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August 2008
  • "CEO: Tiered Internet Pricing Fair," Wilkes Barre Times-Leader, August 30, 2008
    "'Like other companies, though, Frontier knows unlimited-usage pricing is not a sustainable business model,' she said during the closing address to telecommunications and cable industry executives, legislators and regulators at the Progress and Freedom Foundation Summit in Aspen, Colo. on Aug. 18."
  • "Comcast Order Broke Precedent, Practice, Procedure, Analyst Contends," BNA, Inc., August 29, 2008
    "The Federal Communications Commission's recently released order finding Comcast Corp. violated the commission's Internet policy statement broke with practice, procedure, and precedent in so many ways it is hard to guess how the company will react, a former FCC staffer said Aug. 28. Barbara Esbin, now a senior fellow at the Progress and Freedom Foundation, served at the FCC for more than 14 years, most recently in its Enforcement Bureau. Esbin is director of the foundation's Center for Communications and Competition Policy."
    "Esbin said that with a few small exceptions, she stood by her initial analysis of the order, which she released on Aug. 15, prior to the full release of the commission's order. The analysis concluded that the FCC had become a 'runaway agency' unconstrained by its vision of its powers."
  • "Frontier Isn't Enforcing Caps Quietly Imposed on Web Users," Telecom A.M., August 29, 2008
    "'The Company has made no decision about potential charges,' it said. Frontier Chairman Maggie Wilderotter told the recent Progress & Freedom Foundation Aspen conference that metered broadband is inevitable for ISPs but didn't mention Frontier's policy change."
  • "Wholesale Unbundling Support May Prompt Martin to Seek Vote," Communications Daily, August 27, 2008
    "Even though there's no order underway, Martin continues to appear intent on getting a vote on rules to promote the sale of cable channels individually, said Progress & Freedom Foundation's Adam Thierer. 'The chances are very good that he will advance something on the wholesale a la carte front,' said Thierer, whose group usually opposes regulation. 'This chairman isn't going to stop until he gets something approximating a full blown a la carte mandate on the cable industry, and he'll do it by any means necessary.'"
  • "Launch Prices Flat Despite Cost-of-Living Growth," Communications Daily, August 25, 2008,
    "The Space Frontier Foundation wants launch costs to fall so missions, with and without humans, will increase, said Berin Szoka, foundation chairman and visiting fellow at the Progress & Freedom Foundation. 'We need to get people to stop thinking of space as a program but as a place' but 'the cost of space launch' is thwarting that shift, Szoka said."
  • "Critics Question NCMEC Role in Policing Web for Child Porn," Washington Internet Daily, August 22, 2008
    "NCMEC's expanding role raises significant questions, said the Progress & Freedom Foundation's Adam Thierer. He's a member of the Internet Safety Technical Task Force organized by Harvard's Berkman Center to work on Internet safety tools."
    "A private body, NCMEC doesn't come under the Freedom of Information Act, and isn't accountable for its methods in creating its 'blacklist,' Thierer said. Without independent review, Thierer said, he's concerned by the center's ability to create a list that the law requires ISPs to enforce."
  • "Verizon Technology Chief Urges Sound Policy and Industry Cooperation to Continue High Innovation," CNNMoney, August 21, 2008
    "In a keynote address Tuesday (Aug. 19) at the Progress and Freedom Foundation's annual Aspen Summit, Verizon Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Dick Lynch urged a 'change in mindset on the part of policymakers to acknowledge the realities of the 100-megabit world' and suggested that other industry participants be pragmatic as well."
  • "PFF Event Speakers Urge Government to Promote Broadband Investment," Communications Daily, August 20, 2008
    "ASPEN, Colo. -- Federal telecommunications policies should promote investment in broadband capacity and increased speeds, industry officials said at the Progress & Freedom Foundation conference Tuesday. They included executives of Comcast, Verizon, and a small wireless internet service provider from rural Wyoming. 'Network neutrality would cripple us,' said Brett Glass, chairman of the WISP, Lariat.org."
  • "FCC Finalizes Comcast's Filtering Penalties," CNET News, August 20, 2008
    "Robert McDowell, one of the two dissenting commissioners, said at the Progress and Freedom Foundation's conference this week that the FCC had relied on dubious evidence, including unsigned declarations.
    "'Governments need to make sure they have a very thorough record,' he said. 'The FCC of late has not been doing that.'"
  • "Cox Confirms Wireless Ambitions," InformationWeek, August 20, 2008
    "During the Progress and Freedom Foundation's annual tech policy summit, Cox president Patrick Esser said that the cable company would be using its share of the 700-MHz spectrum to offer mobile content and services."
    "'Wireless is straight from our offensive playbook,' Esser said. 'It's an important innovation, a logical business evolution, and will maximize the immense power of Cox's greatest asset -- the last mile of robust broadband networks.'"
  • "From Aspen," CableFax Daily, August 20, 2008
    "With a simple consumer interface, a differentiated product and technology that appears seamless to consumers, a cable-backed wireless product could gain 20 percent share of the wireless market, Cox's Pat Esser said during the Progress and Freedom Foundation's Aspen Summit in [ Colorado.]"
  • "Fed Officials Say Must Be Ready to Curb Inflation,"   Washington Post, August 19, 2008
    "'Unless the python that is the U.S. economy can quickly pass the recent burst of cost-push pressures, we risk a reinforcing spreading of inflationary impulses and expectations,' Fisher told the Progress and Freedom Foundation in Aspen, Colorado."
  • "Fed's Fisher: Energy Cost Reversal May Not Ease Inflation," Wall Street Journal, August 19, 2008
    "The expectation of higher labor and production costs among U.S. businesses remains a considerable threat to price stability, and the Federal Reserve must monitor this carefully or risk losing its credibility, Richard Fisher said in prepared remarks to a summit sponsored by the Progress and Freedom Foundation."
  • "Warner's Griffin Still Pushing ISP Music Fee," Portfolio.com, August 19, 2008
    "Despite the backlash, Griffin is still promoting his idea. Speaking today to the Progress & Freedom Foundation's annual Aspen conference, Griffin argued that while taking music without paying for it may not be 'morally voluntary,' it has become 'functionally voluntary.'"
  • "Is Cox the Next Major Cell Phone Provider?," PC Magazine.com, August 19, 2008
    "'I won't divulge too many secrets here, but we'll focus on providing simple calling plans, integrating all our services into one device with a consistent cross-platform interface; and making our content and applications mobile,' Patrick Esser, Cox president, said in prepared remarks before the Progress and Freedom Foundation's annual tech policy summit in Aspen, Colorado."
  • "Microsoft Blasts Google-Yahoo Ad Deal Proposed Online Partnership Seen As 'Price Fix,'" RedOrbits, August 19, 2008
    "'Basically, it's a price fix,' said Greg Sivinski, a Microsoft senior antitrust attorney.
    "'Price fixing is a complete red herring,' retorted Google chief economist Hal Varian. He added that advertising revenue generated by Internet search engines is determined largely through a competitive auction.
    "The sharp exchange occurred during a panel discussion of online advertising at the Aspen Summit hosted by the Progress & Freedom Foundation, a Washington, D.C., think tank."
  • "IFPI: 'Three Strikes' Efforts Hit Worldwide Home Run," Ars Technica, August 19, 2008
    "IFPI lawyer Shira Perlmutter spoke Monday at the Progress & Freedom Foundation's Aspen summit to say that three strikes rules represent an emerging worldwide consensus and that 'good things are beginning to come to pass' because of them."
  • "A Volunteer Approach to Online Copyright Issues," Sky Report, August 18, 2008
    "During a panel Monday at the Aspen Summit held by The Progress and Freedom Foundation, those discussing copyright enforcement online emphasized one thing: All sides must be talking about what can be done on a voluntary basis.
    "'It requires a multi-industry voluntary effort,' said Jule Sigall, senior policy counsel, copyrights and trademarks, for Microsoft.  'It's a necessity in the space we are in today.'"
  • "Fed's Fisher: China Growth a Clear Oil Price Signal," Boston Globe, August 18, 2008
    "Chinese economic growth can deliver a potentially massive boost to global energy demand with clear implications for long-term oil prices, Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher said on Monday.
    "Fisher, speaking at a closed-to-the-press dinner hosted by the Progress and Freedom Foundation, made no reference to the U.S. economy or monetary policy in his prepared remarks."
    "'If China used the same amount per capita as parsimonious Japan, Chinese consumption would total more than 18 billion barrels a year, an amount that dwarfs our country's 7.5 billion barrels,' said Fisher."
  • "Political Gain and Net Neutrality," TechNewsWorld, August 8, 2008
    "[Regarding FCC's ruling on Comcast,] 'Whether specific management techniques are appropriate should be decided by technical experts and marketplace interactions, not political appointees responding to interest group pressure,' argued Barbara Esbin, of The Progress & Freedom Foundation."
  • "Sprint-Clearwire Ask FCC to Reject AT&T, RCA Petitions to Deny Transaction," TRDaily, August 6, 2008
    "'As the applicants have demonstrated, the proposed transaction will create a nationwide, open access wireless broadband network in the 2.5 GHz band,' the Progress & Freedom Foundation agreed. 'Based on the record developed and the public benefits that would accrue as a result of proposed combination, the Commission should expeditiously complete its review in this matter and grant the applications without the imposition of extraneous conditions.'"
  • "FCC's Martin Faces GOP Pressure on Comcast and Net Neutrality," CNET, August 1, 2008
    Adam Thierer, a policy analyst at the free market Progress and Freedom Foundation (which began its days as Newt Gingrich's favorite think tank), wrote this week that liberal activists "will incessantly petition the FCC to review each and every business model decision and encourage the unelected bureaucrats at the agency to manage the Internet to their heart's content."
  • "Boehner 'Dismayed' By FCC's Expected Comcast Decision," TRDaily, August 1, 2008
    "The FCC’s expected decision tomorrow to take Comcast Corp. to task for its peer-to-peer (P2P) network traffic management practices elicited preemptive criticism today from the House Republican leader and market-oriented think tank Progress & Freedom Foundation both for the substance of the decision and for its procedural and legal basis."
    "In a conference call with reporters this afternoon, Progress & Freedom Foundation senior fellow Bret Swanson, who is director of PFF’s Center for Global Innovation, called the Comcast order a 'potentially far-reaching mistake.'"
    "Barbara Esbin, PFF senior fellow and director of it Center for Communications and Competition Policy, questioned 'the apparent lack of a legal basis' for taking action against an individual company in the context of a memorandum opinion and rulemaking."
    "Although [the FCC Chair] asserted that the FCC has sufficient authority under Title I to deal with network management issues, Ms. Esbin said that Title I ancillary authority has to be ancillary to “some specific grant of authority” in another title of the Act.
    "Ms. Esbin also criticized the order that is expected to be adopted tomorrow for establishing a standard and adjudicating a violation of that standard in a single step.


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