While we live in an era of skepticism about government and its institutions, it is important to note the important work undertaken by the Federal Trade Commission, an underappreciated regulatory body that safeguards both competition and consumers.

Although it does not make headlines every day, few other agencies impact...

The National Association of Broadcasters meets for its big annual conference in Las Vegas this week with optimism about the growing economy. But on the horizon for broadcasters there is also a cloud brewing; or more specifically, a cloud computing court ruling that impacts the business models of...

Today is Data Privacy Day, and there will be plenty of great discussions surrounding the uses of data, how best to protect it, and how to give users the best control over information about them, while protecting innovation and useful online services. One part of data privacy that doesn't get...

Longtime opponents to Internet censorship were glad to see the Obama Administration enforce new human rights rules involving Iran last week. The State Department announced sanctions against four individuals and five entities, including Iran's communications and technology minister Reza for actions that censored access to the Internet and...

CCIA congratulates Facebook on the news Thursday that it now has 1 billion active users. It's a milestone worth celebrating for those who built this platform to communicate across the world from a Harvard dorm room. Since its founding 40 years ago, CCIA has seen our...

President Obama met young voters on their own turf recently as he fielded online questions in an open, "ask me anything" Reddit forum. The event, which drew two million people to the social news site and crashed servers, illustrates the Internet's potential not just as a...

With the DOJ's decision this past week to allow Verizon to cooperate with its largest competitors, those who are concerned about the repercussions are now counting on the FCC to craft better protections for consumers and wireless Internet access. The DOJ remedies dealt mostly with preserving...

As key committees in the House and Senate removed a hurdle to grant Russia Permanent Normal Trade Relations, lawmakers have taken a key step that could help secure access for both U.S. digital trade and human rights in Russia. Congress inserted language this month that will require the U.S. Trade...

For those who follow the so-called "patent wars" involving a parade of lawsuits, last month's dismissal by a federal judge of Apple's fight against patent-rich Motorola Mobility (just recently acquired by Google) was the apparent end to the latest round in a series of bruising and distracting battles....

While the Internet has faced various threats in its young life, countries that appreciate the economic and societal benefits are waking up to the very real threat of international governmental control. There is growing concern about a push from countries like Russia and China to give regulatory control...

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

*...