Paternity leave, the FTC, and George Carlin
Back on the job
BREAKING - As I was drafting this, the Supreme Court decided the Dobbs case, overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. Ever since fresh-from-computer science grad school-me encountered “substantive due process” I’ve thought it was a contorted (and overly selective) way to protect fundamental individual rights. I hope that the inevitable and painful turmoil created by today’s decision will quickly produce a stronger and more permanent legal basis to force government to recognize such rights.
Hello everyone! I am recently returned from paternity leave - my beautiful daughter Louisa is now a month old (and nicely chunky) and her big sister Alice is adjusting to schedule changes perhaps better than her parents. Email me if you want unbearably cute pictures.
A few quick summer Friday updates for everyone.
Event and a (FREE!) New Book on FTC Rulemaking
On Monday I will be participating in the day-long program on “The Rulemaking Authority of the FTC” put on by Concurrences and CCIA. The keynotes and panels are a who’s who of FTC experts, including former acting Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen, former FTC General Counsel Alden Abbot, former FTC Consumer Protection Bureau Chief Howard Beales, and many more.
The event not only will discuss the FTC’s authority, it also occasions the release of a book on that topic, edited by University of Michigan law professor Daniel A. Crane. The list of sixteen contributors is even more distinguished, if possible, than Monday’s lineup. I was fortunate enough to contribute a chapter. In my chapter, Case-by-Case Rules! Old Statutes and New Tech at the FTC, I compare how the FTC’s case-by-case enforcement and rulemaking tools deal with fast changing technology.
The book will be vital reading as the FTC ramps up its rulemaking machine. The book will be available FOR FREE at Monday’s event, which takes place starting at 8:45AM at the National Press Club. (The event will also be broadcast over Zoom, but you won’t get a copy of the book!) Register now.
George Carlin - 50 years later
My Stand Together colleague Casey Mattox and I marked the 50th anniversary of George Carlin’s famous ‘7 Words You Can’t Say on Television’ bit with an op ed in Real Clear Policy. We note that technology has routed around the powerful gatekeepers that Carlin was mocking, and that new threats to speech are primarily cultural or internal. As we note:
Social media has made it possible for everyone to say what they think and defend their ideas in writing, through spoken word, or on video. Never has an individual – regardless of their wealth or position – been able to speak so freely and build a global audience for their views. To be sure, the fact that the old gatekeepers at the FCC and legacy media have lost much of their power as technology has provided new options doesn’t mean that free expression is without challenge. But these days, the challenge to free expression comes more from ourselves.
Increasingly, Americans are self-censoring, holding back from sharing their views – not because of threats from the state – but for fear of social or professional risks. About 40 percent of Americans today report self-censorship. This figure is particularly astounding when compared to the 1950s during McCarthyism when only 13 percent of Americans reported self-censorship.
Read the whole piece here.