July 15, 2019

The Third Circuit’s Oberdorf v. Amazon Opinion Offers a Good Approach to Reining in the Worst Abuses of Section 230

Gus Hurwitz

In a remarkable ruling issued earlier this month, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held in Oberdorf v. Amazon that, under Pennsylvania products liability law, Amazon could be found liable for a third party vendor’s sale of a defective product via Amazon Marketplace.

Data Security & Privacy

July 15, 2019

There’s Nothing “Conservative” About Trump’s Views on Free Speech and the Regulation of Social Media

Ben Sperry

Despite the simplistic narrative tying President Trump’s vision of the world to conservatism, there is nothing conservative about his views on the First Amendment and how it applies to social media companies.

Data Security & Privacy

July 11, 2019

Section 230 Principles for Lawmakers and a Note of Caution as Trump Convenes his “Social Media Summit”

Geoffrey A. Manne

This morning a diverse group of more than 75 academics, scholars, and civil society organizations — including ICLE and several of its academic affiliates — published a set of seven “Principles for Lawmakers” on liability for user-generated content online, aimed at guiding discussions around potential amendments to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996.

Data Security & Privacy

June 25, 2019

Chevron 's Political Domain: W(h)ither Step Three

Gus Hurwitz

This Essay takes prior work on Chevron in a new direction, arguing that broad deference doctrines have the largely unrecognized but particularly pernicious effect of increasing the political gridlock and politicization of the legislative process.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

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

March 12, 2019

Elizabeth Warren wants to turn the internet into a literal sewer (service)

Geoffrey A. Manne & Alec Stapp

Near the end of her new proposal to break up Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Apple, Senator Warren asks, “So what would the Internet look like after all these reforms?” To Warren, our most dynamic and innovative companies constitute a problem that needs solving.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

July 9, 2018

Correcting the Federalist Society Review’s Mischaracterization of How to Regulate

Thomas Lambert

Ours is not an age of nuance.  It’s an age of tribalism, of teams—“Yer either fer us or agin’ us!”  Perhaps I should have been less surprised, then, when I read the unfavorable review of my book How to Regulate in, of all places, the Federalist Society Review.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

April 16, 2018

The illiberal vision of neo-Brandeisian antitrust

Geoffrey A. Manne

The urge to treat antitrust as a legal Swiss Army knife capable of correcting all manner of social and economic ills is apparently difficult for some to resist. Conflating size with market power, and market power with political power, many recent calls for regulation of industry — and the tech industry in particular — are framed in antitrust terms.

Antitrust & Consumer Protection

September 22, 2017

antitrust laws are not some meta-legislation authorizing whatever activists want

Geoffrey A. Manne

In a recent post at the (appallingly misnamed) ProMarket blog (the blog of the Stigler Center at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business — George Stigler is rolling…

Antitrust & Consumer Protection