Bad Proposals
Bad Proposals
New Taxes On Tech Companies Won’t Fix USF
By James Erwin The Universal Service Fund (USF) is in trouble and has been for some time. Its current funding mechanism does not raise enough revenue to consistently support the outlays demanded by the programs it funds, and reform is badly needed. Sadly, but unsurprisingly, some in Washington want…
Bad Proposals
Biden FCC’s Digital Discrimination Order is Overbroad and Unworkable
By James Erwin One to 218. No, that’s not the teacher-to-student ratio in Mumbai elementary schools (that would be a measly 1:36). That’s the number of pages in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) authorizing the FCC to embark on its digital discrimination rulemaking to the number of pages…
Bad Proposals
What’s the Problem with Usage-Based Billing?
By James Erwin Usage-based billing, or UBB for short, is common practice across most industries. You get billed for the amount of electricity you use at home, the amount of gas burned to heat your apartment, and even the number of hours a lawyer works for you. The broadband industry…
Bad Proposals
Net Neutrality May Have Slowed Down the Internet
Amid much hue and cry, apocalyptic predictions, and advocacy from “comedian” John Oliver’s HBO show, the FCC revoked the Open Internet Order in 2017 (effective 2018). Widely promoted as “Net Neutrality,” the policy had been adopted by the FCC in 2014 after public pressure by then-President Obama,…
Bad Proposals
Canadian Government Imposes Restrictive Television Speech Rules on the Internet
The Canadian government took a dramatic step to restrict the free speech rights of online streaming platforms by passing the Online Streaming Act, popularly known by our neighbors to the north as Bill C-11. This bill places most online content creators under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications…
Bad Proposals
Digital Liberty Joins Coalition Opposing Wasteful Expansion of E-Rate
Today Digital Liberty signed onto a letter opposing the FCC’s attempt to expand the E-Rate program for the use of remote learning. Remote learning during the pandemic is an important mission. Our students want to stay in school, that is why Congress has already given nearly $70 billion in…
5G
The Case is Clear: Broad Opposition Exists to Nationalized 5G
By Katie McAuliffe and Noah Vehafric With the Department of Defense’s request for information (RFI) asking for input into building and operating a shared civilian-military 5G network across the nation being well over a month old, we can step back and take a look at the broad opposition that…
5G
Reminder: Wholesale aka Nationalized 5G is not the Path We Should Go Down
By: Noah Vehafric The race to adopt new powerful, 5G technologies continues around the world. And the desire to reach the 5G finish line keeps reviving a hideous idea: creating a national 5G network. Just recently the Pentagon released a request for information looking into the possibility of running such a network. So let’s remind ourselves why this is not the…
Bad Proposals
A New Digital Regulator is Not the Answer we Need
By: Noah Vehafric The internet has changed our lives in more ways than we can understand, and it’s going to continue changing our lives for the foreseeable future. With its large influence, many have the desire to use the force of law to regulate it. But should we? The United…
Antitrust
Don’t Punish Success: American Antitrust Law & Tech
By: Katie McAuliffe and Laurel Duggan The global dominance of American tech companies should make our nation beam with pride. Our tech firms are international luminaries of our national values: free speech, open inquiry, and innovation. The tech sector also sustains 18.2 million American jobs and has helped…