Today, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved a rule banning most employers from using non-compete agreements. Last April, TechFreedom filed three separate comments on this proceeding. The first explained that the Commission lacks the authority to issue such a rule, or indeed any substantive rules governing Unfair Methods of Competition (UMC). The second comment described the negative effects of the proposed rule on intellectual property, and the third proposed a more limited rulemaking that would be consistent with the Commission’s actual authority.  “The FTC lacks UMC rulemaking au ..read more

Today, the FCC released a draft order that would reclassify broadband Internet access service (BIAS) as a Title II common carrier service. The Commission will vote on the Order at its April 25 meeting. “After fifteen years of insisting the sky will fall without FCC rules, the Commission has produced a draft order that is longer than Crime and Punishment—and just as gloomy,” said Berin Szóka, President of TechFreedom. “Yet few of the order’s 800 paragraphs are about what really matters: will the Supreme Court ultimately uphold reclassification? Two legal issues have always loomed largest. First ..read more

Yesterday, three of TechFreedom’s policy experts delivered remarks at the FTC’s March Open Commission Meeting. Their oral remarks are presented here, lightly edited for clarity. Remarks of Berin Szóka, President of TechFreedom: I’m Berin Szóka, President of TechFreedom.  In 1914, one lawmaker promised that the FTC Act would take “business matters out of politics.” Yet the current Chair says “all [of the Commission’s] decisions are political.”   In 1935, the Supreme Court said the Commission “must . . . act with entire impartiality.” Yet the current chair has repeatedly ignored c ..read more

Yesterday, TechFreedom filed in response to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which proposes, among other things, to expand the test for defining which sites and services are “directed to children” under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). In making that determination, the current COPPA Rule says the FTC will consider a range of characteristics of a site or service, all of which are chosen by its operator, as indications of whether the site “targets” children. The revised rule would include, for the first time, external comparisons to ..read more

Yesterday, TechFreedom filed in response to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) related to the issue of whether the FCC should create a new Office of Civil Rights (OCR) as part of the Commission’s digital discrimination proceeding. “Other agencies can point to extensive statutory bases for their operations,” said James Dunstan, TechFreedom General Counsel. “Those arguing for the establishment of an OCR within the FCC wish to imbue it with broad powers over future agency activities, pointing to similar OCRs in other federal agencies. While ..read more

Today, TechFreedom filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to affirm the district court’s decision blocking enforcement of California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code. The AADC is a complicated “child protection” law that in fact operates like a zoning regulation, building code, and safety manual for the Internet. TechFreedom’s brief challenges the law’s requirement that businesses either deploy age verification (which the law misleadingly calls “age estimation”) or child-proof their websites. “By eroding online anonymity, age verification chills free speech a ..read more

Yesterday, TechFreedom filed reply comments in response to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) seeking comment on changes to the Commission’s rules aimed at streamlining the process for granting satellite and earth station applications. “The FCC must fundamentally change its approach to licensing,” said James E. Dunstan, TechFreedom’s General Counsel. “Demand for licenses in the space services won’t be met with some minor tweaks to the process. As the Report and Order and FNPRM make clear, just coaching up applicants to better understand ..read more

Today, TechFreedom filed an amicus brief urging an Ohio state trial court to hold that Google’s search engine is not a common carrier under Ohio law. “A search engine flunks any conceivable common carriage test,” said Corbin K. Barthold, Director of Appellate Litigation at TechFreedom. “Throughout its history, common carrier law has involved the state requiring non-discrimination in the transportation of commodity material or information. Yet the whole point of a search engine is to discriminate between relevant and irrelevant content. A search engine could not ‘rank’ content indifferently if ..read more

Yesterday, TechFreedom filed reply comments in response to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which proposes to claim broad powers over broadband Internet access service (BIAS) by classifying it as a Title II common carrier service. We explain why commenters in this proceeding have failed to demonstrate that Title II reclassification is not a major question and that Congress clearly empowered the FCC to classify broadband as a Title II service.  “Title II reclassification is undoubtedly a major question,” said Berin Szóka, President of Tech ..read more

Yesterday, TechFreedom filed in response to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which proposes to claim broad powers over broadband Internet access service (BIAS) by classifying it as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act.  “Net neutrality is alive and well—even without the FCC rules,” said Berin Szóka, President of TechFreedom. “Consumers demand unrestricted access to the Internet, ISPs promise to meet that demand, and the Federal Trade Commission already ensures that consumers get what they’re promised. The ..read more