The FCC’s proposed broadband privacy rules: The harmful effects of regulating...
Last week the International Center for Law & Economics filed comments on the FCC’s Broadband Privacy NPRM. ICLE was joined in its comments by the following scholars of law & economics: Babette...
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Our amicus brief supporting en banc review of the court’s Open Internet Order...
Last week the International Center for Law & Economics and I filed an amicus brief in the DC Circuit in support of en banc review of the court’s decision to uphold the FCC’s 2015 Open Internet...
View ArticleSixth Circuit’s Decision Rejecting FCC Preemption of State Restrictions on...
The American concept of “the rule of law” (see here) is embodied in the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and in the constitutional principles of separation of powers,...
View ArticleFCC Disregard of the Rule of Law Requires Legislative Reform
On October 6, the Heritage Foundation released a legal memorandum (authored by me) that recounts the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) recent sad history of ignoring the rule of law in its...
View ArticleReconfirming Jessica Rosenwercel as an FCC Commissioner Would Undermine...
The Senate should not reconfirm Jessica Rosenworcel to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in order to allow the Trump Administration to usher in needed reforms in the critical area of...
View ArticleICLE urges Supreme Court to review DC Circuit decision in Open Internet Order...
Today the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) submitted an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to review the DC Circuit’s 2016 decision upholding the FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order....
View ArticleICLE Files Ex Parte Notice With FCC on Restoring Internet Freedom NPRM
This week, the International Center for Law & Economics filed an ex parte notice in the FCC’s Restoring Internet Freedom docket. In it, we reviewed two of the major items that were contained in our...
View ArticlePai’s Right on Net Neutrality and Title II
As I explain in my new book, How to Regulate, sound regulation requires thinking like a doctor. When addressing some “disease” that reduces social welfare, policymakers should catalog the available...
View ArticleFCC-FTC Plans for Welfare-Enhancing Cooperation on Online Consumer Protection
As the Federal Communications (FCC) prepares to revoke its economically harmful “net neutrality” order and replace it with a free market-oriented “Restoring Internet Freedom Order,” the FCC and the...
View ArticleAbandon Title II, Return to Antitrust
Just in time for tomorrow’s FCC vote on repeal of its order classifying Internet Service Providers as common carriers, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has published my op-ed entitled The FCC Should Abandon...
View ArticleThe destiny of telecom regulation is antitrust
This week the FCC will vote on Chairman Ajit Pai’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order. Once implemented, the Order will rescind the 2015 Open Internet Order and return antitrust and consumer protection...
View ArticleNet Neutrality Paranoia
The paranoid style is endemic across the political spectrum, for sure, but lately, in the policy realm haunted by the shambling zombie known as “net neutrality,” the pro-Title II set are taking the...
View ArticleClosing the Rural Digital Divide Requires Understanding the Rural Digital Divide
I had the pleasure last month of hosting the first of a new annual roundtable discussion series on closing the rural digital divide through the University of Nebraska’s Space, Cyber, and Telecom Law...
View ArticleThe net neutrality CRA may be the most tedious piece of political theater ever
At this point, only the most masochistic and cynical among DC’s policy elite actually desire for the net neutrality conflict to continue. And yet, despite claims that net neutrality principles are...
View ArticleChevron and the Politicization of Law (or, Chevron Step Three)
A recent exchange between Chris Walker and Philip Hamburger about Walker’s ongoing empirical work on the Chevron doctrine (the idea that judges must defer to reasonable agency interpretations of...
View ArticleCorrecting the Federalist Society Review’s Mischaracterization of How to...
Ours is not an age of nuance. It’s an age of tribalism, of teams—“Yer either fer us or agin’ us!” Perhaps I should have been less surprised, then, when I read the unfavorable review of my book How to...
View ArticleThe Mozilla oral arguments and the ongoing hell of the “net neutrality” debate
In the opening seconds of what was surely one of the worst oral arguments in a high-profile case that I have ever heard, Pantelis Michalopoulos, arguing for petitioners against the FCC’s 2018...
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Debunking Elizabeth Warren’s Claim That “More Than 70% of All Internet...
In March of this year, Elizabeth Warren announced her proposal to break up Big Tech in a blog post on Medium. She tried to paint the tech giants as dominant players crushing their smaller competitors...
View Article“You don’t get to be the umpire and have a team”: should we regulate the...
This guest post is by Patrick Todd, an England-qualified solicitor and author on competition law/policy in digital markets. The above quote is not about Democrat-nominee hopeful Elizabeth Warren’s...
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The Not Neutrality of Tech Reporting: Discussing the Economics of Lifting...
[TOTM: The following is part of a blog series by TOTM guests and authors on the law, economics, and policy of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The entire series of posts is available here. This post is...
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What Has Big Tech Ever Done for Us? Part Two
[TOTM: The following is part of a blog series by TOTM guests and authors on the law, economics, and policy of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The entire series of posts is available here. This post is...
View ArticleIntroductory Post: Retrospective on Ajit Pai’s Tenure as FCC Chairman
Ajit Pai will step down from his position as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) effective Jan. 20. Beginning Jan. 15, Truth on the Market will host a symposium exploring Pai’s...
View ArticleWhy Restoring Internet Freedom Was a Landmark Accomplishment
I am pleased to participate in this retrospective symposium regarding Ajit Pai’s tenure as Federal Communications Commission chairman. I have been closely involved in communications law and policy for...
View ArticleHow Chairman Pai Restored the FCC’s Independence
Chairman Ajit Pai will be remembered as one of the most consequential Federal Communications Commission chairmen in history. His policy accomplishments are numerous, including the repeal of Title II...
View ArticlePai Dedicated His Tenure to Improving US Broadband
Ajit Pai came into the Federal Communications Commission chairmanship with a single priority: to improve the coverage, cost, and competitiveness of U.S. broadband for the benefit of consumers. The 5G...
View ArticleA Reflection on Commissioner Pai, Chairman Pai, and Public Service
Much of this symposium celebrates Ajit’s contributions as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and his accomplishments and leadership in that role. And rightly so. But Commissioner Pai,...
View ArticleChairman Pai’s Legacy of Transparency
For many, the chairmanship of Ajit Pai is notable for its many headline-grabbing substantive achievements, including the Restoring Internet Freedom order, 5G deployment, and rural buildout—many of...
View ArticleAjit Pai and Risk-Taking at the FCC
It would be impossible to describe Ajit Pai’s tenure as chair of the Federal Communications Commission as ordinary. Whether or not you thought his regulatory style or his policies were innovative, his...
View ArticleAjit Pai Brought the FCC’s Media Ownership Rules into the Modern Age
I’m delighted to add my comments to the chorus of voices honoring Ajit Pai’s remarkable tenure at the Federal Communications Commission. I’ve known Ajit longer than most. We were classmates in law...
View ArticleChairman Pai Symposium: Wrap-Up and Thoughts for the Future FCC
One of the themes that has run throughout this symposium has been that, throughout his tenure as both a commissioner and as chairman, Ajit Pai has brought consistency and careful analysis to the...
View ArticleA First Glance at the Biden Executive Order on Competition: The Good and the...
The Biden Administration’s July 9 Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy is very much a mixed bag—some positive aspects, but many negative ones. It will have some positive...
View ArticleThe FTC’s Privacy Report Fails to Justify Asymmetric Regulation of ISPs
Others already have noted that the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) recently released 6(b) report on the privacy practices of Internet service providers (ISPs) fails to comprehend that widespread...
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The Return of (De Facto) Rate Regulation: Title II Will Slow Broadband...
President Joe Biden’s nomination of Gigi Sohn to serve on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)—scheduled for a second hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee Feb. 9—has been met with...
View ArticleA Change in Direction for the Federal Trade Commission?
While antitrust and regulation are supposed to be different sides of the same coin, there has always been a healthy debate over which enforcement paradigm is the most efficient. For those who have...
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Chevron and Administrative Antitrust, Redux
[Wrapping up the first week of our FTC UMC Rulemaking symposium is a post from Truth on the Market’s own Justin (Gus) Hurwitz, director of law & economics programs at the International Center for...
View ArticleFTC Rulemaking and Unintended Consequences
For obvious reasons, many scholars, lawyers, and policymakers are thinking hard about whether the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has authority to promulgate substantive “unfair methods of competition”...
View ArticleTo Close the Digital Divide, Broadband Infrastructure Funds Must Be Spent...
States seeking broadband-deployment grants under the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program created by last year’s infrastructure bill now have some guidance as to what will...
View ArticleNetChoice, Net Neutrality, and the Future of the First Amendment Online
In an expected decision (but with a somewhat unexpected coalition), the U.S. Supreme Court has moved 5 to 4 to vacate an order issued early last month by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which...
View ArticleFTC UMC Roundup – Independence Day Week Edition
Happy Independence Day Week! Having started off with the holiday, this has been a relatively slow week on the antitrust front in the United States. But never fear, Europe is here to help fill out the...
View ArticleThere’s Nothing ‘Fair’ About EU Telecoms’ Proposed ‘Fair Share’ Plan
The European Commission’s recently concluded consultation on “the future of the electronic communications sector and its infrastructure” was a curious phenomenon in which the commission revived the...
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Two FCC Commissioners Walk Into a Bar
Former FCC Commissioners Have Some Thoughts Writing with Kirk Arner in RealClearMarkets, Harold Furchtgott-Roth—formerly of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)—comments on the Spectrum Auction...
View ArticleGomez Confirmed to FCC: Here Comes Net Neutrality, But First…
The U.S. Senate moved yesterday in a 55-43 vote to confirm Anna Gomez to the Federal Communications Commission. Her confirmation breaks a partisan deadlock at the agency that has been in place since...
View ArticleNet Neutrality II: Electric Boogaloo—Rate Regulation Hiding in Plain Sight
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Jessica Rosenworcel on Tuesday announced the agency’s proposal to regulate internet services under Title II of the Communications Act. Commonly referred to...
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Net Neutrality Is Dead, Long Live National Security
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Jessica Rosenworcel announced plans last week for the commission to vote Oct. 19 on whether to take the first steps toward reinstating Title II regulations...
View ArticleHow ETNO’s ‘Fair Share’ Proposal Threatens Europe’s Digital Future:
The digital transformation of Europe—and, indeed, the world—has been a defining theme of the 21st century. As with all significant shifts, it has also come with its share of challenges, opportunities,...
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All Aboard! The Title II Express Is Leaving the Station
At lunch last week, I handed out the first of my new business cards with the title “Director, Hootenanny Division.” My lunchmate looked down and said, “Sounds fun, what do you do?” Then, I had to...
View ArticleNet Neutrality and Broken Records
I don’t mean to sound like a broken record, but why is the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) playing a broken record? I’ve been writing a fair bit about Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rulemaking...
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An Inconvenient Truth: Net Neutrality Depresses Broadband Investment
It happens at just about every hootenanny. There’s always at least one song that clears the dance floor. Some tunes, people just won’t dance to. But with a little remixing and a better tempo, even a...
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Has the Biden Administration Taken Over Broadband?
Betteridge’s Law of Headlines states: “Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.” But, apparently, folks in the nation’s capital found a way around Betteridge’s Law....
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A Holiday Hootenanny Hiatus, But First, Some Title II Talk
For those of who’ve been doing the Telecom Two-Step over the past year, the holiday break can’t come soon enough. Last week, comments were due on the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) latest...
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