WENY News quoted ICLE Director of Law & Economics Programs Gus Hurwitz in an article on age verification for social-media users. The piece examines the accuracy of age-verification tools, concerns about collecting personal data, and the legal questions surrounding protections for minors and adults’ access to online content. Read the full piece here.

“There’s been a lot of research, a lot of work, to take a picture of my face and estimate my age based upon it,” said Gus Hurwitz, a law lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania who specializes in technology and economic cases. “It’s moderately reliable in some circumstances. They also can be gamed.”

Hurwitz says the technology can have inaccuracies when estimating different races or genders. Anyone (teens included) can also find ways to make themselves appear older. How often the technology is required could reduce manipulations.

“A real-time or periodic update, as opposed to a ‘I just need to upload a photo once and I’m in’ process… that’s really important,” Hurwitz said.

“In technology, we talk about the stack. You’ve got the application, that runs on an operating system, that runs on a computer, that is owned by a person,” Hurwitz said.

Hurwitz described Google’s verification as different tiers of accuracy: self report, parental approval, family accounts, and scans of government ID.

“I think that my Gmail account is old enough to vote now,” Hurwitz joked.

Hurwitz with Villanova points out that private companies have always collected gobs of private information about their clients.

“Banks have a lot of information about us. Phone companies have always had a lot of information about everyone. So these concerns are not completely new,” Hurwitz said.

“The scale… and in the digitalized world, the way that we can access and use this data- is tangibly different in many ways,” Hurwitz said.

Hurwitz observed that people who verbalize concerns about privacy infringement do not always follow through to match their actions with their concerns.

“How much do people actually care? Rightly or wrongly?” Hurwtiz asked. “Now there’s a subset here, which is how much do children really care? And that’s a completely different question.”

Age restriction purposes to keep teens out of adult online spaces; but Hurwitz cautions that company methods also need to avoid false positives.

“How do we make sure that I, older than 18, am allowed to do things on the internet that I should be allowed to do?” Hurwitz said.

Hurwitz says that Meta agreeing to age verification in a settlement avoids First Amendment legal challenges– it is one private company pledging to a policy instead of a government mandating an industry standard.

The Journal-Courier published an op-ed by ICLE Senior Scholars Julian Morris and Ben Sperry on proposals to ban social-media accounts for children under 16. The piece examines the evidence linking social media to adolescent well-being and how restoring independent play and opportunities to socialize in person could help address concerns about teenagers’ mental health. Read the full piece here.

Commentary: Julian Morris, Ben Sperry and Lura Forcum: To get kids offline, let them go outside

TheStreet cited a report by ICLE Director of Economic Research Eric Fruits and Chief Economist Brian Albrecht in an article on Verizon’s plans to discontinue copper landline service in portions of nine states. The piece examines the FCC’s decision to extend its review, concerns about replacement services, and declining use of traditional landlines. Read the full piece here.

According to a February report from the International Center for Law & Economics(ICLE), which analyzed FCC data, the number of U.S. consumers using copper-based traditional landline phone service fell 81%, from nearly 66 million to about 12.5 million between 2014 and 2024.

The Federal Communications Commission quoted ICLE Senior Scholar for Innovation Policy Jeffrey Westling in a news release highlighting stakeholder support for reforms to its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) rules. The release discusses efforts to reduce environmental review costs and delays for communications infrastructure and clarify the treatment of space-based activities. Read the full release here.

International Center for Law and Economics: “Environmental review remains a costly step in the broadband deployment process, even when a project plainly has no detrimental effects. The FCC’s action minimizes the costs and delays that NEPA imposes on these projects, clearing the path for private investment and more advanced connectivity needed for AI and other next generation technologies.” – Jeffery Westling, Senior Scholar for Innovation Policy

Communications Daily quoted ICLE Director of Innovation Policy Kristian Stout in an article on ICLE’s support for FCC approval of Amazon Leo’s planned direct-to-device satellite constellation. Read the full piece here.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute quoted ICLE Senior Scholar Daniel J. Gilman in comments on the FTC’s proposed enforcement policy statement regarding personalized pricing. The comments examine the agency’s authority to require disclosures and how personalized pricing affects consumers and competition. Read the full comments here.

This guidance provides more questions than answers. As Daniel Gilman, senior scholar at the International Center for Law & Economics and former attorney advisor in the FTC’s Office of Policy Planning, observes,

[8] Daniel J. Gilman, “Fine Print for Every Price: The FTC’s One-Size-Fits-All Guidance,” Truth on the Market (blog), August 28, 2026, https://truthonthemarket.com/2026/08/28/fine-print-for-every-price-the-ftcs-one-size-fits-all-guidance/.

[16]  “Economists have studied price discrimination—also called ‘price differentiation’ or ‘differential pricing’—at least since the landmark work of A.C. Pigou and Frank Ramsey in the 1920s. More recent contributors include Jean Tirole, Richard Schmalensee, Hal Varian, and Varian and Alessandro Acquisti, among others.” Gilman, “Fine Print for Every Price.”

[26] Federal Trade Commission, “Trade Regulation Rule on Commercial Surveillance and Data Security,” Federal Register, Vol. 87, No. 161 (August 22, 2022), https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/08/22/2022-17752/trade-regulation-rule-on-commercial-surveillance-and-data-security; Gilman, “Fine Print for Every Price.”

Law360 quoted ICLE in an article on the Justice Department’s partial support for Apple in its Supreme Court dispute with Epic Games. The piece examines whether Apple’s 27% commission on purchases made through external links violated the court’s injunction, and cites ICLE’s amicus brief on Apple’s ability to recover App Store costs. Read the full piece here.

 The firm need not prefer an alternative because it is less profitable, and its decision to compare the financial consequences of available choices is entirely ordinary. The contrary approach would make the sacrifice of revenue a test of obedience even where an injunction imposed no such requirements,” ICLE said, in a brief that also argued that Apple must still be able to recoup its costs from running the App Store and hosting outside apps, even for transactions steered to outside payment options.

PORTLAND, Ore. (Sept. 23, 2026) — The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should approve Amazon Leo’s plan to connect compatible phones directly to satellites, the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) said in comments filed today. Approval would give consumers another connectivity option and support competition in a market where building a satellite network takes billions of dollars and years of work. 

Amazon Leo plans to launch 5,105 satellites for direct-to-device service. If Amazon’s pending purchase of Globalstar closes, the companies could combine Globalstar’s operating network and licenses to use satellite radio frequencies with Amazon Leo’s planned system. That could expand service using frequencies already assigned for satellite communications. 

ICLE urged the FCC to grant limited exceptions to its rules where the agency can still fully review the technology and protect existing services. The FCC can address documented interference risks—where one network disrupts another—through targeted conditions and coordination between operators. 

“Building a satellite network takes years and enormous investment. A credible new provider could give consumers and mobile carriers another choice,” said Kristian Stout, ICLE director of innovation policy. “The FCC should address real interference concerns and decide the application promptly.” 

To arrange an interview with Stout, contact ICLE Director of Communications Jim Fellinger at [email protected]. Download ICLE’s full comments. 

About ICLE

The International Center for Law & Economics is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center working with a roster of more than one-hundred academic affiliates and research centers from around the globe. ICLE scholars promote the use of law and economics methodologies to inform public policy debates.