Edward J. Black

With the close of the tax season, the complexities of our federal tax code have been the subject of much debate from tax rates to deductions and exemptions. Within the next year Congress will likely debate wholesale tax reform, regardless of the outcome of the elections this fall.

Most...

The Internet was built on links. Just a few years ago, most people's Internet browsing time was spent clicking from link to link, either looking for a particular piece of information or just seeing what they stumbled upon.

Links were also the basic way that search engines separated the wheat...

Internet freedom is again under fire for ostensibly noble reasons. After a narrow escape from Congress's SOPA legislation, Internet freedom is in the international crosshairs of a large group of nations, including many of the world's most undemocratic governments, seeking to give themselves control over Internet policy. Their target is...

As protests against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) sweep across Europe, two conclusions are possible: the era of closed-door IP policy is over; and the content industry's insatiable quest for more power and control is no longer irresistible.

A netroots uprising that began in January...

The hundreds of thousand of calls to Congress and millions of petition signatures opposing two controversial bills, SOPA and PIPA, have been characterized as a revolution. Former Senator Dodd, who heads the MPAA, the trade group leading the SOPA and PIPA effort, likened...

Smartphones are at the center of a new series of "patent wars," in which technology companies are spending billions to stockpile patent arsenals. Consumers are the biggest losers in this war, as tech companies focus on costly litigation strategies instead of innovation. Some are acquiring patents to attack competitors, while...

The trajectory of a bill up for a vote in the House Judiciary Committee this week could be a good movie plot where the apocalyptic genre intersects with political commentary. A few prominent members of Congress are pressing forward with a bill that would regulate and censor...

A pair of recent victories are worth savoring this Thanksgiving for those who value the Internet and who could use some evidence there are still principled people in Washington willing to stand up for what's best for most Americans -- and for our economy.

In

Move over Obama. A bipartisan group of lawmakers has come up with their own jobs plan by way of oppressive Internet regulations that would create thousands of new, high paying jobs for attorneys as well as government workers and Internet censors -- all the while choking off jobs that might...

Author's Note:
While this is not an actual intercepted diplomatic cable, I can imagine similar sentiments have been communicated. This legislation is a gift that will keep on giving for several Chinese policy priorities.

To: State Councilor XXXXXXXXX
Beijing
From: Minister XXXXXXXXXX
Washington DC

*...

It's fascinating to watch AT&T's evolving PR response to its proposed merger with T-Mobile. Their efforts appear more desperate by the day. AT&T has pivoted from talking about the merger in terms of competition policy and antitrust economics, where its arguments have been seemingly rejected by the DOJ...

Democrats and Republicans in Congress are expected to work together next week to pass the long awaited trade deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.

The Obama administration is praising what appears to be the end of a 5-year deadlock on this issue, and the reality is that...

On Wednesday I moderated a World Trade Organization panel in Geneva that examined the impact of Internet restrictions on international commerce and how Internet censoring and filtering may violate WTO agreements.

The UN has viewed restrictions on access to information as a human rights issue, but the enforcement of human...

As a longtime advocate for innovation and competition in high-tech markets, I was relieved to see the Justice Department step forward and challenge the proposed AT&T, T-Mobile merger -- the most audacious and blatantly anti-competitive merger proposal I have seen for quite some time.

Unfortunately, some describe the DOJ's...

The success of tech companies and startups increasingly depends on the industry that allows them to reach customers -- wireline and wireless Internet access providers.

But AT&T's aggressive proposal to takeover T-Mobile could have not a ripple, but a tsunami impact on businesses in the Internet ecosystem -- and ultimately...