Keeping politicians' hands off the Net & everything else related to technology
[NOTE: The following is a template for how to script congressional testimony when invited to speak about online safety issues.] Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, thank you inviting me here today to testify about the most important issue to me and everyone in this room: Our children. There is nothing I care more [...]
by Berin Szoka & Geoffrey Manne In advance of today’s Senate Judiciary hearing, “The Power of Google: Serving Consumers or Threatening Competition?,” we’ve assembled a list of fallacies you’re likely to hear, either explicitly or implicitly: Competitors, not Competition. Antitrust protects consumer welfare: competition, not competitors. Competitors complain because a practice hurts them, but antitrust [...]
The Supreme Court will be issuing its opinion in the case Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association any day now (TLF’s previous coverage is here). The case was previously known as Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association, but Mr. Schwarzenegger has been trying to stay out of court of late. I was just sent a draft of [...]
Adam and I spent a lot of time on our joint amicus brief with EFF—which Larry has artfully summarized. But Jon Stewart has outdone us both with this witty satire on the case: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c You’re Welcome – Violent Video Games www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full [...]
[Fellow members of the Society for the Prevention of Vice, I urge you to take immediate action to continue our crusade to clean up America's media marketplace by ridding it of the scourge of media hyper-violence. A clip has come to our attention that merits particular concern and I hope you will agree something must [...]
[I’m always amazed by the misuse of language in debates over media and communications policy. Some regulatory advocates, like Free Press and Public Knowledge, seem to contort the meaning of everyday words in such a grotesque way that they are barely recognizable. Luckily, via Wikileaks, Mike Wendy and I stumbled upon a secret copy of [...]
A 62 year old former gravedigger in Britain bought a steel cakset on ebay and turned it into a sports car.
Here are a few fake tech news headlines I wish I’d seen today: Foreign Affairs: Google, Taiwan Announce “Merger of Equals” to Counter China SFGate: Facebook Gives in to Privacy Demands; All Information Now Inaccessible by Default CongressDaily: Congress to Vote by Twitter, Hashtag Landgrab Begins for Clever Bill Acronym Titles Broadband Breakfast: FCC Nationalizes [...]
Just in case you missed Adam Thierer’s unhinged rant, My Swan Song Moment: I Will Take Elmo Hostage in the Name of First Amendment Freedoms!, you’ll want to go back and read it after watching this: < p style=”text-align: center;”> Not exactly a highpoint in the history of deliberative democracy or rhetoric (in the best sense), [...]
What distinguishes pragmatic Internet optimists from their starry-eyed, pollyanna-ish optimist kin is the ability to recognize the real problems raised by technology. More than anything else, that means being able to appreciate great satire on the downsides of the Digital Revolution. Robert Lanham, author of The Hipster Handbook and other satirical classics, offers the definitive guide to [...]
February 14, 2012
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.
