News Releases
News Coverage
News Media
PFF Highlights
News Coverage
 
PFF in the News...
 
April 2009
  • "Court Supports FCC's Expletives Policy," Hollywood Reporter, April 28, 2009 "The Supreme Court's failure to address the underlying constitutional issues 'will leave the First Amendment freedoms of both media creators and consumers in this country uncertain until another case winds its way up to the court, which could take years,' said Adam Thierer, senior fellow at the Progress & Freedom Foundation, a market-oriented think tank that studies the digital revolution and its public policy implications.
    "'What's the point of continuing to apply a censorship regime to one of the oldest mediums -- broadcast TV and radio -- when kids are flocking to unregulated mediums in large numbers? At this point, we're doing little more than protecting adults from themselves and destroying over-the-air broadcasting in the process.'"
  • "U.S. Regulatory Czar Nominee Wants Net 'Fairness Doctrine,'" World Net Daily, April 28, 2009
    "Sunstein first proposed the notion of imposing mandatory 'electronic sidewalks' for the Net. These 'sidewalks' would display links to opposing viewpoints. Adam Thierer, senior fellow and director of the Center for Digital Media Freedom at the Progress and Freedom Center, has characterized the proposal as 'The Fairness Doctrine for the Internet.'
    "'Apparently in Sunstein's world, people have many rights, but one of them, it seems, is not the right to be left alone or seek out the opinions one desires,' Thierer wrote."
  • "NTIA Launches Web Address Inquiry As Hill Interest Rises," CongressDaily, April 24, 2009
    "Former ICANN board member Michael Palage, now at the Progress & Freedom Foundation, said before it tries to write legislation Congress should request a GAO study of ICANN and its underpinnings. It has been nine years since GAO released such a report." "Delahunt’s Dubious Idea," Boston Herald, April 21, 2009 "'When the SSTP advocates are being honest, they admit that they’re afraid origin-based sales taxes would lead to a "race to the bottom,"' says Adam Thierer, of the Progress and Freedom Foundation.
    "'Politicians would have a huge database to use and ask themselves "Who can we tax even more?"' Thierer says."
  • "Parties Oppose 'Cross-Platform' Parental Blocking Mandate," TR Daily, April 20, 2009
    "AT&T, Inc., said the FCC should 'recognize that it is not writing on a blank slate,' and pointed to the work of FOSI, Adam Thierer of the Progress and Freedom Foundation, and the Internet Safety Technical Task Force detailing the tools already available 'to protect children online and empower parents to decide for themselves what media content is appropriate for their children, and to limit their children’s access accordingly.'"
  • "Swedish Criminal Court Convicts Pirate Bay Operators," Tech Law Journal, April 16, 2009
    "The Progress & Freedom Foundation's (PFF) Tom Sydnor praised the verdict in a release, and urged Sweden 'to act swiftly to terminate the site's illegal activities.'
    "Sydnor also stated that 'This verdict is also an affirmation of the rights of the hard-working, law-abiding creators' and 'shows that civilized nations can and should enforce copyright owners' exclusive right to make their works available over interactive networks like the Internet.'
    "He added that 'American prosecutors should also note that the Swedish court stated that this "crime has been committed in a commercial and organized form." U.S. law provides powerful tools that can halt organized commercial crime and dismember criminal syndicates. It is high time to deploy those tools against distributors and operators of piracy-adapted programs and sites.'"
  • "PFF to FCC: Tread Lightly in Content Control Technologies Review," Broadcasting & Cable, April 15, 2009
    "PFF Senior Fellow Adam Thierer argues that the commission has no authority over most of the media platforms whose content control it will be reviewing, and that most homes don't need parental control technologies because parents either rely on other methods or there are no kids in the house.
    "That advice came in comments to the commission on its review. 'One might argue that merely studying the marketplace poses no harm, but what raises flags here are the Commission's regulatory powers, which often run afoul of the First Amendment's prohibition against content-meddling-even indirectly-with free speech and artistic expression,' he told the commission."
  • "Advice on Broadband Stimulus Pours In," CedMagazine.com, April 14, 2009 "The Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF) urged the Federal Communications Commission, and those responsible for distribution of the grants, to clearly define the terms 'unserved,' 'underserved' and 'broadband' as presented in the Act. 'This will avoid inconsistency and misallocation of funds, which will be critical to the program's success,' wrote Barbara Esbin and Kenneth Ferree, PFF senior fellow and president, respectively."
    "PFF, which leans toward conservative free-market philosophy, advised funding existing providers 'rather then supporting second or third entrants in a market.'"
  • "FCC Steps Into Comcast-NFL Network Fight," The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 12, 2009
    "But free-market advocates take Comcast's side, saying that the FCC should stay out of this scrimmage and that Comcast and the NFL Network should privately negotiate a carriage deal. 'Why should the government get into this?' asked Adam Thierer, senior fellow at the market-oriented Progress and Freedom Foundation. 'Sports is a heated topic of debate even among people in the same household.'"
  • "Loose Ends in Sirius-XM Marriage," Conde Nast Portfolio, April 2, 2009
    "PFF's W. Kenneth Ferree goes further, suggesting that crucial Supreme Court decisions about Federal affirmative action programs raise serious questions about the legality of this set-aside. Short of dropping the whole matter, the FCC should 'allow XM-Sirius a substantial role in the selection of those to whom third-party access will be awarded on a non-racially discriminatory basis.'"
  • "Some May Lose Out With Digital TV," Wall Street Journal, April 2, 2009
    "'Unless I missed something back in civics class, I can't find anything in our founding documents that refers to "free TV" as an inalienable human right,' says Adam Thierer, senior fellow at the Progress & Freedom Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C."


Previous Months:

July
June
May
April
March
February
January

Previous Years:

2008
2007
2006
2005
2004

 
 

 

The Progress & Freedom Foundation