Blog
The FCC Targets Cable Set-Top Boxes—Why Now?
With great fanfare, FCC Chairman Thomas Wheeler is calling for sweeping changes to the way cable TV set-top boxes work. In an essay published Jan. 27 by Re/Code, Wheeler began by citing the high prices consumers pay for set-top box rentals, and bemoans the fact that alternatives are not easily available. Yet for all the […]
Realities of Zero Rating and Internet Streaming Will Confront the FCC in 2016
For tech policy progressives, 2015 was a great year. After a decade of campaigning, network neutrality advocates finally got the Federal Communications Commission to codify regulations that require Internet service providers to treat all traffic the same as it crosses the network and is delivered to customers. Yet the rapid way broadband business models, always […]
Time is Ripe to Redouble Patent Reform Efforts
The Heartland Institute today is releasing my policy brief on patent abuse, one of the few areas where there is bipartisan consensus on the problem. As I write in the paper, patent assertion entities (PAEs), known pejoratively as “patent trolls,” exist to exploit weaknesses in the U.S. patent system. Their business model is built on […]
Network Neutrality’s Watershed Moment
After some ten years, gallons of ink and thousands of megabytes of bandwidth, the debate over network neutrality is reaching a climactic moment. Bills are expected to be introduced in both the Senate and House this week that would allow the Federal Communications Commission to regulate paid prioritization, the stated goal of network neutrality advocates […]
The inevitability of the sharing economy
Uber, AirBnB and other companies that mine the so-called “sharing economy” continue to face legal and regulatory challenges, both in the United States and internationally. At heart, these services use the Internet to scale up the sort of thing young people have done for ages. Going home for the weekend? Post a note on a dorm bulletin board […]