• "Web Safety Task Force Draws Top Tech Players," PC Magazine, February 29, 2008
  "'The experts assembled will do much to contribute to the ongoing discussion of online child safety and Internet best practices,' said Adam Thierer, a senior fellow at PFF and author of a recent book about online parental controls."
• "Agencies," Washington Internet Daily, February 29, 2008
  "Don't be 'deceived' by claims that bars on network management will result in 'unfettered access to all applications,' the Progress & Freedom Foundation warned the FCC in comments filed Feb. 28. 'Broadband Internet services involve the use of finite resources,' PFF said. 'Existing networks simply cannot accommodate all applications by all potential users all of the time,' so congestion develops, PFF said. 'The question really is whether network resources are to be allocated efficiently... to provide the maximum benefit to the maximum number of users, or whether the Internet is to become the private domain of bandwidth bullies.'"
• "Copyright Scholar Backs Radio 'Performance Royalty'," Tech Daily Dose (National Journal), February 27, 2008
  "A performance-right for recording artists whose music is played on AM and FM radio would 'correct a needless exception in U.S. copyright law,' according to the Progress and Freedom Foundation's Tom Sydnor. The digital property pundit weighed in on the issue that has created a major rift between the music industry and broadcasters.
  "In a paper released Wednesday, Sydnor says passage of legislation that has been introduced in the House and Senate 'would harmonize U.S. copyright law with those of other countries, benefiting both U.S. recording artists and the U.S. economy.' He counters two often cited arguments for the discrepancy: promotional value for the recording artist and the public interest obligations put on broadcast platforms."
• "The Digital Switch: A Look at TV's Quiet Revolution," South Coast Today, February 23, 2008
  "Ken Ferree is a former Federal Communications Commission member and was one of the commissioners who pushed for the conversion. He said in a phone interview that broadcasters have been avoiding the giveback by invoking moving definitions of the 85 percent rule.
  "'In 2005, Congress stepped in and set a hard date,' said Ferree, now president of the Progress & Freedom Foundation, a Washington-based policy think tank."
• "Heavy Lifting In Transition to Digital TV," GCN, February 19, 2008
  "Government policy decisions, technical rulings by the FCC, millions of dollars worth of construction by the broadcast industry and a whole lot of consumer education still is necessary before the nation pulls the plug on analog TV on Feb. 17, 2009, said W. Kenneth Ferree, president at the Progress and Freedom Foundation.
  "Ferree, an early advocate of the digital TV transition during his tenure at the Media Bureau from 2001 to 2005, moderated a PFF seminar on the program Friday on Capitol Hill."
• "How TV's Switch to Digital Will Affect You," Sacramento Bee, February 18, 2008
  "'In 2005, Congress stepped in and set a hard date,' said Ferree, now president of the Progress & Freedom Foundation, a Washington D.C. think tank. 'The idea was to take that beachfront spectrum back and try to do more with it.'"
  "'Some people are predicting riots in the streets,' Ferree said. 'But even if most people don't understand it, they're starting to hear about it. By next February, it may all be a big bore.'"
• "700MHz Auction: Life on the D Block List," xChange Magazine, February 15, 2008
  "'I think the thing was sort of misconceived from the get-go,' says Kenneth Ferree, president of the Progress & Freedom Foundation, a market-oriented think tank in Washington, D.C."
  "'I think it was far-fetched to think that somebody was going to come along and build this new private network and have to try to compete with the big dogs that are already heavily invested in the market,' Ferree says. In other words, he adds, the FCC should have partnered with existing carriers such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc."
• "BitTorrent Slowing Said to Hurt Video Delivery Firms, Publishers," Washington Internet Daily, February 15, 2008 "'The "market power" of broadband network operators is overstated' and the tech industry shouldn't be so quick to support a net neutrality [bill], Progress & Freedom Foundation President Ken Ferree said Thursday in a blog. Evidence is scant of unreasonable past discrimination, and there's 'no credible argument that it is likely to occur in the future,' he said. 'Indeed, the instances of network discrimination that have achieved the greatest [attention], including the recent case involving the slowing of certain P2P applications, have in fact been nothing more than efforts by network operators to manage Internet traffic efficiently for the benefit of all customers.'"
• "Net Firms Push For Changes To Canadian Digital IP Bill," Congress Daily, February 15, 2008
  "Former Patent and Trademark Office adviser Tom Sydnor, now a fellow at the Progress and Freedom Foundation, said the business coalition’s proposed 'sweeping statutory exceptions...appear facially inconsistent with the three-step-test for copyright limitations and exceptions' adopted by WIPO."
• "Comcast Under Fire Again for Net Neutrality," PC Magazine, February 13, 2008
  "'Today's newest communications equipment is specifically designed for ever-more fine grained "traffic management" so that "triple play services" - voice, data, video - and service level agreements (SLAs) can be delivered efficiently and robustly on converged networks,' PFF president Ken Ferree and senior fellow Bret Swanson wrote in a filing with the FCC."
• "Ferree: FCC Should Not Mandate DTV PSAs," Broadcasting & Cable, February 6, 2008
  "Former FCC Media Bureau Chief Ken Ferree says the FCC would be making a mistake by mandating broadcaster DTV education PSAs. "Ferree, who exited the FCC in 2005 and is now president of the Progress and Freedom Foundation, wrote on the foundation's Web site that the mandate would be 'pressing the panic button and trampling on core constitutional values.'" "Ferree also praised the NAB effort. 'With a comprehensive multi-platform approach that will reportedly make more than 132 billion impressions on the American public, the NAB plan is remarkable both in scope and ambition. It should be allowed to work. At the very least, broadcasters adhering to the NAB plan should be given 'safe harbor' from an unnecessary, government-mandated, one-size-fits-all approach.' "He added that 'state-sponsored, bureaucratically-crafted message about the digital television transition' would 'almost certainly be overturned in court' as unconstitutional coerced speech."
• "A Warning On Side Effects of Internet Laws," UPI Energy, February 6, 2008
  "Adam Thierer of the Progress and Freedom Foundation said there were several bills that would 'open the door' to the expansion of the existing broadcast regulatory regime -- run by the Federal Communications Commission -- to cover content distributed on other platforms, like wireless devices and the Internet.
  "'In a world where a clip from (a TV show) can be fined by the FCC one night and be broadcast a million times by YouTube the next day,' he said, legislators felt the authority of the existing system 'slipping away.'"
• "Presidential Candidates Stake Out Tech Positions," Computerworld, February 5, 2008
  "Members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, a panel that debates many technology issues, often talk about their lack of IT experience, Adam Thierer, a senior follow at tech-centric conservative think tank the Progress and Freedom Foundation, wrote on the PFF's blog.
  "'Without missing a beat, they make jokes about not ever using the Internet or computers but that they have staffers or young family members who do and keep them informed,' he wrote. 'And yet, despite this stunning unfamiliarity with all things high-tech, they then move right on to pass reams of regulations governing the Internet and digital economy. Again, it's not funny anymore and we should stop allowing them to pretend it is.'"

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