Articles by Adam Thierer 
Senior Fellow in Technology & Innovation at the R Street Institute in Washington, DC. Formerly a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, President of the Progress & Freedom Foundation, Director of Telecommunications Studies at the Cato Institute, and a Fellow in Economic Policy at the Heritage Foundation.
From time to time on this site, we will be posting nominees for the “Luddite of the Month” award, or as I will be designating it, the “Fritz Award” in honor of the greatest Luddite to ever walk the halls of Congress, Senator Ernest “Fritz” Hollings. If this site would have existed back in the dark ages of communications technology, we would have certainly seen Fritz win “Luddite of the Month” honors many times over. If you’ve never had the privilege of seeing Fritz in action, then you’ve missed the opportunity to witness a true knuckle-dragging Neanderthal at work. Never has there been a policymaker who consistently expressed such open disdain for technological progress and free trade.
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I recently finished reading Daniel M. Kimmel entertaining new history of the rise of the Fox television network entitled The Fourth Network: How Fox Broke the Rules and Reinvented Television. While many younger Americans can’t remember a time when multiple networks and cable channels were not at their disposal, for most of television’s history, citizens had only three primary commercial options from which to choose. After inept regulatory policies caused the demise of the DuMont Television Network in the 1950s, no one thought a fourth network was feasible in America. Perhaps that explains why it took a non-American to think outside the box and roll the dice on the launch of a new network in the U.S.
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Eugene Volokh has an important post up on his excellent site about Australia’s new effort to crackdown on online porn by requiring nationwide filtering. As with so many other countries that have already been down this road, one has to wonder: Do they really think they can successfully block all offshore sites? If the history of human civilization has proven anything to us it is that human beings have a seemingly insatiable appetite for prurient material; people will find a way to get what they desire. So the real question in debates like this: Just how far are governments willing to go to enforce moral codes? In an age of seemless, borderless communications, it boggles the mind how ANY regulatory regime (even a “UN for the Net“) could ever shut down the free flow of information (including porn) no matter how hard they tried. Anyway, if you’re interested, these issues are explored in greater detail in a book I co-edited last year with Wayne Crews entitled “Who Rules the Net?”
Unlike many of the other dry technology and media policy issues I monitor, censorship issues occasionally provide some comedic relief, especially when Congress or the FCC start talking dirty. I love the sheer irony of the fact that in order to tell us which words or phrases must never be uttered on broadcast television or radio, Congress must ultimately list them all in a bill, as part of the public record, for the whole world (including school kids) to see. (Take a look at all the filthy talk in H.R. 3687, for example.) My God, aren’t they thinking of the children! Naughty, naughty Congress.
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Although we don’t always agree, I have a lot of respect for Tim Wu of the University of Virginia Law School and he’s doing some interesting guest blogging over on the Lessig Blog this week. He recently made a post about the principles that should guide the next Telecom Act and lists many that I agree with, some that I do not. Anyway, here’s my own short sketch of what the next Telecom Act should include:
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The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has just released an outstanding new primer on digital copryight issues that is probably the best introduction to the issue for the layman that I have ever seen. A very objective overview of all the key issues. Check it out.
In a recent column, Declan McCullagh discussed John Kerry’s tech policy agenda and what it might tell us about how a Kerry Administration would impact the Internet, communications and media policy.
Quite honestly, I have always felt that the two major political parties–neither of which I have ever voted for in my life–offer us a distinction without a difference on technology related public policy issues. Most politicians, especially those seeking the presidency, just don’t give a hoot about these issues.
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Hello, and welcome to the Technology Liberation Front blog. Does the world really need another blog, you might ask? Well, yes, on this issue the world most certainly does need another blog because there’s not another one like this out there.
Do you remember when politicians would run around saying government should keep its “Hands off the Net”? It was nice rhetoric while it lasted but, ultimately, it was a hollow promise. Today the government has its hands all over the Internet. It’s difficult to name an area where lawmakers and regulators are not currently promulgating or considering rules and regulations for the high-technology and communications sectors.
This is why this site is needed. We aim to report on, and hopefully help to reverse, this dangerous trend of over-regulation of the Internet, communications, media and high-technology in general. We will not hide our love of liberty on this site and we will take every opportunity to castigate those who call for expanding the reach of government into these fields.
Second, this will be what you might call a full-service technology policy blog. While there are other technology blogs out there, those dealing with public policy often seem to be focused on just a few core issues. In particular, copyright law dominates the discussion on many blogs these days. While that’s understandable given the increasing intersection of copyright law and technology policy, one wonders why other sites haven’t popped up to cover a broader array of topics in our exploding universe of high technology pubic policy issues, including: First Amendment & free speech concerns; regulation of e-commerce markets and online services; privacy regulation; SPAM; spectrum management policy and wireless issues; broadcast television and radio regulation; media ownership / concentration concerns; traditional telecom regulatory policy; broadband Internet deployment policy; cable regulation; VoIP issues; network regulation and open access mandates; Internet taxation; online gambling; cyber-surveillance issues; and the role of the Federal Communications Commission and other regulatory agencies in the Information Age. And that just scratches the surface of what we’ll be covering here.
Third, this blog is not a one-man show. We have brought together several of the brightest and most provocative minds in the field of technology public policy today to compile and comment on the important developments of the day. This will help us keep the site fresh, entertaining and informative.
We hope you enjoy the site and will pass word on to friends who might also be interested in these issues. We also hope you will be willing to provide feedback on our entries and please let us know how we can improve the site to make it more useful and consumer-friendly.
Viva la (Technology) Revolution!
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.