Here the video from a December 10th Federalist Society event on “AI Policy In President Trump’s Second Term.” It features my comments alongside:

• Neil Chilson, Head of AI Policy, Abundance Institute
• Satya Thallam, Senior Vice President, Americans for Responsible Innovation
• Prof. Kevin Frazier, Assistant Professor of Law, St. Thomas University Benjamin L. Crump College of Law

As always, all my recent essays, podcasts, and event video about AI policy can be found here.

The Technology Policy Institute has posted the video of my talk at the 2024 Aspen Forum panel on “How Should we Regulate the Digital World?” My remarks run from 33:33–44:12 of the video. I also elaborate briefly during Q&A.

My remarks at this year’s TPI Aspen Forum panel were derived from my R Street Institute essay, “The Policy Origins of the Digital Revolution & the Continuing Case for the Freedom to Innovate,” which sketches out a pro-freedom vision for the Computational Revolution.

The Brookings Institution hosted this excellent event on frontier AI regulation this week featuring a panel discussion I was on that followed opening remarks from Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA). I come in around the 51-min mark of the event video and explain why I worry that AI policy now threatens to devolve into an all-out war on computation and open source innovation in particular. ​

I argue that some pundits and policymakers appear to be on the way to substituting a very real existential risk (authoritarian govt control over computation/science) for a hypothetic existential risk of powerful AGI. I explain how there are better, less destructive ways to address frontier AI concerns than the highly repressive approaches currently being considered.

I have developed these themes and arguments at much greater length in a series of essays over on Medium over the past few months. If you care to read more, the four key articles to begin with are:

• “Microsoft’s New AI Regulatory Framework & the Coming Battle over Computational Control,” May 29, 2023.
• “Will AI Policy Became a War on Open Source Following Meta’s Launch of LLaMA 2?” July 19, 2023.
• “Is Telecom Licensing a Good Model for Artificial Intelligence?” July 8, 2023.
• “Blumenthal-Hawley AI Regulatory Framework Escalates the War on Computation,” September 13, 2023.

In June, I also released this longer R Street Institute report on “Existential Risks & Global Governance Issues around AI & Robotics,” and then spent an hour talking about these issues on the TechPolicyPodcast about “Who’s Afraid of Artificial Intelligence?” All of my past writing and speaking on AI, ML, and robotic policy can be found here, and that list is update every month.

As always, I’ll have much more to say on this topic as the war on computation expands. This is quickly becoming the most epic technology policy battle of modern times.

Just FYI, the James Madison Institute will be hosting its “2022 Tech and Innovation Summit” on Thursday, September 15 and Friday, September 16 in Coral Gables, Florida. I’m honored to be included among the roster of speakers announced so far, which includes:

• Ajit Pai, Former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
• Adam Thierer, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University
• Will Duffield, Cato Institute
• Utah State Representative Cory Maloy
• Dane Ishihara, Director of Utah’s Office of Regulatory Relief

Registration info is here.

Here’s a video chat I did today with Americans for Prosperity – Virginia. My thanks to Benjamin Knotts for hosting the discussion. We talked about my recent book (Evasive Entrepreneurs) and my last one (Permissionless Innovation). We also discussed my new proposal with Matt Mitchell and Patrick McLaughlin to create “Fresh Start Initiatives” to address rules suspended during the COVID crisis.  Watch the 30 min video here:

On March 19th, I had the chance to debate Franklin Foer at a Patrick Henry College event focused on the question, “Is Big Tech Big Brother?” It was billed as a debate over the role of technology in American society and whether government should be regulating media and technology platforms more generally.  [The full event video is here.] Foer is the author of the new book, World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech, in which he advocates a fairly expansive regulatory regime for modern information technology platforms. He is open to building on regulatory ideas from the past, including broadcast-esque licensing regimes, “Fairness Doctrine”-like mandates for digital intermediaries, “fiduciary” responsibilities, beefed-up antitrust intervention, and other types of controls. In a review of the book for Reason, and then again during the debate at Patrick Henry University, I offered some reflections on what we can learn from history about how well ideas like those worked out in practice.

My closing statement of the debate, which lasted just a little over three minutes, offers a concise summation of what that history teaches us and why it would be so dangerous to repeat the mistakes of the past by wandering down that disastrous path again. That 3-minute clip is posted below. (The audience was polled before and after the event and asked the same question each time: “Do large tech companies wield too much power in our economy, media and personal lives and if so, should government(s) intervene?” Apparently at the beginning, the poll was roughly Yes – 70% and No – 30%, but after the debated ended it has reversed, with only 30% in favor of intervention and 70% against. Glad to turn around some minds on this one!)

via ytCropper

Telephone companies have already begun transitioning their networks to Internet Protocol. This could save billions while improving service for consumers and promoting faster broadband, but has raised a host of policy and legal questions. How can we ensure the switch is as smooth and successful as possible? What legal authority do the FCC and other agencies have over the IP Transition and how should they use it?

Join TechFreedom on Monday, May 19, at its Capitol Hill office for a lunch event to discuss this and more with top experts from the field. Two short technical presentations will set the stage for a panel of legal and policy experts, including:

• Jodie Griffin, Senior Staff Attorney, Public Knowledge
• Hank Hultquist, VP of Federal Regulatory, AT&T
• Berin Szoka, President, TechFreedom
• Christopher Yoo, Professor, University of Pennsylvania School of Law
• David Young, VP of Federal Regulatory Affairs, Verizon

The panel will be livestreamed (available here). Join the conversation on Twitter with the #IPTransition hashtag.

When: Monday, May 19, 2014 11:30am – 12:00pm — Lunch and registration 12:00pm – 12:20pm — Technical presentations by AT&T and Verizon 12:20pm – 2:00 pm — Panel on legal and policy issues, audience Q&A

Where: United Methodist Building, Rooms 1 & 2 100 Maryland Avenue NE Washington, DC 20002

RSVP today!

Questions? Email mail@techfreedom.org.

Last December, it was my pleasure to take part in a great event, “The Disruptive Competition Policy Forum,” sponsored by Project DisCo (or The Disruptive Competition Project). It featured several excellent panels and keynotes and they’ve just posted the video of the panel I was on here and I have embedded it below. In my remarks, I discussed:

• benefit-cost analysis in digital privacy debates (building on this law review article);
• the contrast between Europe and America’s approach to data & privacy issues (referencing this testimony of mine);
• the problem of “technopanics” in information policy debates (building on this law review article);
• the difficulty of information control efforts in various tech policy debates (which I wrote about in this law review article and these two blog posts: 1, 2);
• the possibility of less-restrictive approaches to privacy & security concerns (which I have written about here as well in those other law review articles);
• the rise of the Internet of Things and the unique challenges it creates (see this and this as well as my new book); and,
• the possibility of a splintering of the Internet or the rise of “federated Internets.”

The panel was expertly moderated by Ross Schulman, Public Policy & Regulatory Counsel for CCIA, and also included remarks from John Boswell, SVP & Chief Legal Officer at SAS, and Josh Galper, Chief Policy Officer and General Counsel of Personal, Inc. (By the way, you should check out some of the cool things Personal is doing in this space to help consumers. Very innovative stuff.) The video lasts one hour. Here it is:

I am speaking on a panel tomorrow at the Dirksen Senate Office Building at an R Street Institute event on patent reform. Here’s R Street’s description:

The patent reform debate has been painted as one of inventors vs. patent troll victims. Yet these two don’t have to be enemies. We can protect intellectual property, and stomp out patent trolls. If you’re just tuning in, patent trolls are entities that hoard overly broad patents, but do not use them to make goods or services, or advance a useful secondary market. While there’s a place for patent enforcement, these guys take it way too far. These entities maliciously threaten small businesses, inventors, and consumers, causing tens of billions in economic damage each year. Since litigation costs millions of dollars, businesses are forced to settle even when the claim against them is spurious. Fortunately, with growing awareness and support, the patent trolls’ lucrative racket is in jeopardy. With Obama’s patent troll task force, the passage of the Innovation Act in the House, state legislation tackling demand letters, and further action in the courts, we appear to be closer than ever to achieving real reform. Please join us for a lunch and panel discussion of the nature of the patent troll problem, the industries it affects, and the policy solutions being considered. Featuring: Zach Graves, Director of Digital Marketing & Policy Analyst, R Street Institute (Moderator) Eli Dourado, Research Fellow, Mercatus Center Whitaker L. Askew, Vice President, American Gaming Association Robin Cook, Assistant General Counsel for Special Projects, Credit Union National Association Julie Hopkins, Partner, Tydings & Rosenberg LLP

The festivities begin at noon. The event is open to the public, and you can register here.

Just a quick reminder to join us this Wednesday night (Dec. 4) for the next “Alcohol Liberation Front” happy hour featuring many Tech Liberation Front contributors and friends. The happy hour will be held at Churchkey (1337 14th St., NW) at 6 p.m.  Churchkey is one of the very best beer bars not just in D.C. but in all of America.  If you’ve never been there before, you are in for a real treat.

In addition to mixing and mingling with the witty and wacky TLF crew, we have a special surprise for attendees: Our guests will be given an early preview of our prototype TLF drone! Our Advanced Robotics Division here at the TLF has been hard at work on the “FreedomCopter” and we look forward to showing guests how we plan to use it coming years to spread the good word of tech liberty!  We plan on doing special fly-bys during the evening and buzzing past EPIC and CDT headquarters to have our autonomous agent inquire about our general freedom to tinker, innovate, and gather information freely. We look forward to their response.

No word yet if our Advanced Robotics Division will have the new driverless “TLF-Mobiles” ready in time to give inebriated guests a free ride home, but we will do our best.

Hope to see you on Wednesday night.

It’s been way too long since the Tech Liberation Front hosted an IRL meetup, more than a year in fact, so we’re looking to make amends next week. You’re invited to the 15th Alcohol Liberation Front happy hour, which we’ll hold at Churchkey on 14th Street at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, December 4th.

Lots of us from the TLF gang will be there, including quite a few of our out-of-town contributors. So please come by and have a beer with us, and bring a friend!

I’m excited to be attending the big annual Privacy Identity Innovation (pii2013) conference next week in Seattle, Washington from September 16-18. Organized by the amazing Natalie Fonseca, who also created the widely attended Tech Policy Summit, the Privacy Identity Innovation conference brings together some of the best and brightest minds involved in the digital economy and information technology policy.

Natalie and her team have put together another terrific agenda and group of all-star speakers to debate the “challenges associated with managing and securing the vast amounts of personal data being generated in our increasingly connected world” as well as the “huge opportunities for innovation if done properly.” There will be panels debating the implications of wearable technologies, Google Glass, government surveillance practices, digital advertising, transparency efforts, privacy by design, identification technologies and issues, and privacy developments in Europe and other countries, among other issues. The event also features workshops, demos, and other networking opportunities.

I’m looking forward to my panel on “Emerging Technologies and the Fine Line between Cool and Creepy.” That’s an issue I’ve had a lot to say about in blog posts here as well as recent law review articles. Occasional TLF contributor Larry Downes will also be on that panel with me.

Anyway, if you’ll be out there in Seattle for the big show, please make sure to find me and introduce yourself. I’ll be doing plenty of live-Tweeting from the event that you can read if you following me at (@AdamThierer) on Twitter.

Timothy B. Lee, founder of The Washington Post’s blog The Switch discusses his approach to reporting at the intersection of technology and policy. He covers how to make tech concepts more accessible; the difference between blogs and the news; the importance of investigative journalism in the tech space; whether paywalls are here to stay; Jeff Bezos’ recent purchase of The Washington Post; and the future of print news.

Download

Related Links

• Here are eight ways investing in Bitcoins could go horribly wrongn, Lee
• Blind advocates: Hollywood lobbying threatens deal for accessible books, Lee
• New Job, Lee

Want to hear the latest thinking on copyright reform?  Come to the 2013 Public Knowledge Policy Forum tomorrow, February 26, at 1 pm, at the US Capitol Visitor Center, where I will discuss and debate the issue with these fellow copyright wonks:

• Erik Martin, General Manager, Reddit
• Pamela Samuelson, professor of law at Berkeley Law, University of California; Faculty Director, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology
• Michael McGeary, Co-Founder, Engine Advocacy

Gigi B. Sohn, President & CEO, Public Knowledge, will moderate.

To catch the full roster, which includes some great panels, come at 10.  Registration–and lunch!–is free.  Details here.

Can’t make it?  Here’s my presentation:  PK_(C)_Reform.

This morning, I’m gearing up for Thursday’s noon-time Cato book forum on the Mercatus/Jerry Brito book, Copyright Unbalanced: From Incentive to Excess.

With the recent release and withdrawal of a Republican Study Committee memo on copyright policy, there is even greater tension around the issues than usual. So here’s a line from the planning email I sent to panelists Jerry Brito, Tom W. Bell, and Mitch Glazier.

Given how hot the issues we’ll discuss tend to be, I’ll emphasize that we’re all friends through the transitive property of friendship. I’ll be policing against ad hominem and stuff like that coming from any side. In other words, don’t bother saying or implying why a co-panelist thinks what he does because you don’t know, and because I’ll make fun of you for it.

It might be worth coming just to see how well I do with my moderation duties. Whatever the case, I think our panelists will provide a vibrant discussion on the question of where libertarians and conservatives should be on copyright. Register here now.

As some of you know, I’ve been closely following the World Conference on International Telecommunication, an international treaty conference in December that will revise rules, for example, on how billing for international phone calls is handled. Some participants are interested in broadening the scope of the current treaty to include rules about the Internet and services provided over the Internet.

I haven’t written much publicly about the WCIT lately because I am now officially a participant—I have joined the US delegation to the conference. My role is to help prepare the US government for the conference, and to travel to Dubai to advise the government on the issues that arise during negotiations.

To help the general public better understand what we can expect to happen at WCIT, Mercatus has organized an event next week that should be informative. Ambassador Terry Kramer, the head of the US delegation, will give a keynote address and take questions from the audience. This will be followed by what should be a lively panel discussion between me, Paul Brigner from the Internet Society, Milton Mueller from Syracuse University, and Gary Fowlie from the ITU, the UN agency organizing the conference. The event will be on Wednesday, November 14, at 2 pm at the W hotel in Washington.

If you’re in the DC area and are interested in getting a preview of the WCIT, I hope to see you at the event on Wednesday. Be sure to register now since we are expecting a large turnout.

The fine folks at George Mason University School of Law’s Henry G. Manne Program in Law & Economics Studies have put together another stellar agenda and lineup of speakers for their Second Annual Conference on Competition, Search & Social Media. The event will be held at GMU’s School of Law on Wednesday, May 16th from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Panel topics are listed as follows:

PANEL 1:  Antitrust and Platform Competition in Search and Social Media (This panel will discuss issues involving market definition, network effects, and dynamic considerations when analyzing search and social media platform competition.)

PANEL 2:  Search, Duties to Deal, and Essential Facilities (This panel will explore the extent to which search engines should be viewed as utilities, and whether they may have a legal duty to assist their rivals under the essential facilities doctrine as it survives after Trinko and Linkline.)

PANEL 3:  The Interface Between Privacy and Competitive Analysis in Search and Social Media (This panel will explore the extent to which privacy should be germane to antitrust analysis of online search and social networks, including whether privacy can be viewed as a dimension of quality and the extent to which privacy regulation may affect competition.)

PANEL 4:  Are There Workable Remedies for “Search Engine Bias”? (This panel will discuss economic, legal (including First Amendment), and practical issues surrounding potential remedies to allegedly “biased” search engine results.)

I’m honored to have been asked to moderate the second panel since it focuses on an issue I’ve been given a lot of thought to lately. (See my recent working paper, “The Perils of Classifying Social Media Platforms as Public Utilities.“)

Seriously, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better set of speakers on these topics. Check them all out here, where you can also RSVP if you’re interested.

TechFreedom president and TLF contributor Berin Szoka will be speaking today at the Economics of Privacy conference hosted by the Silicon Flatirons center at the University of Colorado and co-sponsored by TechFreedom. The entire conference will be livestreamed (embedded below) begining at 11am EST; Berin’s panel begins at 4:30pm EST. Highlights include a keynote conversation with FTC Commissioner Julie Brill and keynote speeches by FTC Bureau of Economics Director Joseph Farrell and Carnegie Mellon University Information Technology and Public Policy Associate Professor Alessandro Acquisti. Check the schedule for full details. The Twitter hashtag for the event is #flatirons.

TechFreedom, in association with the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI), will host a lunch panel with a number of leading experts to discuss the FTC’s recently-proposed revisions to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Opening remarks will be delivered by the Federal Trade Commission’s Phyllis Marcus, a Senior Staff Attorney at the Division of Advertising Practices. Afterwards, the panel will discuss the FTC’s proposals and what they mean for children, parents, Internet companies and innovation.

FOSI CEO Stephen Balkam will serve as master of ceremonies. The panel will be moderated by Berin Szoka, President of TechFreedom, and will include:

• Jim Dunstan, TechFreedom
• Kathryn Montgomery, American University
• Dona Fraser, Entertainment Software Rating Board
• Rebecca Newton, Mind Candy

The event will take place at the Top of the Hill Banquet and Conference Center at the Reserve Officers Association (One Constitution Ave NE, Washington DC 20002) on Wednesday, October 12 from 12:30 to 2:30pm, and include a complimentary lunch. Space is limited so please click here to register.

In addition, you can let everyone else know you’ll be coming or watching the livestream (page will be updated when event begins) by joining the Facebook event page.

You can also keep up with the event by following the Twitter discussion at the #COPPA hashtag.

[Cross posted at Truthonthemarket]

As I have posted before, I was disappointed that the DOJ filed against AT&T in its bid to acquire T-Mobile.  The efficacious provision of mobile broadband service is a complicated business, but it has become even more so by government’s meddling.  Responses like this merger are both inevitable and essential.  And Sprint and Cellular South piling on doesn’t help — and, as Josh has pointed out, further suggests that the merger is actually pro-competitive.

Tomorrow, along with a great group of antitrust attorneys, I am going to pick up where I left off in that post during a roundtable discussion hosted by the American Bar Association.  If you are in the DC area you should attend in person, or you can call in to listen to the discussion–but either way, you will need to register here.  There should be a couple of people live tweeting the event, so keep up with the conversation by following #ABASAL.

Panelists: Richard Brunell, Director of Legal Advocacy, American Antitrust Institute, Boston Allen Grunes, Partner, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Washington Glenn Manishin, Partner, Duane Morris LLP, Washington Geoffrey Manne, Lecturer in Law, Lewis & Clark Law School, Portland Patrick Pascarella, Partner, Tucker Ellis & West, Cleveland

Location:  Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C. 1700 K St. N.W. Fifth Floor Washington, D.C. 20006

For more information, check out the flyer here.

If you’re in DC this week, join Kevin Bankston from EFF, myself, fellow TLFers Berin Szoka, Geoff Manne, and Larry Downes, starting at 5:30pm at Johnny’s Half Shell, 400 North Capitol St NW. This event is being co-hosted by TLF and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Please RSVP on Facebook so we have an idea how many people are attending. Attendees must be 21 or older. Space is limited.

And ALF 15 is already in the works. We’re planning to do it in conjunction with Digital Capital Week on November 8th. Stay tuned for more details!

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in Sorrell v. IMS Health has been heralded as a major victory for commercial free speech rights and raised serious questions about how to reconcile privacy regulations with the First Amendment. The high Court struck down a Vermont law requiring that doctors opt in before drug companies could use data about their prescription patterns to market (generally name-brand) drugs to them. But what does the Court’s decision really mean for the regulation of advertising, marketing, and data flows across the economy? Has free speech doctrine fundamentally changed? Will existing privacy laws be subject to new legal challenges? How might the decision affect the ongoing debate about privacy regulation in Congress and at the FTC?

These are some of the questions that will be addressed by leading thinkers on First Amendment law and privacy at an event hosted by TechFreedom, a new digital policy think tank, and the law firm of Hunton & Williams LLP. The event will take place on Tuesday, July 19 from 12 to 3 p.m. at Hunton & Williams’s newly opened offices at 2200 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington DC. Complimentary lunch will be served.

The event will include two panels:

• Panel 1: Sorrell: Towards Greater Commercial Free Speech Protections?
  • Moderator: Greg Stohr, Bloomberg
  • Tom Julin, Hunton Williams
  • Bob Corn-Revere, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
  • Greg Beck, Public Citizen
  • Richard Ovelmen, Jordan Burt
  • Prof. David Orentlicher, Indiana University School of Law

• Panel 2: Privacy after Sorrell: Reconciling Data Restrictions & the First Amendment
  • Moderator: Jim Harper, Cato Institute
  • John Verdi, Electronic Privacy Information Center
  • Jonathan Emord, Emord & Associates P.C.
  • John Morris, Center for Democracy & Technology
  • Berin Szoka, TechFreedom

TechFreedom filed an amicus curiae brief with the Supreme Court in this case (our media statement), led by Richard Ovelmen, and previously joined with other free speech groups in an amicus brief before the Second Circuit.

To Register: Space is limited. To guarantee a seat, register online here

The Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference—the original privacy conference—is June 14th through 16th at the Georgetown University Law School here in D.C.

It has a neat layout this year, with a focus on each of the topics—computers, freedom, and privacy—on each of its three days. I’ve always found that it’s a rollicking conference at which the newest ideas and problems get aired. It’s got some big draws if you’re into that kind of thing: Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) will speak on Thursday. But there really is something for everyone. TLFer’s Ryan Radia and Berin Szoka will join yours truly and other experts on a panel entitled “Do Not Track: Yaaay or Boooh?”, which should be fun.

Check out the agenda, then register.

Last week, I spoke to a group of Capitol Hill staffers about the current debate over online privacy policy. The topic is red-hot right now with 6 major bills pending and plenty of international and state-based activity percolating. I offered the staffers an overview of these issues as well as an alternative vision for how we might handle privacy concerns going forward.

I have embedded the video of my briefing below and it can also be found on the Mercatus website here. And the slide deck I used that day can also be found down below or over on Scribd here.

Privacy & the Internet

Related Reading:

• Adam Thierer, Filing to Federal Trade Commission in ‘Do Not Track’ Proceeding, February 18, 2011.
• Adam Thierer, “Birth of the ‘Privacy Tax,’” Forbes, April 4, 2011.
• Adam Thierer, “Online Privacy Regulation: Likely More Complicated (And Costly) Than Imagined,” Mercatus on Policy, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, December 6, 2010 .
• Adam Thierer, “Erasing Our Past on the Internet,” Forbes, April 17, 2011.
• Adam Thierer, “Unappreciated Benefits of Advertising and Commercial Speech,” Mercatus on Point 86, Mercatus Center, January 2011.
• Berin Szoka and Adam Thierer, “COPPA 2.0: The New Battle over Privacy, Age Verification, Online Safety & Free Speech,” Progress on Point 16, no.11, The Progress & Freedom Foundation,  May 21, 2009.

Just a final reminder that it isn’t too late to still register for this Wednesday’s Mercatus Center event on “The State of Wireless Competition” featuring Thomas W. Hazlett, Professor of Law & Economics, George Mason University School of Law; Joshua D. Wright, Assistant Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law; Robert M. Frieden, Professor of Telecommunications & Law, Penn State University; and Harold Feld, Legal Director, Public Knowledge. These experts will discuss the FCC’s upcoming Wireless Competition Report and the debate:

• What does a proper analysis of wireless competition look like?
• What should we expect from the FCC’s report this year?
• How should the FCC address competition in the future?

Again, the event will take place this  Wednesday (May 18) from 4:00 – 5:30 p.m at George Mason University’s Arlington Campus, just ten minutes from downtown Washington. (Founders Hall, Room 111, 3351 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA). A reception will follow.

To RSVP for yourself and your guests, please contact Megan Gandee at 703-993-4967 or mmahan@gmu.edu no later than May 16, 2011. Hope to see some regular TLF readers there!

With news today that the Department of Justice is extending its probe of the AT&T – T-Mobile merger, and that the FCC has received thousands of comments on the issue, the FCC’s hopefully soon to be release Wireless Competition Report is taking on even greater importance.

Last year’s report was the first in 15 years not to find the market “effectively competitive.” As a result, expectations are high for the new annual report. How it determines the state of competition in the wireless market could affect regulatory policy and how the Commission looks at mergers.

Join the Mercatus Center at George Mason University’s Technology Policy Program for a discussion of these issues, including:

• What does a proper analysis of wireless competition look like?
• What should we expect from the FCC’s report this year?
• How should the FCC address competition in the future?

Our panel will feature Thomas W. Hazlett, Professor of Law & Economics, George Mason University School of Law; Joshua D. Wright, Assistant Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law; Robert M. Frieden, Professor of Telecommunications & Law, Penn State University; and Harold Feld, Legal Director, Public Knowledge

When: Wednesday, May 18, 2011, 4 – 5:30 p.m. (with a reception to follow)

Where: George Mason University’s Arlington Campus, just ten minutes from downtown Washington. (Founders Hall, Room 111, 3351 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA)

To RSVP for yourself and your guests, please contact Megan Gandee at 703-993-4967 or mmahan@gmu.edu no later than May 16, 2011. If you can’t make it to the Mercatus Center, you can watch this discussion live online at mercatus.org.

Every year since 1995, the Federal Communications Commission has released a report on the state of competition in the wireless market, and it will soon release the fifteenth. Last year’s report was the first not to find the market “effectively competitive.” As a result, expectations are high for the new annual report. How it determines the state of competition in the wireless market could affect regulatory policy and how the Commission looks at proposed mergers

Join the Mercatus Center at George Mason University’s Technology Policy Program for a discussion of these issues, including:

• What does a proper analysis of wireless competition look like?
• What should we expect from the FCC’s report this year?
• How should the FCC address competition in the future?

Our panel will feature Thomas W. Hazlett, Professor of Law & Economics, George Mason University School of Law; Joshua D. Wright, Assistant Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law; Robert M. Frieden, Professor of Telecommunications & Law, Penn State University; and Harold Feld, Legal Director, Public Knowledge

When: Wednesday, May 18, 2011, 4 – 5:30 p.m. (with a reception to follow)

Where: George Mason University’s Arlington Campus, just ten minutes from downtown Washington. (Founders Hall, Room 111, 3351 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA)

To RSVP for yourself and your guests, please contact Megan Gandee at 703-993-4967 or mmahan@gmu.edu no later than May 16, 2011. If you can’t make it to the Mercatus Center, you can watch this discussion live online at mercatus.org.

“Global Internet Governance: Research and Public Policy Challenges for the Next Decade” is the title for a conference event held May 5 and 6 at the American University School of International Service in Washington. See the full program here.

Featured will be a keynote by the NTIA head, Assistant Secretary for Commerce Lawrence Strickling. TLF-ers may be especially interested in the panel on the market for IP version 4 addresses that is emerging as the Regional Internet Registries and ICANN have depleted their free pool of IP addresses. The panel “Scarcity in IPv4 addresses” will feature representatives of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) and Addrex/Depository, Inc., the new company that brokered the deal between Nortel and Microsoft. There will also be debates about Wikileaks and the future of the Internet Governance Forum. Academic research papers on ICANN’s Affirmation of Commitments, the role of the national governments in ICANN, the role of social media in the Middle East/North Africa revolutions, and other topics will be presented on the second day. The event was put together by the Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet). Attendance is free of charge but you are asked to register in advance.

This week I will be attending two terrific conferences on Sec. 230 and Internet intermediary liability issues. On Thursday, the Stanford Technology Law Review hosts an all-day event on “Secondary and Intermediary Liability on the Internet” at the Stanford Law School. It includes 3 major panels on intermediary liability as it pertains to copyright, trademark, and privacy. On Friday, the amazing Eric Goldman and his colleagues at the Santa Clara Law School’s High Tech Law Institute host an all-star event on “47 U.S.C. § 230: a 15 Year Retrospective.”  Berin Szoka and Jim Harper will also be attending both events (Harper is speaking at Stanford event) and Larry Downes will be at the Santa Clara event.  So if you also plan to attend, come say ‘Hi’ to us.  We don’t bite! (We have, however, been known to snarl.)

In the meantime, down below, I just thought I would post a few links to the many things we have said about Section 230 and online intermediary liability issues here on the TLF in the past as well as this graphic depicting some of the emerging threats to Sec. 230 from various proposals to “deputize the online middleman.”  As we’ve noted here many times before, Sec. 230 is the “cornerstone of Internet freedom” that has allowed a “utopia of utopias” to develop online.  It would be a shame if lawmakers rolled back its protections and opted for an onerous new legal/regulatory approach to handling online concerns. Generally speaking, education and empowerment should trump regulation and punishing liability.

Deputization of the Middleman http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf

Further Reading from the TLF

• Web 2.0, Section 230, and Nozick’s “Utopia of Utopias” – 1/13/09
• The AutoAdmit Case and the Future of Sec. 230 – 2/16/09
• The Future of Sec. 230 and Online Immunity: My Debate with Harvard’s John Palfrey – 5/6/2009
• Emerging Threats to Section 230 – 5/14/09
• Great Summary of Section 230 – 6/28/09
• Section 230: The Cornerstone of Internet Freedom – 8/18/09
• Cyberbullying Hearing Yesterday: Education, not Criminalization or Intermediary Deputization – 10/1/09
• Eric Goldman on New Threats to Sec. 230 – 3/27/10
• GetUnvarnished.com: Should We Allow User Feedback about Personal Reputation? – 4/6/10

That will be the subject of a Cato on Campus session this afternoon entitled: “The Internet and Social Media: Tools of Freedom or Tools of Oppression?” Watch live online at the link starting at 3:30 p.m., or attend in person. A reception follows.

The delight that so many felt to see protesters in Iran using social media has given way to delight about the use of Facebook to organize for freedom in Egypt. But this serial enthusiasm omits that the “Twitter revolution” in Iran did not succeed. The fiercest skeptics even suggest that the Tweeting during Iran’s suppressed uprising was mostly Iranian ex-pats goosing excitable westerners and not any organizing force within Iran itself. Coming to terms with the Internet, dictatorships are learning to use it for surveillance and control, possibly with help from American tech companies.

So is the cause of freedom better off with the Internet? Or is social media a shiny bauble that distracts from the long, heavy slog of liberating the people of the world?

Joining the discussion will be Chris Preble, Director of Foreign Policy Studies at Cato; Alex Howard, Government 2.0 Correspondent for O’Reilly Media; and Tim Karr, Campaign Director at Free Press. More info here.