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TOTM The U.S. Senate moved yesterday in a 55-43 vote to confirm Anna Gomez to the Federal Communications Commission. Her confirmation breaks a partisan deadlock at . . .
The U.S. Senate moved yesterday in a 55-43 vote to confirm Anna Gomez to the Federal Communications Commission. Her confirmation breaks a partisan deadlock at the agency that has been in place since the beginning of the Biden administration, when Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel vacated her seat to become FCC chair.
The commission now has a 3-2 Democratic majority. With the new majority, many speculate that the FCC will push to bring back net neutrality, which President Joe Biden supports. The president’s July 9, 2021 executive order specifically “encouraged” the FCC to “[r]estore Net Neutrality rules undone by the prior administration.” Deadline reminds us that Gomez served as counselor to Obama-era FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, when the commission voted to reclassify broadband service under the banner of net neutrality.
Read the full piece here.
Presentations & Interviews ICLE Senior Scholar took part in an online panel hosted by the Federalist Society’s Regulatory Transparency Project regarding recent regulatory and legislative proposals to enact . . .
ICLE Senior Scholar took part in an online panel hosted by the Federalist Society’s Regulatory Transparency Project regarding recent regulatory and legislative proposals to enact age-verification requirements for access to social media and adult websites. Video of the full panel is embedded below.
TOTM European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager announced Sept. 5 that she was leaving her position after nearly a decade in charge, which for the last . . .
European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager announced Sept. 5 that she was leaving her position after nearly a decade in charge, which for the last four years has also included holding the title of “executive vice president of the European Commission for a Europe fit for the Digital Age.” Her departure caps off an uncharacteristically tumultuous couple of months for the EU’s competition watchdog, amid a backdrop of looming elections and political infighting. Where the agency goes from here is anyone’s guess.
TOTM We at the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) have written extensively on the intersection of the First Amendment, the regulation of online platforms, and the immunity from . . .
We at the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) have written extensively on the intersection of the First Amendment, the regulation of online platforms, and the immunity from liability for user-generated content granted to platforms under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996.
One of the proposals we put forward was that Section 230 immunity should be conditioned on platforms making reasonable efforts to help potential plaintiffs be able to track down users for illegal conduct. This post is the second in a series on the right to anonymity. In this edition, I will explore the degree to which the First Amendment protects the right to anonymous speech, and whether it forecloses the application of such a statutory duty of care.
Presentations & Interviews ICLE Editor-in-Chief R.J. Lehmann was a guest on the Heard Tell Show podcast to recent passing of Jimmy Buffett, how his influence went well beyond . . .
ICLE Editor-in-Chief R.J. Lehmann was a guest on the Heard Tell Show podcast to recent passing of Jimmy Buffett, how his influence went well beyond music to business, the identity of modern Florida, the culture of “work hard, play hard”, and how he combined several styles together into a lifestyle folks gravitated to. The full episode is embedded below.
TOTM Coming out of Labor Day weekend, there’s not a lot of earth-shaking happenings at the Telecom Hootenanny. But like a visit to the state fair, . . .
Coming out of Labor Day weekend, there’s not a lot of earth-shaking happenings at the Telecom Hootenanny. But like a visit to the state fair, there’s always something to see.
TOTM If you spend a lot of time in the world of competition policy—or any time at all on the announced Kroger/Albertsons merger—you will eventually stumble . . .
If you spend a lot of time in the world of competition policy—or any time at all on the announced Kroger/Albertsons merger—you will eventually stumble on the unfortunately named and greatly misunderstood “waterbed effect.” In a congressional hearing regarding the merger, this purported effect was mentioned at least a half-dozen times.
TOTM What is anonymity? Do we have a right to it? And against what other values should this right be balanced when it comes to government . . .
What is anonymity? Do we have a right to it? And against what other values should this right be balanced when it comes to government regulation? This blog post will be the first in a series that looks at what anonymity is, why it is important, and what tradeoffs should be considered when applying a right to anonymity in specific contexts.
TOTM Concentration is a terrible measure of [insert basically anything people actually care about]. Have I said that before? Concentration tells us nothing about market power, efficiency, or whether . . .
Concentration is a terrible measure of [insert basically anything people actually care about]. Have I said that before? Concentration tells us nothing about market power, efficiency, or whether policy changes can do anything to increase welfare. Economists know that, especially industrial organization (IO) economists.
If we want to measure market power for a seller, a better measure is the markup, defined as the ratio of price over marginal cost. If we want to measure market power for a buyer, we can look at the markdown. Either one is a better measure of market power (possibly bad) and often the very definition of market power.
