Chairman Pai Symposium: Wrap-Up and Thoughts for the Future FCC
One of the themes that has run throughout this symposium has been that, throughout his tenure as both a commissioner and as chairman, Ajit Pai has brought consistency and careful analysis to the...
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The FTC Did Not ‘Fumble the Future’ in Its Google Search Investigation
Politico has released a cache of confidential Federal Trade Commission (FTC) documents in connection with a series of articles on the commission’s antitrust probe into Google Search a decade ago. The...
View ArticleITSA Foreshadows Final Act in 5.9GHz Fight
It’s a telecom tale as old as time: industry gets a prime slice of radio spectrum and falls in love with it, only to take it for granted. Then, faced with the reapportionment of that spectrum, it...
View ArticleWhat Lina Khan’s appointment means for the House antitrust bills
Her appointment also comes as House Democrats are preparing to mark up five bills designed to regulate Big Tech and, in the process, vastly expand the FTC’s powers. This expansion may combine with...
View ArticleBuild Broadband Better: Focus on Competition, Not Competitors
President Joe Biden named his post-COVID-19 agenda “Build Back Better,” but his proposals to prioritize support for government-run broadband service “with less pressure to turn profits” and to “reduce...
View ArticleA First Glance at the Biden Executive Order on Competition: The Good and the...
The Biden Administration’s July 9 Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy is very much a mixed bag—some positive aspects, but many negative ones. It will have some positive...
View ArticleThe BIF Offers a Good First Step for Broadband, but the Devil Will Be in the...
Capping months of inter-chamber legislative wrangling, President Joe Biden on Nov. 15 signed the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also known as the bipartisan infrastructure...
View ArticleThe FTC’s Privacy Report Fails to Justify Asymmetric Regulation of ISPs
Others already have noted that the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) recently released 6(b) report on the privacy practices of Internet service providers (ISPs) fails to comprehend that widespread...
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The Return of (De Facto) Rate Regulation: Title II Will Slow Broadband...
President Joe Biden’s nomination of Gigi Sohn to serve on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)—scheduled for a second hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee Feb. 9—has been met with...
View ArticleA Change in Direction for the Federal Trade Commission?
While antitrust and regulation are supposed to be different sides of the same coin, there has always been a healthy debate over which enforcement paradigm is the most efficient. For those who have...
View ArticleThe Major Questions Doctrine Slams the Door Shut on UMC Rulemaking
The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) current leadership appears likely to issue substantive rules concerning “unfair methods of competition” (UMC) at some point. FTC Chair Lina Khan, in an article...
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Chevron and Administrative Antitrust, Redux
[Wrapping up the first week of our FTC UMC Rulemaking symposium is a post from Truth on the Market’s own Justin (Gus) Hurwitz, director of law & economics programs at the International Center for...
View ArticleFTC Rulemaking and Unintended Consequences
For obvious reasons, many scholars, lawyers, and policymakers are thinking hard about whether the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has authority to promulgate substantive “unfair methods of competition”...
View ArticleTo Close the Digital Divide, Broadband Infrastructure Funds Must Be Spent...
States seeking broadband-deployment grants under the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program created by last year’s infrastructure bill now have some guidance as to what will...
View ArticleNetChoice, Net Neutrality, and the Future of the First Amendment Online
In an expected decision (but with a somewhat unexpected coalition), the U.S. Supreme Court has moved 5 to 4 to vacate an order issued early last month by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which...
View ArticleCommerce Committee Fails to Correct Major Deficiencies in House Privacy Bill
Having earlier passed through subcommittee, the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA) has now been cleared for floor consideration by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee. Before...
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FTC Biweekly UMC Roundup – Reform Dies in Committee Edition
Welcome back to the FTC UMC Roundup! The Senate is back in session and bills are dying. FTC is holding hearings and faith in the agency is dying. The more things change the more they stay the same....
View ArticleA Policy Statement Is Still Only Worth the Electrons Upon Which It Is Written
Just over a decade ago, in a speech at the spring meeting of the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Law Section, then-recently appointed Commissioner Joshua Wright of the Federal Trade Commission...
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FCC Auctions and the Benefits of Unlicensed Spectrum
What should a government do when it owns geese that lay golden eggs? Should it sell the geese to fund government programs? Or should it let them run wild so everyone can have a chance at a golden egg?...
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What Transmission Markets Can Learn from the FCC’s Pole-Attachment Problem
Large portions of the country are expected to face a growing threat of widespread electricity blackouts in the coming years. For example, the Western Electricity Coordinating Council—the regional...
View ArticleTo Infinity and Beyond: The New Broadband Map Has Landed!
Announced with the sort of breathless press release one might expect for the launch of a new product like Waystar Royco’s Living+, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has gone into full-blown...
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Two FCC Commissioners Walk Into a Bar
Former FCC Commissioners Have Some Thoughts Writing with Kirk Arner in RealClearMarkets, Harold Furchtgott-Roth—formerly of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)—comments on the Spectrum Auction...
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While Congress Delays, the Task Force Will Play
With the first day of summer less than a week away and political silly season just around the corner, we don’t have much time for hootenannies. Congress needs to channel the wisdom of Jerry Reed, who...
View ArticleAntitrust and FCC Oversight Are Needed to Promote Broadband Deployment in the...
In late June, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) sent a letter to Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter arguing that the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) needs to investigate the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)...
View ArticleWill the USF Survive the 5th Circuit?
The Telecom Hootenanny is back from a little summer break. As they say on AM radio: “If you miss a little, you miss a lot.” So rather than trying to catch up, let’s focus on some of the latest news...
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Red Tape and Headaches Plague BEAD Rollout
While the dog days of August have sent many people to the pool to cool off, the Telecom Hootenanny dance floor is heating up. We’ve got hiccups in BEAD deployment, a former Federal Communications...
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LEOs Need Love Too and Nobody Wants to Pay for Subsidies
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. LEOs Need a Seat at the...
View ArticleGomez Confirmed to FCC: Here Comes Net Neutrality, But First…
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...
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ICLE on the ACP, BEAD in the Spotlight, Small Steps Toward Ending the...
School’s back in session and the Telecom Hootenanny is heating up. We’ve got a hot-off-the-presses issue brief on the ACP, more BEAD agonistes, and the latest on spectrum auctions. The Affordable...
View ArticleNet Neutrality II: Electric Boogaloo—Rate Regulation Hiding in Plain Sight
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Jessica Rosenworcel on Tuesday announced the agency’s proposal to regulate internet services under Title II of the Communications Act. Commonly referred to...
View ArticleThe Modern Video Marketplace Does Not Need Help From the FCC
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is no stranger to undertaking controversial and potentially counterproductive regulatory projects. The commission’s digital-discrimination proceeding is...
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Net Neutrality Is Dead, Long Live National Security
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Jessica Rosenworcel announced plans last week for the commission to vote Oct. 19 on whether to take the first steps toward reinstating Title II regulations...
View ArticleCompetition in the Low-Earth-Orbit Satellite Industry
Amazon on Friday launched its first two prototype satellites for its planned Project Kuiper internet-satellite network. It was the latest milestone in the rapid evolution of the low-Earth-orbit (LEO)...
View ArticleNTIA Tries to Call the Tune on Digital Discrimination
We’ve all been there. You’re enjoying a hootenanny, and someone tries to change the tune. Kind of like yelling “Free Bird” at a Taylor Swift concert or asking a wedding DJ to play the chicken dance....
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All Aboard! The Title II Express Is Leaving the Station
At lunch last week, I handed out the first of my new business cards with the title “Director, Hootenanny Division.” My lunchmate looked down and said, “Sounds fun, what do you do?” Then, I had to...
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Everyone Discriminates Under the FCC’s Proposed New Rules
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) proposed digital-discrimination rules hit the streets earlier this month and, as we say at Hootenanny Central, they’re a real humdinger. It looks like the...
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Gotta Go Fast: Sonic the Hedgehog Meets the FCC
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Jessica Rosenworcel this week announced a notice of inquiry (NOI) seeking input on a proposal to raise the minimum connection-speed benchmarks that the...
View ArticleNet Neutrality and Broken Records
I don’t mean to sound like a broken record, but why is the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) playing a broken record? I’ve been writing a fair bit about Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rulemaking...
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An Inconvenient Truth: Net Neutrality Depresses Broadband Investment
It happens at just about every hootenanny. There’s always at least one song that clears the dance floor. Some tunes, people just won’t dance to. But with a little remixing and a better tempo, even a...
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Indiana Jones and the Allocation of Spectrum
Hootenannies are mostly peaceful affairs, so it’s a bit awkward to invoke a violent metaphor here. In “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Indiana Jones runs down a Cairo sidestreet only to be confronted by a...
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Has the Biden Administration Taken Over Broadband?
Betteridge’s Law of Headlines states: “Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.” But, apparently, folks in the nation’s capital found a way around Betteridge’s Law....
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A Holiday Hootenanny Hiatus, But First, Some Title II Talk
For those of who’ve been doing the Telecom Two-Step over the past year, the holiday break can’t come soon enough. Last week, comments were due on the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) latest...
View ArticleSlouching Toward Disconnection and the End of the ACP
It’s our first post of the New Year, and we’re having a hard time feeling the Hootenanny vibes. Rather than Congress taking a “new year, new you” approach to telecom policy, it seems that D.C. is...
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The Curious Case of the Missing Data Caps Investigation
In an announcement that was treated to mild fanfare (meaning it was reported by certain tech blogs, but largely ignored elsewhere), Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Jessica Rosenworcel...
View ArticleAre Early-Termination Fees ‘Junk’ Fees?
Cable and satellite companies often get a bad rap for early termination fees (ETFs). Consumer advocates portray them as “junk fees” or billing traps meant to cheat customers. And the Federal...
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FCC’s Digital-Discrimination Rules: An Open Invitation to Flood the Field...
A half-dozen lawsuits have been filed to date challenging the digital-discrimination rules recently approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). These cases were consolidated earlier this...
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Blackout Rebates: Tipping the Scales at the FCC
Cable and satellite programming blackouts often generate significant headlines. While the share of the population affected by blackouts may be small—bordering on minuscule—most consumers don’t like the...
View ArticleSection 214: Title II’s Trojan Horse
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed classifying broadband internet-access service as a common carrier “telecommunications service” under Title II of the Communications Act. One...
View ArticleIt’s Risk, Jerry, The Game of Broadband Conquest
The big news in telecommunications policy last week wasn’t really news at all—the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its proposed rules to classify broadband internet under Title II of...
View ArticleNet Neutrality and the Paradox of Private Censorship
With yet another net-neutrality order set to take effect (the link is to the draft version circulated before today’s Federal Communications Commission vote; the final version is expected to be...
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