• "Is U.S. Stuck in Internet's Slow Lane?," Associated Press, October 30, 2007
  "[Critics] point out that the OECD is not very open about how it compiles the data."
  "'We would never base other kinds of policy on that kind of data,' said Scott Wallsten, director of communications policy studies at the Progress and Freedom Foundation, a think tank that favors deregulation over government intervention."
• "Digital TV," Consumer Electronics Daily, October 24, 2007
  "CE industry's proposals in the two-way plug-and-play rulemaking amount to calls to impose a 'light form of common carrier regulation,' on cable operators, a step the FCC should avoid, Progress and Freedom Foundation Senior Fellow Adam Thierer said in a paper."
  "'While CEA makes a superficially plausible case for the FCC dictating technology standards, policymakers should consider carefully the implications of its current proposal, which is, in essence, another unbundling or open access regulatory scheme,' Thierer wrote. Government should always avoid imposing technology standards because it may choose bad ones, he said. Increased competition from pay-TV providers, which the FCC has fostered, will better ensure innovation by CE and cable companies, he said. 'There is no need for the government to involve itself in a private standard-setting dispute between sophisticated, capable industries like consumer electronics and cable,' he said."
• "Keeping Your Kids Safe Online," Forbes, October 22, 2007
  "Adam Thierer of the Progress and Freedom Foundation agrees that education has to be the first step in protecting kids in cyberspace. 'We're doing a horrendous job in this country of educating our kid about how to behave online,' he argues. 'We give them so many messages about drinking, sex, even fatty foods. But when it comes to online safety, we throw them into the deep end of the pool.'"
• "Representatives Write FTC Regarding Inadvertent P2P File Sharing," Tech Law Journal, October 17, 2007
  "Tom Sydnor of the Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF) stated in release regarding Rep. Waxman's letter that 'Inadvertent sharing is a proven threat to personal, corporate, and national security that also creates needless conflicts between copyright holders and consumers. It is essential for both state and federal law-enforcement authorities to determine why distributors of popular filesharing programs have failed to eliminate a threat identified over five years ago.'"
• "A Few Questions For The Would-Be AG," TechDaily Dose, October 17, 2007
  "Fellow PFFer Thomas Sydnor added that he would like to know what Mukasey plans to do to bring 'the moral authority and enforcement powers of the Department of Justice to bear on the pervasive Internet piracy that threatens the future of our world-leading creative industries.'"
• "AT&T Gives Parents Control Over Kids' Phones," Info Tech & Telecom News, October 16, 2007
  "'Not only is this all great news for parents, but it again shows that there is no need for lawmakers to regulate the mobile sector or impose content/communications controls,' wrote Adam Thierer, senior fellow at The Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF) and author of PFF's Parental Controls and Online Child Protection. 'We don't need Uncle Sam to become a cell phone nanny. Parents have been empowered to handle this job themselves.'"
• "Will Technology Let Parents Regulate TV Watching?," Yahoo! Tech, October 12, 2007
  "I received an interesting bit of writing last night from Adam Thierer . Thierer is the senior fellow at The Progress & Freedom Foundation. His premise is that with Video on Demand (VOD) and recording technologies like Personal Video Recorders (PVR) parents make it harder to blame TV broadcasters for kids watching inappropriate programs."
• "How To Protect Yourself From The Potential Of A $220,000 Judgment: SafeMedia’s P2PD Technology Solutions Are The Answer," dBusinessNews, October 10, 2007
  "According to Tom Sydnor, senior fellow and director of the Center for the Study of Digital Property at The Progress & Freedom Foundation, the Jammie Thomas case is a double-edge sword for Internet pirates. 'First, by rejecting the defendant’s “a-neighbor-could-have-done-it defense,” the jury indicated that the holder of an internet-access account is responsible for illegal uses of their account. This helps dispel the myth that you can download with impunity and then blame on your roommate when get caught. 'Second, by awarding damages of $9250 per song—well above the $750-per-song minimum—the jury spoke to both the illegality and immorality of unauthorized downloading.'"
  "In another RIAA lawsuit, Elektra v. [Santangelo,] 'The verdict should also send a message to distributors of file-sharing programs,' said Sydnor. 'Yet again, a consumer made an utterly foreseeable use of a file-sharing program and suffered dire consequences. Distributors that care about their users will get the hint and start using the best-available technology to prevent infringing uses of their programs and networks.'"
• "P2P Users Love to Download -- Sharing Is Another Matter," Washington Internet Daily, October 3, 2007
  "The percentage of users sharing their own files with others has been falling steadily, as opposed to the percentage of those downloading, as shown by periodic studies since 2000, said Tom Sydnor of the Progress and Freedom Foundation. Ever since P2P software companies began giving users more control over which folders on computers are designated as shared, more users have been closing off their collections to uploading. Today's typical Limewire user can find and download 'less than a fraction of the percentage of the network,' said Sydnor, formerly a copyright adviser in the Patent and Trademark Office who helped write the agency's oft-cited report on accidental file-sharing."
• "War Injuries Strain Vets' System, Observers Say," USA Today, October 1, 2007
  "'I wouldn't be surprised if these costs per person are higher than any war previously,' says Scott Wallsten, of the conservative think tank Progress and Freedom Foundation."
• "North Carolina Considers New Law Requiring Age Verification on MySpace," Info Tech & Telecom News, October 1, 2007
  "While sympathizing with the aims of the bill, Adam Thierer, senior fellow and director of the Center for Digital Media Freedom at the Progress & Freedom Foundation, who also testified on the bill, argued it could actually make children less safe online.
  "'The very real potential exists that we are creating solutions that inject a false sense of security in parents and children alike. The age verification process is not synonymous with background checks. It tells little about the person being verified and can be duped by parents who are in fact predators using their children to create false credentials,' Thierer said."
• "Google Duels with Lawmakers," Daily Deal, October 1, 2007
  "The complaints about the (DoubleClick) merger dismayed Thomas Lenard, a senior fellow at the libertarian Progress and Freedom Foundation. 'I do not believe this acquisition threatens to be anticompetitive or harmful to consumers' privacy,' he said. Government interference in the merger, on the other hand, could harm the evolving online ad market and consumers, Lenard said.
  "The two companies are clearly in different businesses and as for the privacy worries, 'most of the information used in Internet marketing is known only to computers,' he said. The collected data, he argued, is not used to profile individuals but instead simply to pool a group of IP numbers associated with users who may have a possible interest in say, shopping for a new car. 'No one knows or cares whose computer is targeted.'"
• "Senate Committee Holds Hearing on Policies Related to Broadband Access," Tech Law Journal, October 1, 2007 "Scott Wallsten of the Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF) wrote in his prepared testimony [PDF] that 'The sky is not falling.'
  "He wrote that 'there is little evidence of a U.S. broadband problem. Telephone, cable, and wireless companies are investing billions in new high-speed infrastructure, and consumers and businesses are adopting broadband at remarkable rates.'"

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