John Perry Barlow famously said that in cyberspace, the First Amendment is just a local ordinance. That’s still true, of course, and worth remembering. But at least today there is good news in the shire. The local ordinance still applies with full force, if only locally. As I write in CNET this evening (see “Video [...]
Larry Downes is a consultant and speaker on developing business
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Blog
Spectrum reform in our lifetime?
June 12th, 2011
Last week the Senate Commerce Committee passed–with deep bi-partisan support–the Public Safety Spectrum and Wireless Innovation Act. The bill, co-sponsored by Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller and Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, is a comprehensive effort to resolve several long-standing stalemates and impending crises having to do with one of the most critical 21st century resources: [...]
Updates to the Media Page
June 7th, 2011
We’ve added about a dozen new posts to the Media Page on my website, reflecting a sampling of articles, media quotes, and radio appearances from the last few months. These include several pieces for CNET News.com and Forbes, as well as links to appearances on NPR’s “Science Friday” (debating Sen. Al Franken on privacy law) [...]
More on Protect IP Act – the Surprisngly Free Podcast
June 7th, 2011
I’m pleased to be the guest this week on Jerry Brito’s “Surprisingly Free” podcast for the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Jerry and I talk about enforcing copyright and trademark law online, and in particular the dangers of the recently-introduced Protect IP Act. Protect IP tries to solve the problem of foreign websites selling [...]
For AT&T/T-Mobile merger, Sprint throws in regulatory kitchen sink
May 25th, 2011
For CNET this morning, I write about the latest tempest in the AT&T/T-Mobile USA merger teapot: cellular backhaul or “special access” as its known in the industry. Like a child sitting on Santa’s lap at the mall, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse included backhaul in his wish list of conditions he’d like to see attached to [...]
What the Protect IP Act says about the current state of the Internet content wars
May 16th, 2011
I’ve written two articles on the Protect IP Act of 2011, introduced last week by Sen. Leahy (D-Vt.). For CNET, I look at some of the key differences, better and worse, between Protect IP and its predecessor last year, known as COICA. On Forbes this morning, I have a long meditation on what Protect IP [...]
FCC’s Data Roaming Order: Trouble, Right here…
May 5th, 2011
For Forbes.com this morning, I take a close look at last month’s controversial FCC order requiring facilities-based wireless carriers to negotiate data roaming agreements with other carriers. There are business, technical, and legal reasons why the order stands on unsteady ground, which the article looks at in detail. The order, by encouraging artificial competition in [...]
The iPhone flap and the anatomy of a privacy panic
April 27th, 2011
I’ve written a long article this morning for CNET (See “Privacy panic debate: Whose data is it?”) on the discovery of the iPhone location tracking file and the utterly predictable panic response that followed. Its life-cycle follows precisely the crisis model Adam Thierer has so frequently and eloquently traced, most recently at the Technology Liberation [...]
The AT&T – T-Mobile Merger: Beyond the Arithmetic
April 17th, 2011
Following AT&T’s announcement last month of its planned acquisition of T-Mobile USA, pundits and other oddsmakers have settled in for a long tour of duty. Speculation, much of it uninformed, is already clogging the media about the chances the $39 billion deal—larger even than last year’s merger of Comcast and NBC Universal—will be approved. Both [...]
Net neutrality fight enters new stage: what’s next?
April 12th, 2011
On Forbes this morning, I analyze the legislative and judicial challenges to last year’s FCC Open Internet rules, the so-called net neutrality order. Despite the urgency of Friday’s budget machinations, the House took time out to pass House Joint Resolution 37, which “disapproves” the FCC’s December rulemaking. If passed by the Senate and not vetoed [...]