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September 2008
  • "Politicians Push for Net Neutrality, Broadband Policy," PCWorld, September 22, 2008
    "Broadband providers need incentives to invest in more broadband capacity while managing the use of their services, said Berin Szoka, a visiting fellow at the Progress and Freedom Foundation."
  • "Product Placement On TV: Too Much, Too Little, Or Who Cares?," Ars Technica, September 22, 2008
    "But a very different perspective comes from Adam Thierer and W. Kenneth Ferree of the Progress and Freedom Foundation (Ferree is a former FCC bureau chief). The filers characterize the whole proceeding as a threat to the First Amendment rights of broadcasters, and irrelevant to boot. 'If the Notice demonstrates anything, it is that a majority of the current Commissioners live in a world wholly alien and unfamiliar to most Americans;' they write, 'indeed, a world long forgotten if it ever existed.'
    "Thierer/Ferree contend that most TV watchers these days know embedded ads when they seem them, and don't need intrusive protections such as concurrent disclosure. 'There can be little doubt but that viewers and listeners understand that when American Idol judges drink from Coca-Cola cups, promotional consideration was exchanged;' they write, 'when a radio host talks about the great dinner he ate at Ruth’s Chris Steak House, the restaurant is a sponsor of the show; when contestants on The Biggest Loser are taught how to make desserts with "Jell-O" gelatin, the association is not serendipitous.'"
  • "In-Flight VoIP Ban: Against FCC Rules? Highly Desirable?," Wi-Fi Networking News, September 17, 2008
    "Think-tank wonders whether banning in-flight VoIP constitutes a violation of FCC rules about blocking services: The Progress and Freedom Foundation’s Barbara Esbin uses the ban on in-flight VoIP by American Airlines (facilitated by provider Aircell) to make a broader argument about what she calls the FCC’s 'ad hoc approach to broadband network management issues.'"
  • "PFF Paper Sees U.S. Deregulatory Broadband Policy As Success," TR Daily, September 10, 2008
    "The relatively deregulatory U.S. approach to broadband policy is producing 'high levels of investment and innovation, ubiquitous broadband availability, high and increasing levels of penetration, falling prices, and high levels of consumer satisfaction,' and other nations would do well to abandon mandatory resale requirements and follow the U.S. model 'to avoid being left behind,' according to a paper released today by the Progress & Freedom Foundation.
    "'Broadband Policy: Does the U.S. Have It Right After All?' by PFF board member and Criterion Economics Chairman Jeffrey Eisenach argues that '[t]he economic viability of last-mile infrastructure competition is demonstrated by the simple facts that it exists and is growing.' It also says that 'more intensive infrastructure competition leads directly to more rapid innovation,' citing 50 megabits-per-second FiOS service from Verizon Communications, Inc., and 160 Mbps DOCSIS 3.0 service that Comcast Corp. is beginning to deploy."
  • "PFF Paper on FCC's Comcast Order Invokes Kafka," Tech Law Journal, September 8, 2008
    "The author is the PFF's Barbara Esbin."
    "She argues that what the FCC did was in the nature of rule making by adjudication -- or 'adjudi-making'.
    "She elaborated that 'Whatever we call this innovative legal form, it appears to have resulted in factual findings that a single industry participant violated rules of behavior articulated for the first time in the very proceeding in which the accused was found guilty as charged.'
    "Esbin added, 'More troubling still, the adjudi-making was wholly lacking the protections afforded the subjects of more traditional administrative adjudications, such as the need for sworn testimony, adherence to the rules of evidence, and the other procedural safeguards of a "restricted" adjudication.'
    "'It sure seems Kafka-esque when we either cannot know the law or we can only know the ``law´´ by observing the actions of the nobles, wrote Esbin."
  • "Cover Story: Martin’s Fall Offensive," Multichannel News, September 6, 2008
    "'If it’s a Scarface finish, maybe he’ll say, "Say hello to my little friend called a la carte" and try to mow them down one last time,' said Progress & Freedom Foundation senior fellow Adam Thierer."
  • "Pirates Potential Mobile Market?," Music Confidential, September 5, 2008
    "During a keynote address at the Progress & Freedom Foundation’s Aspen Summit last month, John Horrigan with Pew Internet & American Life Project spoke about the behavior of those who use information and communication technology (ICT) and the climate for innovation.
    "Horrigan said that the Pew Internet Project last year developed a typology of ICT users, which grouped American adults into 10 different categories. One of these categories, the 'Mobile Centrics,' make up 10% of the American population, Horrigan said."
  • "Martin Has Eye On Cable Networks," Broadcast Newsroom, September 2, 2008
    "'I do not believe for one minute anything the chairman has to say about this [wholesale bundling] issue being dead because he has kept it alive his entire tenure,' said Adam Thierer, senior fellow at the Progress & Freedom Foundation. 'There is no way that Chairman Ahab is going to let this whale get away.'"


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