ASPEN, Colo.-The debates over net neutrality, protecting minors from nefarious content and digital rights management took a hiatus from their usual home in Washington, D.C., and were hashed out in picturesque Aspen, Colo. instead. The annual mountain conference of the Progress & Freedom Foundation...
WASHINGTON-While consumer advocates, organized labor, industry analysts and lawmakers gave mixed reviews to AT&T Inc.'s proposed $67 billion acquisition of BellSouth Corp.-co-owners of Cingular Wireless L.L.C.-most signs point to the Federal Communications Commission as the major battlefield for hashing out the blockbuster deal and...
WASHINGTON—A new report says injecting property rights and market forces into spectrum allocations would best foster efficient spectrum use and development of new technologies. The report, issued by academics and former policymakers affiliated with the Digital Age Communications Act Project, favors property rights based...
WASHINGTON—Consumer advocates asked the Justice Department to block AT&T Inc.’s proposed $67 billion acquisition of fellow Baby Bell BellSouth Corp., while organized labor described the deal as a "critical opportunity." AT&T and BellSouth also control the country’s largest wireless operator Cingular Wireless L.L.C. "Congress...
ASPEN, Colo.-With the ashes of recently deceased gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson still raining down from the sky, the Progress and Freedom Foundation brought its gonzo deregulation motto to the mountains of Colorado for its annual Aspen Summit. This year's event centered on the...
Hearing comments on Sen. John Ensign's telecom reform bill is like dejà vu all over again, to borrow a phrase from John Fogerty. Ensign's bill aims to largely deregulate the telecom and video industries. On first glance it looks good for traditional telecom players...
WASHINGTON-The Progress & Freedom Foundation said Thursday that state agencies should be given greater latitude on telecommunications social policy, but less on economic regulation. "The advent of digital technologies in general and the Internet in particular challenges the legal distinctions embodied in the Telecommunications...
WASHINGTON-The Progress & Freedom Foundation said Thursday that state agencies should be given greater latitude on telecommunications social policy, but less on economic regulation."The advent of digital technologies in general and the Internet in particular challenges the legal distinctions embodied in the Telecommunications Act...
WASHIGNTON-Members of the Congressional Rural Caucus Tuesday put a marker down in favor of universal service, urging the House Commerce Committee leadership to include reform of the subsidy program in any telecom-act rewrite. "The universal-service fund is vital. It is vital that this rewrite...
WASHINGTON-If a proposal to convert the Federal Communications Commission into a regulator focused on competition is accepted, the new FCC should make more entrenched players prove they are not being anti-competitive rather than make the startups prove they are, said Jonathan Askin, general counsel...
WASHINGTON-If a proposal to convert the Federal Communications Commission into a regulator focused on competition like the Federal Trade Commission is accepted, the new FCC should make more entrenched players prove they are not being anti-competitive rather than make the start-ups prove they are,...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission should be modeled after the Federal Trade Commission with a focus on competition principles and an ability to respond to abuse of market power, according to a report released Friday by the Progress & Freedom Foundation."In a digital era of...
WASHINGTON-While government approval of the proposed $35 billion Sprint Corp.-Nextel Communications Inc. deal and other pending telecom mega-mergers do not appear in doubt, there is a lively debate going on about the adequacy of long-standing antitrust law in the face of consolidation, convergence, innovation...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission should focus on spectrum property rights, and if it does its job right, it will put itself out of a job, said James Miller, chairman of the CapAnalysis Group L.L.C. Miller is the former director of the Office of Management...
WASHINGTON D.C.-The Progress & Freedom Foundation released a book-length report examining the Universal Service Fund titled, "The Myths and Realities of Universal Service: Revisiting the Justification for the Current Subsidy Structure," authored by Senior Fellow Randolph May with two adjunct fellows, Joseph Kraemer and...
WASHINGTON-FCC Chairman Michael Powell last week appointed Lisa Zaina to be chief executive officer of the Universal Service Administrative Co. "I will sorely miss Lisa, but I'm proud to know she will continue a mission we both believe in so strongly: making universal service...
WASHINGTON-Marsha MacBride, chief of staff to FCC Chairman Michael Powell, said Monday that she will soon leave the Federal Communications Commission to pursue new opportunities."Marsha is my most trusted and loyal adviser," said Powell. "She is an exceptional leader who has worked tirelessly to...
WASHINGTON-The Progress & Freedom Foundation, a pro-market think tank, released a study last week that it claims shows the proposed California Telecommunication Users Bill of Rights will cost consumers and only benefit lawyers. "Plaintiff and class-action lawyers-not consumers-would be the ultimate beneficiaries of...
Dueling high-tech agendas In coming years, the debate for control of the nation's high-tech policy agenda will become as fierce, and perhaps as important, as any in official Washington. Given high-tech is the engine of the knowledge-based economy, it would be wise for the...
Is it time the Federal Communications Commission be overhauled?Not in the disappearing (non)sense that Gingrichites from the Progress & Freedom Foundation advocate. The new-age digital libertarians have it completely backwards.In the future, why not have national communications and information policy made at a fully...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission early next year will hold a spectrum summit as policymakers rethink fundamental programs that have governed the airwaves for a half century, instead turning to the marketplace for answers.The all-day conference, inspired and organized by Commissioner Susan Ness, will address...
WASHINGTON-Congress is studying different approaches to spectrum reform in light of the $14 billion that lawmakers and the Clinton administration hope to extract from the airwaves during the next seven years.The Federal Communications Commission has raised $9 billion to date from selling licenses for...
Many a garried employee trying to fill out paterwork to comply with Federa Communications Commission regulations probably agrees wholeheartedly with the Progress & Freedom Foundation, a high-tech think tank studying a plan to replace the FCC with a drastically scaled-down version of the agency....
