Rick Kelly, in this article on TechCrunch, takes techno-centric paranoia to the next level when he fires away at legislation nobody has yet proposed to regulate future possible applications of 3D printers. Strangely, Kelly cites some of the very serious potential hazards — like the ability to make a functioning firearm! — with this technology but proceeds to dismiss any ...

During the SOPA battle, I continually tried to argue that it was fine to distrust media conglomerates but that it was not rational to simultaneously turn a blind eye to the political influence of Silicon Valley. Last week, a handful of Democratic representatives sent a letter to the DNC requesting a new plank in the party platform.  The language was ...

This is a piece I wrote as a guest post for The Copyright Alliance. It got the folks over at TechDirt into a lather, but I suspect that’s because it wasn’t read or read very carefully by most of them.   Not only have Copyright and Free Speech coexisted peacefully for the entire history of the Republic, but I would ...

In late January, Justice Scalia drew the ire of Democrats and civil libertarians when he said the following about the flood of soft-money, political ads flowing from the 2010 decision in Citizens United v FEC:  “I don’t care who is doing the speech — the more the merrier.  People are not stupid.  If they don’t like it, they’ll shut it off.”  ...

It is no overstatement to say that we live in volatile times bordering on revolutionary.  It is only natural, therefore, to revere whatever is new, young, and iconoclastic, particularly when a vanguard of upstart techies provide us with the tools to expand our democratic power to stick it to The Man.  I am grateful to live in a time when ...

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