Sources cited by The New York Times indicate the U.S. Justice Department has once again opened an antitrust investigation against IBM. Remember IBM? The new investigation concerns allegations that the company has refused to license mainframe software products to third parties.  A refusal to license isn’t necessarily an illegal form of competition, but may be [...]

“Patriotism,” as Samuel Johnson famously said, “is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”  In that sense, perhaps the USA PATRIOT Act is appropriately named after all. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, most people (though not everyone) agreed that the government should be given additional investigative powers to reduce the risk of more terrorist attacks.  [...]

Forty years after the first successful connection was made on the predecessor to the Internet, the U.S. has given up its fading claims to govern the network. A fight over governance which erupted in 1998 has ended with a whimper. In this case, I’m not talking about the regulation of human activity that takes place [...]

An excellent article from eWeek’s Clint Boulton quotes from my blog posts on Net Neutrality and the need for a cure for the common carrier.  If only it were simple to implement simple solutions.

No one would seriously disagree with my observation that the patent system has become the single greatest obstacle to innovation faced by entrepreneurs and established companies alike. Which is ironic, because the only reason the system exists at all is to encourage innovation. In the U.S., patents have been around since 1790. Many would argue [...]