• "'Janet' Fine Voided -- but Debate Isn't Over," Multichannel News, July 28, 2008
  "[A la carte] becomes essentially the backup plan for those in Congress or the FCC who can't directly regulate speech. They will seek to indirectly regulate speech through mechanisms like a la carte regulation," said Adam Thierer, senior fellow at the Progress & Freedom Foundation, a free-market think tank supported by media and communications firms.
• "Clock's ticking on clean-up act," Variety, July 27, 2008
  "'Behind all the legalese in both decisions, there's a real skepticism about the FCC regulating indecent content,' says Ken Ferree, a former senior FCC official under Powell who now heads the libertarian Progress & Freedom Foundation. 'It's time to rethink whether the whole scheme even makes sense anymore.'"
  "'I don't think it's a stretch to say that once this gets into the court, who knows what's going to happen?' Ferree says. Constitutionality of indecency regulation could easily come into play, he adds."
• "Facebook, MySpace Duel over Data Portability Efforts," Washington Internet Daily, July 24, 2008
  "Both feature sets are a victory for free markets, said the Progress and Freedom Foundation's Beren Szoka. Szoka called the OpenID rollout a 'good example of competitive forces in the marketplace,' predicting data portability will succeed as long as companies offer it responsibly. The differing approaches are 'all about competition,' Szoka said. Because MySpace is backed by News Corp., it has more freedom to take risks and allow more access to user data, Szoka said, but Facebook may still be reeling from last year's Beacon controversy and therefore may want to tread more carefully by maintaining control."
• "No Fine for Jackson's 'Wardrobe Malfunction,'" Washington Times, July 22, 2008
  "'Perhaps it is time to read the handwriting on the wall: The guardians of our First Amendment freedoms in the courts are not going to allow the FCC to play the role of media supernanny,' said Ken Ferree, president of the Progress & Freedom Foundation, a free-market group. 'A free and vibrant, even if occasionally coarse, marketplace of speech is the cornerstone of a free society.'"
• "After Nipplegate Defeat, FCC Crusade in Tatters," The Globe and Mail ( Canada), July 22, 2008
  "Adam Thierer, a senior fellow at the Progress and Freedom Association, a market-oriented think tank in Washington, argued that the FCC's aggressive fight against indecency is hastening the demise of the broadcast industry, which has already been hurt by alternative media like the Internet and cable. 'These policies are beginning to write the death warrant for over-the-air broadcasting, because they unfairly single out the platform,' he said. He added that although the FCC is attempting to protect children with these policies, fewer young people are tuning into broadcast television, opting instead for largely unregulated media.
  "'One wonders what is the sense of all this in a world of media abundance,' he said. 'The FCC is protecting adults from themselves.'"
• "PFF Releases Media Metrics Report," Tech Law Journal, July 15, 2008
  "The Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF) released a report titled ' Media Metrics: The True State of the Modern Media Marketplace.' The authors are the PFF's Adam Thierer and Grant Eskelsen."
  "The bulk of the report is devoted to listing, describing, and quantifying various media."
  "'We have more media choice, more media competition, and more media diversity. Indeed, after evaluating the metrics and evidence presented in this report, an unmistakable conclusion emerges: To the extent there was ever a "golden age" of media in America, we are living in it today.'"
  "But, they argue that part of the problem for many media is that they remain 'subject to a wide variety of regulations -- ownership caps, market limitations, "localism" requirements, and other "public interest" mandates. These regulations limit the ability of media operators to respond to the rapidly changing market environment. If all market players were equally hobbled by regulation, perhaps this issue would be less problematic. But these rules are applied in a remarkably arbitrary fashion, with some sectors and firms (over-the-air broadcasters, in particular) being singled out for harsher regulatory treatment than others.'"
• "The Space Frontier Foundation - Formation of National Coalition for Cheap & Reliable Access to Space," Space Fellowship News, July 16, 2008
  "Berin Szoka, Visiting Fellow at the Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF), said: 'For fifteen years, PFF has promoted free market public policies related to technology and innovation and space policy is a natural extension of this mission. I am proud to join in developing a new policy paradigm for the commercial space revolution. Only a revolution in the cost of space access will unleash the full potential of private enterprise in space and make it possible to tap the vast economic potential of the solar system, thereby sustaining our declared national policy of extending human presence across the solar system.'"
• "DCIA Offers Best Practices for Inadvertent File-Sharing," Washington Internet Daily, July 15, 2008
  "The best practices are 'deja vu all over again,' the Progress and Freedom Foundation's Tom Sydnor told us. He authored an influential study of inadvertent file sharing as a Patent and Trademark Office adviser. The earlier P2P industry group, P2P United, devised requirements for membership when accidental sharing came to light around 2002, he said: 'Lo and behold, here we have a completely voluntary code of conduct that's supposedly going to fix the problem.'"
  "By focusing on user-originated files, the P2P industry is suggesting that copyright infringement is "not really the kind of thing you should worry about," Sydnor said. 'That makes the enterprise look a bit cynical,' leaving P2P users open to more infringement suits, he said."
  "Users won't be warned if they accidentally find child porn on the network, since those files aren't user-originated and won't be considered 'sensitive,' Sydnor said. 'The defense attorneys have begun to pick up on this,' claiming their clients aren't guilty of distributing child porn, a charge with higher penalties than possession, because it was inadvertent, he said."
• "FCC chief seeks action against Comcast," The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 12, 2008
  "'This is the foot in the door for big government to regulate the Internet,' said Adam Thierer, a senior fellow at the Progress and Freedom Foundation, a free-market think tank in Washington. 'This is the beginning of a serious regulatory regime. For the first time, the FCC is making law around net neutrality.'"
• "The FCC's Compromiser in Chief," The Washington Post, July 10, 2008
  "'He's guided more than anything by where the political winds are blowing and not by any particular philosophical view of anything,' said Ken Ferree, president of the Progress & Freedom Foundation, a conservative policy shop."
• "FCC Chief Martin: The Nation's Indecency Czar," The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 3, 2008
  "Adam Thierer, senior fellow at the Progress and Freedom Foundation, another think tank, said: 'There is no doubt in my mind that a big part of the battle over a la carte is social or cultural in nature, and not just economic.'"
• "Political Radio May Soon See Censorship," CBN News, July 2, 2008
  "'The problem with the fairness doctrine is the government is the one dictating what is quote unquote is "fair." And the problem with that is, it ends up becoming a very bureaucratic process to regulate speech and speech output according to who's in power,' said Adam Thierer of the conservative Progress and Freedom Foundation."
• "Making-Available Not the Issue in Thomas P2P Trial, RIAA Says," Washington Internet Daily, July 2, 2008
  "In a rehearing brief, defendant Thomas claims that amicus briefs filed by the MPAA and Progress & Freedom Foundation in support of the RIAA 'were authored by parties very closely related to plaintiffs herein.' Sony BMG and Universal Music Group are part of companies with film studios, making the RIAA an MPAA sibling, the brief said."

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