[Here's an oped of mine that recently ran on Reuters. Readers will recognize many of these themes and arguments since I have developed them here on the TLF many times before.] Privacy Regulation and the “Free” Internet by Adam Thierer, Mercatus Center at George Mason University Would you like to pay $20 a month for [...]
“Regulatory capture” occurs when special interests co-opt policymakers or political bodies — regulatory agencies, in particular — to further their own ends. Capture theory is closely related to the “rent-seeking” and “political failure” theories developed by the public choice school of economics. Another term for regulatory capture is “client politics,” which according to James Q. [...]
This is a response to Nick Carr’s recent piece, “The Attack on Do Not Track,” in which he goes after me for some comments I made in this essay about the trade-offs at work in the privacy and online advertising debates. In his critique of my essay, he argues: What the FTC is suggesting is [...]
The comic geniuses at CollegeHumor.com have really hit the nail on the head with this musical romp through the (mostly ad-supported) web, a take-off on “Maria” from the musical West Side Story. Besides showcasing a number of great ad-supported services, the clip really hits the nail on the head by acknowledging that “There is No [...]
The advocates of regulation pay lip service to the importance of advertising in funding online content and services but don’t seem to understand that this quid pro quo is a fragile one: Tipping the balance, even slightly, could have major consequences for continued online creativity and innovation. Who is this handsome young man and why [...]
This week I was pleased to join a diverse collection of think tanks and public interest groups in submitting joint comments to the FCC opposing the proposed content filtering mandate that would be part of a future AWS-3 auction. That’s the proposed auction that would create a “free” nationwide wireless broadband service. As part of [...]