September 4, 2020

tl;dr - NTIA § 230 FCC Petition: A Poor Solution to an Ill-Defined Problem

Kristian Stout

While there are possible useful reforms to be made to Section 230, forcing major changes to an important law on the basis of a political quarrel would let petty politics reshape one of the most important laws that governs the Internet.

Telecommunications

April 21, 2020

Comments on Refreshing the Record in Restoring Internet Freedom and Lifeline Proceedings in Light of the D.C. Circuit’s Mozilla Decision

Geoffrey A. Manne & Gus Hurwitz & Eric Fruits & Kristian Stout & Ben Sperry

In order to maximize the benefits of broadband to society, including through the provision of public safety communications and services, public policy must promote the proper incentives for broadband buildout.…

Telecommunications

October 1, 2019

Any Way You Measure It, Warren Is Wrong to Claim “Facebook and Google Account for 70% of All Internet Traffic”

Alec Stapp

Seeing internet traffic is not the same thing as “account[ing] for” — or controlling or even directly influencing — internet traffic.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

September 27, 2019

Debunking Elizabeth Warren’s Claim That “More Than 70% of All Internet Traffic Goes through Google or Facebook”

Alec Stapp

Less than 20 percent of all Internet traffic goes through sites owned or operated by Google or Facebook. While this statistic may be less eye-popping than the one trumpeted by Warren and other antitrust activists, it does have the virtue of being true.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

July 30, 2019

Municipal Revenue Extraction Should Not Stand in the Way of Next Generation Broadband

Kristian Stout

Advanced broadband networks are hot topics, but little attention is paid to the critical investments in infrastructure necessary to make these networks a reality. The FCC’s proposed 621 Order is an important measure to help providers deploy high speed broadband across a fragmented municipal regulatory environment.

May 2, 2019

The ICANN Board’s Important Test of Independence: .Amazon

Kristian Stout

One of the main concerns I had during the IANA transition was the extent to which the newly independent organization would be able to behave impartially, implementing its own policies and bylaws…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

February 4, 2019

The Mozilla oral arguments and the ongoing hell of the “net neutrality” debate

Gus Hurwitz

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…

Telecommunications

May 9, 2018

Closing the Rural Digital Divide Requires Understanding the Rural Digital Divide

Gus Hurwitz

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 Program. The purpose of the roundtable was to convene a diverse group of stakeholders for a discussion of the on-the-ground reality of closing the rural digital divide.

Innovation & The New Economy

May 1, 2018

Amazon and the Unwisdom of the Populist Crowd

Kristian Stout

There are some who view a host of claimed negative social ills allegedly related to the large size of firms like Amazon as an occasion to call for the company’s break…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection