Blog

Innovation and Antitrust: Learning from Past Government Antitrust Enforcement Actions

September 16, 2022 | Jonathon Hauenschild

As Congress returns from the August and Labor Day recess, competition policies may be high on the priority list, with Sen. Klobuchar reintroducing the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act and likely lobbying Sen. Chuck Schumer for a vote on her American Innovation and Choice Online Act. Before considering legislation, though, Congress should take a close

September 8, 2022 | Jonathon Hauenschild

With the Federal Trade Commission’s recent effort to block the merger between Meta and fitness app developer Within, the Democratic leadership of the FTC is showing its preference for playing politics rather than protecting consumers. The Commission argues that the merger would give Meta a dominant position in the market for “dedicated VR fitness apps.”

August 29, 2022 | Robert Bellafiore

Last week, Senior Fellow Geoff Cain joined Prolegis on its podcast, the Congressional Record, to discuss the policy concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection and storage, and what Congress might do in response. Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, or Spotify.

Antitrust Reform After AICOA

August 22, 2022 | Luke Hogg

Despite months of pressure on leadership to bring antitrust legislation to the floor, the Senate left town for the August recess without voting on the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA). While Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has stated that AICOA could still receive a vote this fall, Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s signature effort to rein

Lincoln Network Q2 2022 Update

August 9, 2022 | Zach Graves

Dear friend of Lincoln: I’d like to share with you some of our team’s recent activities, including new research from Lincoln Policy, project updates from Lincoln Studio, and other developments across Lincoln Network. In April, we welcomed two new members to our board of directors: Michael Solana, Vice President at Founders Fund, and Laurent Crenshaw, Global Head of Policy

August 1, 2022 | Luke Hogg

With the battle over the ownership of Twitter making its way into the courtroom, conservatives’ hopes that tech magnate Elon Musk would swoop in and solve the quagmire of free speech online have been put in jeopardy. As members of Congress debate legislation that fails to address conservatives’ core concerns, it is time for lawmakers

Lincoln Welcomes New Fellow

July 18, 2022 | Zach Graves

Lincoln Network is thrilled to announce the appointment of Jessica Seale as a nonresident fellow. In this position, she will contribute to Lincoln’s work on congressional modernization. Jessica’s experience in the federal government makes her a perfect addition to Lincoln’s policy team. She previously led technology design and implementation for the Paycheck Protection Program at

June 27, 2022 | Deepesh Chaudhari

Note: The author previously submitted an anonymous comment to NIST. This blog post summarizes material from that comment. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)’s recent initial draft of its AI Risk Management Framework (AI RMF) provides an important reminder for the future of AI: advances in artificial intelligence have the potential to provide

We’re Hiring: Operations Manager

June 22, 2022 | Grace Meyer

To apply, answer a few questions and submit your resume and cover letter here: https://form.typeform.com/to/P01ufl4V The Operations Manager will work closely with Lincoln Network’s Head of Development and COO and will be responsible for assisting with donor relations, event planning/promotions, and operations support; as well as other administrative tasks as needed. This is a full-time

Don’t Rush a Bad Bill

June 17, 2022 | Luke Hogg

Democrats’ poorly-drafted antitrust bill will do little for Republicans, and its consumer backlash will undermine future legislative efforts Republicans and Democrats alike have grown increasingly mistrustful of large online platforms in recent years. But the basis for this mistrust comes from two conflicting lines of thinking. Whereas Democrats are primarily concerned with market power and

June 15, 2022 | Dan Lips

The Department of Education recently reported that public schools spent on average more than $15,000 per student as of 2019. But Americans continue to estimate that public schools spend much less. A May survey commissioned by EdChoice found that Americans think public schools are spending roughly $5,000 per child. Colyn Ritter has the details: Parents

Lincoln Welcomes New Senior Fellows

May 23, 2022 | Zach Graves

Lincoln Network is thrilled to announce the appointment of two nonresident senior fellows: Jon Askonas and Richard Reisman. Each brings a wealth of policy expertise, augmenting Lincoln’s growing roster of experts. RICHARD REISMAN Richard Reisman is a nonresident senior fellow at Lincoln Network. Richard is an independent media-tech innovator and frequent contributor to Tech Policy Press, who blogs on

May 9, 2022 | Luke Hogg

For decades, immigration reform has been a white whale for Congress. Despite bipartisan legislative efforts, executive branch buy-in, and broad agreement that the current system is broken, immigration reform legislation has proven elusive. Now that a bipartisan group of Senators has once again begun legislative discussions on the topic, there may soon be opportunities to

Lincoln Studio Launches BIPBounty.org

May 5, 2022 | Brandon Detweiler

Lincoln Studio is proud to announce the launch of BIPBounty.org, a new project to support the open source development of Bitcoin. This new project incentivizes the research development and vetting of Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs) by creating a system for crowdsourcing tax-deductible bug bounties and distributing them to bounty winners. Lincoln Network has partnered with

April 27, 2022 | Luke Hogg

As if like clockwork, the beginning of campaign season means that immigration is once again taking center stage in Washington. Amidst record breaking migration at the southern border and President Biden’s decision to end the Title 42 public health order, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, have been thrust back

How (Not) to Waste A Crisis

April 21, 2022 | Evan Swarztrauber

In 2008, with the economy in free-fall, then-chief of staff to president-elect Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel, told the Wall Street Journal, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.” The line has become

April 11, 2022 | Zach Graves

Lincoln Network is excited to announce two new members of its board of directors starting in May: Mike Solana, vice president at Founders Fund; and Laurent Crenshaw, global head of policy at Patreon. Mike Solana Mike is a vice president at Founders Fund focused on community and brand. He runs creative programming including Symposium (F50),

April 11, 2022 | Zach Graves

Lincoln Network is thrilled to announce the appointment of two nonresident senior fellows: Roslyn Layton and Jimmy Soni. Each brings a wealth of expertise in tech and innovation and policy, augmenting Lincoln’s growing roster of experts. Roslyn Layton Roslyn Layton, PhD is an international technology expert who explains the economics, security, and geopolitics of broadband

Lincoln’s voice

March 23, 2022 | Zach Graves

Dear friend of Lincoln: I wanted to share a brief note to update you about how our approach to policy is evolving. When I started Lincoln’s policy team in 2018, it was a team of one. Even when we expanded a little, it didn’t make sense at the time to differentiate our individual views from

March 22, 2022 | Luke Hogg

With little chance of passage, are progressives attacking or feinting moderates? Over the past few years, lawmakers have considered tightening rules around mergers and acquisitions (M&As) as a way to rein in Big Tech’s bigness. Last week, in a rather unexpected move, progressives in Congress unveiled their counter to previous antitrust legislation. The bicameral Prohibiting

March 3, 2022 | Luke Hogg

Earlier this week, Antonio García Martínez sat down with Saurabh Sharma and Nick Solheim of American Moment to discuss the early days of Facebook, the invention of ad-targeting, and what’s in store for the future internet, cryptocurrencies, and nation-states. Learn more about Antonio and his work here, and check out American Moment on their website

February 22, 2022 | Luke Hogg

In a rather unusual move, the Committee on House Administration (CHA) — whose primary jurisdiction is oversight and “the day-to-day operations of the House of Representatives” — recently held a hearing to discuss data privacy. While the first tranche of witness testimony was centered around the Government Publishing Office’s treatment of personally identifiable information, the

February 11, 2022 | Geoff Cain

At one time, the chipset cemented America’s position as a preeminent technological power. From the 1950s to 1970s, the US government and semiconductor companies like Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel worked together to turn America into the world’s biggest manufacturer of semiconductors. Semiconductors were the technological foundation of the Apollo missions, the first heat-seeking missiles and

Policy Update for October-December 2021

February 2, 2022 | Dan Lips

Re: Lincoln Policy Team Activities for Q4 2021 Dear friend of Lincoln: As 2021 comes to a close, I’d like to share with you some of our policy team’s recent work, covering a range of issues from tech regulation, improving government accountability, and modernizing governance. Lincoln Network co-founder and chairman Garrett Johnson announced our new

January 31, 2022 | Luke Hogg

Following months of disagreement between federal regulators on 5G rollout in the C-Band, Congress has finally decided to step in. On February 3rd, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure will hold a hearing to examine 5G deployment and aviation safety. Last November, I argued that this dispute was a prime area for Congress to

January 21, 2022 | Dan Lips

Empowering members to engage in bipartisan fact-finding has the potential to reinvigorate Congress’s oversight authority under the Constitution Summary Since 2019, the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress has developed a successful track record of passing bipartisan recommendations that are resulting in real changes to improve the way that Congress works. An October

January 20, 2022 | Luke Hogg

The long awaited 5G rollout was once again delayed Wednesday due to ongoing disagreement between the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over potential spectrum interference. Two weeks ago, it appeared that the disagreement had been resolved. But a last minute push by the airline industry to block the plan forced

Announcing the Inaugural FACET Cohort

January 12, 2022 | Zach Graves

We are excited to announce two new members of the Lincoln Network team through our Fellowship on Advancing Critical Emerging Technologies (FACET). The two full-time Senior Fellows in the FACET program will be based in Washington, DC, and work closely with our team to translate academic ideas into actionable policies that advance American innovation. The

January 5, 2022 | Luke Hogg

The Senate Banking Committee met late last year to discuss stablecoins. Among others, Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) voiced strong criticisms of stablecoins and decentralized finance (DeFi). Few likely expected the hearing to yield concrete policy proposals. That was until Ranking Member Pat Toomey’s (R-Pa.) opening remarks. A noted advocate for

January 4, 2022 | Lars Schönander

The United States Senate does not maintain a centralized repository for information about its committee proceedings that includes links to the videos. Our new website, https://www.senatecommitteehearings.com/, is our effort to address this issue and surface video from committee proceedings. Background The Senate publishes basic information about all upcoming meetings on this webpage. It is only

December 12, 2021 | Garrett Johnson

The new year is a time for new beginnings, and that’s especially true here at Lincoln Network as we start 2022. I will be moving into a non-executive leadership role as chairman of the board of directors, where I will be joined by my co-founder Aaron Ginn. This will allow us to remain involved in shaping Lincoln’s

December 8, 2021 | Dan Lips

The House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress is building a track record of bipartisan success with nearly two-thirds of its recommendations from the 116th Congress being enacted to date. On Wednesday, the Select Committee passed its latest series of recommendations–including several proposals that would reform the way that Congress works with the Government

November 23, 2021 | Brandon Detweiler

Due to lack of clarity on regulations from the SEC, and not being publicly open and supportive of the innovation happening in the crypto space (especially DeFi) the US is already missing the opportunity to advance what America has always been…the country where entrepreneurship, innovation, and advancement overflow and the GO-TO place for the greatest inventors, technologists, and innovators from around the world, bringing ever growing prosperity to all. It’s time to stop trying to apply laws that are almost 100 years old and embrace the future.

November 19, 2021 | Luke Hogg

A new interagency report from the President’s Working Group (PWG) on Financial Markets regarding stablecoins was intended to provide policymakers a clear path forward in handling this fledgling industry. Instead, it raises more questions than it answers. The report does an excellent job of laying out the benefits and risks of stablecoins to financial markets

November 17, 2021 | Luke Hogg

A disagreement between the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on spectrum interference has hit a wall leaving plans to roll out a 5G frequency band in limbo. Wireless carriers had originally planned to begin rollout of 5G services on December 5th, but agreed to a one month delay as the FAA

November 16, 2021 | Dan Lips

But Congress’s watchdog has the potential to do more to make government work better The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its annual Performance and Accountability report this week. The Comptroller General reported that the Congressional Watchdog agency’s work resulted in “about $66.2 billion in financial benefits—a return of about $93 for every dollar invested in

A Review of Industrial Policy Books

November 16, 2021 | Lars Schönander

Below you can find part of our review of the literature on industrial strategy, developmental states, and innovation policy. The list of essays and texts ranges from more academic works to historical overviews of countries that succeeded in economic development. Hopefully these works can provide a starting point for others interested in learning about industrial

November 10, 2021 | Zach Graves

WASHINGTON (Nov. 10, 2021) – Lincoln Network is excited to announce the hiring of Antonio García Martínez as senior fellow on its policy team. In this role, he will focus on the intersection of technology, media, and digital free expression. Antonio brings a wealth of experience to Lincoln, having been the founder of a YC-backed

November 8, 2021 | Luke Hogg

But would blocking M&As starve the Big Tech beast, or hamstring their future competitors by weakening the startup ecosystem? Last Thursday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Min.) — Chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights — introduced new legislation targeting Big Tech companies’ ability to engage in mergers and acquisitions (M&As). This

October 27, 2021 | Luke Hogg

Innovative and disruptive technologies are often confusing by their very nature. Without some prior frame of reference, understanding whether and how to regulate these technologies can be even more challenging. Nowhere is this phenomenon more clear than with cryptocurrency and other digitally native financial assets. A new high level policy proposal from one of the