The Heartland Institute

Saul Anuzis has announced he's running for chairmanship of the Republican National Committee. The former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party pits himself against sitting RNC Chairman Michael Steele. Anuzis garnered respect in the state for employing strategies resulting in recent Republican takeovers of the governorship, state ...

Public concern over potential health effects and property values resulted in a six-month moratorium on the construction of telecommunications towers in Blaine, Minnesota. The Blaine City Council meeting agenda in October included a motion to grant a conditional use permit to construct a 100-foot Monopole tower, but emotional comments ...

Two recent rulings by the Seventh Circuit Court have cleared up some confusion regarding the federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. The court dismissed a suit brought against Houston, Texas anesthesiologist Dr. Eric Chan by an Illinois-based company with a similar Web address, notding Chan s site specifically gave a ...

The Federal Communications Commission has ordered the implementation of education programs on cyberbullying and safe use of social networking sites for schools and libraries receiving E-Rate funds. E-Rate, officially the Schools and Libraries Program of the Universal Service Fund, provides discounts to assist most U.S. schools and ...

Despite Michigan’s dismal economic outlook, telecom giant AT& T has announced it has spent more than $80 million on its wireless network in the state during the first six months of 2010. That’s approximately one-third of AT& T’s $225 million wireless and wireline network capital expenditures in the Wolverine state in the first ...

For the second time since January 2010, money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been directed to Michigan s Upper Peninsula and northern part of the Lower Peninsula for broadband buildout. The two grants total $103 million. Merit Network, an Ann Arbor, Michigan company, received $33 million in January and another ...

EPB Fiber Optics, the city of Chattanooga’s municipally owned fiber-to-the-premises broadband service, claims its newest iteration of free wireless service is the first in the nation to offer 1 gigabyte access speeds. EPB says the new service, announced September 13, is nearly 200 times faster than average download speeds for ...

Reflecting its concerns that the Internet is undermining serious journalism, the Federal Trade Commission is examining avenues for taxing new media to support print media. The FTC announced the project May 2009. On June 7 of this year the commission released a draft proposal, Potential Policy Recommendations to Support the Reinvention ...

The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires by Tim Wu. Random House Publishing, 2010, 366 pages. Reading Tim Wu s The Master Switch , one can t help but conjecture the author and Columbia University professor looks under his bed each night to ensure no transactions are taking place wherein one party actually ...

Contract provisions between publishing houses and e-book sellers Amazon and Apple, Inc. have drawn the attention of Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. His department is conducting an investigation into whether the agreements constitute price fixing. The proliferation of e-book readers such as Amazon s Kindle, Apple s ...

Michael J. Copps, one of five members of the Federal Communications Commission, claims the FCC exists as an honest-to-goodness consumer protection agency and part of its mandate is to ensure all citizens have access to worthy media, to the news and information our democratic dialogue requires. Copps remarks concluded a speech ...

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the first of two rounds of federal stimulus funding to extend broadband access and adoption reveals numerous instances of publicly funded projects where privately funded operations already existed, a condition known as overbuild. The GAO report, Recovery Act: Further Opportunities ...

Like marriage-crazed bridesmaids chasing the bouquet at a reception, legislators often dash madly from issue to issue, chasing recognition and advocating for pet causes. Win or lose, they can always be counted on to chase the next cause c l bre, with little or no accountability for poor choices made in the past. This is one ...

Rep. Fred Upton will head the Energy and Commerce Committee when the U.S. House reconvenes with a newly elected Republican majority in January 2011. Upton will replace Rep. Henry Waxman (D-NY). Among other policy issues, the Energy and Commerce Committee oversees national Internet and telecom policy and retains jurisdiction over ...