybe the first two [...]
It’s over. The FCC, which voted to approve the merger between satellite radio firms XM and Sirius two weeks ago, finally released its formal report on the case on Tuesday, ending the drama 505 days after the firms submitted their application to the Commission. The episode was not the FCC’s finest hour. The agencies once-vaunted [...]
The FCC last Friday may have jumped with both feet into the business of regulating the Internet, but someone forgot to tell the folks that run the Commission’s website. “The FCC Does Not Regulate the Internet or Internet Service Providers (ISP)” the “consumer publications” page of FCC.gov is still proudly telling visitors, referring them over [...]
May 22, 2012
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.
