Bartlett Cleland
Blog
What a Web AG Bonta Weaves
With good reason, we are encouraged to understand history, but for some, perhaps, the temptation to repeat past mistakes is just too great. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato described sophists, paid philosophers often involved in public works, as those who twisted words and truth to win arguments. According to the ...
Blog
In 2022, Will Lawmakers, Courts Respect Freedom of Californians to Work as they Choose?
Just before the pandemic struck, a new law infected California. Known as AB 5, the law upended 30 years of the freedom for people to work as independent contractors and reclassified millions as employees. The worst of legislative hubris, the law was unprincipled, exempting the politically-well-connected and clearly targeting certain ...
Blog
The Once and Future “Net Neutrality”
Late last month the Biden Administration finally got around to nominating a new commissioner to the Federal Communications Commission to replace Chairman Ajit Pai, who left the FCC at the beginning of the year. Also nominated was a current commissioner, Jessica Rosenworcel, for another term and also to become the ...
Blog
Analyzing the Biden Administration’s Tech and Innovation Policy Agenda
While it took a couple months for clarity to replace idle speculation, the Biden administration’s tech and innovation public policy agenda is increasingly clear. The forecast? Government with little chance of free markets. At his recent address to Congress President Biden highlighted “technologies of the future” as a place where ...
Blog
Californians Reverse the State’s Legislature Providing a Fighting Chance for Innovation
Last month, Californians may very well have begun the process of saving their state, reversing a move by the state legislature. They voted by a large margin via Proposition 22 to preserve the ability of people to pursue flexible working arrangements if they so choose. In September 2019, the California ...
Blog
Populist Politicians Meet Antitrust Cancel Culture
The ill-winds of populism are again blowing across the American political landscape. This thin veneer of ideology only seeks to divide people, diving a wedge between “the people,” presented as the forces of good, against “the elite,” portrayed as evil. The most recent iteration of this divisive approach to politics ...
Blog
Prop 24: A Choice Between Expensive Ineffectiveness or a Prosperous Future
On November 3, Californians will be asked to make a what appears to be a simple decision, that is, would they like to increase their privacy? However, where Proposition 24, to enable the California Privacy Rights and Enforcement Act is concerned, appearances are deceiving. In 2018, seeking to address the ...
Agriculture
Big Government Won’t Improve Broadband in Rural California
Pick nearly any state in the union and likely it has a large swath of rural area and population. Even California, which is rarely thought of as a “rural state,” is still physically more than half rural, with about four million residents living in those areas. Many assume they know ...
Blog
Instead of Fining Businesses Government Should Get Its Own House in Order
Last month the state of California began enforcing its expensive and heavy-handed new business privacy laws despite the economic burdens already borne by business because of COVID-19 and the government’s shut down of the economy. At $55 billion in compliance costs with the threat of millions more in penalties and ...
California
California Doubles Down on Unworkable Data Privacy Law During Second COVID Shutdown
Businesses were ordered to close. Schools were shuttered. People were told to stay home. Many believed that in a week or two life for the most part would return to normal and that COVID would be a bad memory. Now, four months later, California has not just halted reopening but ...
What a Web AG Bonta Weaves
With good reason, we are encouraged to understand history, but for some, perhaps, the temptation to repeat past mistakes is just too great. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato described sophists, paid philosophers often involved in public works, as those who twisted words and truth to win arguments. According to the ...
In 2022, Will Lawmakers, Courts Respect Freedom of Californians to Work as they Choose?
Just before the pandemic struck, a new law infected California. Known as AB 5, the law upended 30 years of the freedom for people to work as independent contractors and reclassified millions as employees. The worst of legislative hubris, the law was unprincipled, exempting the politically-well-connected and clearly targeting certain ...
The Once and Future “Net Neutrality”
Late last month the Biden Administration finally got around to nominating a new commissioner to the Federal Communications Commission to replace Chairman Ajit Pai, who left the FCC at the beginning of the year. Also nominated was a current commissioner, Jessica Rosenworcel, for another term and also to become the ...
Analyzing the Biden Administration’s Tech and Innovation Policy Agenda
While it took a couple months for clarity to replace idle speculation, the Biden administration’s tech and innovation public policy agenda is increasingly clear. The forecast? Government with little chance of free markets. At his recent address to Congress President Biden highlighted “technologies of the future” as a place where ...
Californians Reverse the State’s Legislature Providing a Fighting Chance for Innovation
Last month, Californians may very well have begun the process of saving their state, reversing a move by the state legislature. They voted by a large margin via Proposition 22 to preserve the ability of people to pursue flexible working arrangements if they so choose. In September 2019, the California ...
Populist Politicians Meet Antitrust Cancel Culture
The ill-winds of populism are again blowing across the American political landscape. This thin veneer of ideology only seeks to divide people, diving a wedge between “the people,” presented as the forces of good, against “the elite,” portrayed as evil. The most recent iteration of this divisive approach to politics ...
Prop 24: A Choice Between Expensive Ineffectiveness or a Prosperous Future
On November 3, Californians will be asked to make a what appears to be a simple decision, that is, would they like to increase their privacy? However, where Proposition 24, to enable the California Privacy Rights and Enforcement Act is concerned, appearances are deceiving. In 2018, seeking to address the ...
Big Government Won’t Improve Broadband in Rural California
Pick nearly any state in the union and likely it has a large swath of rural area and population. Even California, which is rarely thought of as a “rural state,” is still physically more than half rural, with about four million residents living in those areas. Many assume they know ...
Instead of Fining Businesses Government Should Get Its Own House in Order
Last month the state of California began enforcing its expensive and heavy-handed new business privacy laws despite the economic burdens already borne by business because of COVID-19 and the government’s shut down of the economy. At $55 billion in compliance costs with the threat of millions more in penalties and ...
California Doubles Down on Unworkable Data Privacy Law During Second COVID Shutdown
Businesses were ordered to close. Schools were shuttered. People were told to stay home. Many believed that in a week or two life for the most part would return to normal and that COVID would be a bad memory. Now, four months later, California has not just halted reopening but ...
