Category Archives: Privacy

A Bit of Perspective on the Alleged Forthcoming Privacy Apocalypse…

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This week, Congress voted to strike down the Federal Communications Commission’s controversial 2016 Internet Privacy Rules under the Congressional Review Act.  As of this writing, President Trump is expected to sign the measure into law. Given the highly political nature of anything involving the word “privacy”, the usual net-roots crowd has been lighting up the internet with tails of the coming broadband privacy apocalypse by rogue Broadband Service Providers (“BSP”).  To calm things down a bit, perhaps some perspective is in order. First and foremost, as we have observed before, the common currency in the internet age for both “edge” Continue Reading »

The Investment Effects of the FCC’s New Asymmetrical Privacy Regime…

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Last September, I participated in a conference sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation entitled “The Internet of Everything: Data, Networks and Opportunities.”  As part of my presentation, I discussed an essay I co-authored with Phoenix Center Chief Economist Dr. George Ford entitled Information, Investment and the Internet of Everything.  In this essay, George and I pointed out that as a consequence of the Federal Communications Commission’s (“FCC”) decision in March 2015 to reclassify broadband Internet access as a Title II common carrier “telecommunications” service in its controversial Open Internet Order, all Broadband Service Providers (“BSPs”)—whether wireline, cable or Continue Reading »