Daniel R. Ballon
Business & Economics
Tech Titans or Political Pinatas: How Global Antitrust Laws String Up, Beat Down, and Hold Back America’s Leading Innovators
America’s leading tech companies are increasingly under fire from antitrust laws that are being used to crush competition, according to a new report by the Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank based in California. Tech Titans or Political Piñatas: How Global Antitrust Laws Spring Up, Beat Down, and Hold ...
Business & Economics
California’s E-Waste Waste
The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, found that California’s Electronic Waste Recycling Act (EWRA) is a waste of taxpayer dollars. In Fiscal Year 2007-2008, less than half of the facilities audited were in complete compliance with program rules, and the state has identified the ...
Business & Economics
Is San Francisco’s “Open Season” on Data a Model for State Government?
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom last month launched DataSF.org, a new web site designed to improve transparency by disclosing information about city government. Giving residents unfettered access to data such as crime statistics, restaurant inspection records, and public works projects demonstrates a strong commitment to open government, but will it ...
Business & Economics
Will a California-Style Texting Ban Make the Nation Safer?
Four Senate Democrats last week introduced the Avoiding Life-Endangering and Reckless Texting by Drivers (ALERT) which bans text messaging while driving in all 50 states. Lead sponsor Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) believes that “drivers will finally be held responsible for dangerous behavior that puts the public at risk.” ALERT is ...
Business & Economics
Governor Schwarzenegger Takes a Stand for Tech
Last week Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed a budget measure that would have cut off the livelihood of thousands of California’s small Internet businesses. As the state faces a $26 billion budget deficit and record high unemployment, Schwarzenegger declared that “we should be doing everything we can to keep jobs and create ...
Business & Economics
Click Confidential: A Privacy Primer for the Social Web
Click Confidential: A Privacy Primer for the Social Web, authored by Daniel Ballon, Ph.D., PRI senior fellow in technology studies, outlines the detrimental affects of government regulated privacy policy on emerging online businesses. He also provides effective strategies for empowering consumers while promoting choice and competition. Dr. Ballon writes, “The ...
Business & Economics
California’s Textbook Case
Governor Schwarzenegger last month announced a first-in-the-nation plan to offer free digital math and science textbooks for high school students. Facing a $24 billion budget deficit, the governor touts the need for “such innovative ways to save money and improve services.” Shifting the curriculum online might help reduce the state’s ...
Fossil Fuels
California’s CARBon Conjecture
SAN FRANCISCO — The California Air Resources Board (CARB) last week passed the world’s first low carbon mandate for transportation fuels. Instead of treating all fuels equally, these regulations continue the state’s reliance on dubious science to pick winners and losers in the rapidly evolving and extremely complex market for ...
Business & Economics
Patent system exploited
A federal agency on Friday barred the second-largest supplier of high-definition televisions in North America from selling its products in the United States. This action reveals a patent system badly in need of reform. The U.S. International Trade Commission punished Irvine’s Vizio for infringing on a competitor’s patent, even though ...
Business & Economics
Why Legislators Target California’s High-Tech Innovators
The California Assembly will soon consider proposals to “protect” residents from two of Silicon Valley’s most successful innovators. Google and Facebook help form the backbone of the state’s high-tech economy, but some lawmakers see them as a threat to privacy and security. AB 255 would censor Google’s popular online mapping ...
Tech Titans or Political Pinatas: How Global Antitrust Laws String Up, Beat Down, and Hold Back America’s Leading Innovators
America’s leading tech companies are increasingly under fire from antitrust laws that are being used to crush competition, according to a new report by the Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank based in California. Tech Titans or Political Piñatas: How Global Antitrust Laws Spring Up, Beat Down, and Hold ...
California’s E-Waste Waste
The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, found that California’s Electronic Waste Recycling Act (EWRA) is a waste of taxpayer dollars. In Fiscal Year 2007-2008, less than half of the facilities audited were in complete compliance with program rules, and the state has identified the ...
Is San Francisco’s “Open Season” on Data a Model for State Government?
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom last month launched DataSF.org, a new web site designed to improve transparency by disclosing information about city government. Giving residents unfettered access to data such as crime statistics, restaurant inspection records, and public works projects demonstrates a strong commitment to open government, but will it ...
Will a California-Style Texting Ban Make the Nation Safer?
Four Senate Democrats last week introduced the Avoiding Life-Endangering and Reckless Texting by Drivers (ALERT) which bans text messaging while driving in all 50 states. Lead sponsor Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) believes that “drivers will finally be held responsible for dangerous behavior that puts the public at risk.” ALERT is ...
Governor Schwarzenegger Takes a Stand for Tech
Last week Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed a budget measure that would have cut off the livelihood of thousands of California’s small Internet businesses. As the state faces a $26 billion budget deficit and record high unemployment, Schwarzenegger declared that “we should be doing everything we can to keep jobs and create ...
Click Confidential: A Privacy Primer for the Social Web
Click Confidential: A Privacy Primer for the Social Web, authored by Daniel Ballon, Ph.D., PRI senior fellow in technology studies, outlines the detrimental affects of government regulated privacy policy on emerging online businesses. He also provides effective strategies for empowering consumers while promoting choice and competition. Dr. Ballon writes, “The ...
California’s Textbook Case
Governor Schwarzenegger last month announced a first-in-the-nation plan to offer free digital math and science textbooks for high school students. Facing a $24 billion budget deficit, the governor touts the need for “such innovative ways to save money and improve services.” Shifting the curriculum online might help reduce the state’s ...
California’s CARBon Conjecture
SAN FRANCISCO — The California Air Resources Board (CARB) last week passed the world’s first low carbon mandate for transportation fuels. Instead of treating all fuels equally, these regulations continue the state’s reliance on dubious science to pick winners and losers in the rapidly evolving and extremely complex market for ...
Patent system exploited
A federal agency on Friday barred the second-largest supplier of high-definition televisions in North America from selling its products in the United States. This action reveals a patent system badly in need of reform. The U.S. International Trade Commission punished Irvine’s Vizio for infringing on a competitor’s patent, even though ...
Why Legislators Target California’s High-Tech Innovators
The California Assembly will soon consider proposals to “protect” residents from two of Silicon Valley’s most successful innovators. Google and Facebook help form the backbone of the state’s high-tech economy, but some lawmakers see them as a threat to privacy and security. AB 255 would censor Google’s popular online mapping ...
