This week, the Consumer Choice Center submitted comments to the Federal Communications Commission on its proposal to reconfigure parts of the 900 MHz band, opposing the effort that would end up granting exclusive use for one specific company. The lower end of the 900 MHz band is popular with open-source radio projects, amateur radio operations, and next-level drone and spectrum technologies, and has remained free…
The commodification of lawsuit funding is a somewhat ingenious concept that may indeed help smaller companies win their day in court, but it also opens the door to even more bad faith participation in the justice system. That’s why this industry needs a second look, and needs some guardrails to ensure consumers don’t end up facing higher prices because every company on the market is…
Artificial intelligence may be all the rage in the business world, but to the feds, AI-enabled algorithms are being cast as the main villain behind skyrocketing housing costs in this country. Last month, the Department of Justice joined the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington to sue RealPage, blaming the software company’s property data services for rising rents nationwide….
In every gas station and convenience store, a new category of addictive products is flying off shelves. This new thorn in the side of public health advocates is tobacco nicotine pouches. These pouches are made of wood pulp and salt, filled with nicotine, and flavors placed under the upper lip to give the user a buzzing sensation. What do we make of this new nicotine…
As the 2024 election grinds on, you’ll hear a lot more about the online betting markets which have become all the rage amongst politicos and statisticians. These days, you can bet on election outcomes and even the weather. But should you be able to gamble on courtroom verdicts? That is essentially what’s happening within a new trend of litigation finance by third parties, where outsiders not directly involved in lawsuits…
This week I was invited on The Progressive Bitcoiner podcast to discuss the latest proposals for a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve with Pierre Rochard of Riot and the podcast host Trey Walsh. I had a great time, and hope you listen and provide your reactions. In this episode we explore the debate around a potential US Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, including legislation introduced by Representative Cynthia Lummis, discussing its…
Yesterday, hours before American entrepreneur Elon Musk sat down with former President Donald Trump on a live “X space,” EU Commissioner Thierry Breton fired off a snarky letter to “remind” Musk of his obligations to the European Union’s Digital Services Act. As of publication, this X post has garnered over 67 million views, 15,000 retweets, and over 72,000 direct replies, resulting in one of the…
In a protracted eight-year-long legal battle, lawsuits against pharmaceutical and beauty giant Johnson & Johnson seem to be finally coming to a resolution. These cases have been some of the largest and most expensive in recent history and are providing memorable lessons for companies, consumers, and legal firms as to how massive claims can be best adjudicated to render justice. LTL Management, J&J’s Texas-based subsidiary, is being pursued for…
Supreme Coourt’s Administrative State Ruling a Setback for SEC, FTC A slew of recent opinions issued from the bench of the United States Supreme Court have given American consumers a handful of underreported victories. Now unshackled from “Chevron deference” thanks to the majority opinion in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, courts will return to evaluating cases based on direct statutes issued by Congress, rather than deferring to agency bureaucrats…
A recent hack of Evolve Bank and Trust shows the unintended consequence of excessive Know Your Customer and anti-money-laundering laws. One of the most consequential bank hacks of the last few years was just revealed to the public. In a post uploaded to its website two weeks ago, the Arkansas-based Evolve Bank and Trust informed its customers that a “cybersecurity incident” involving Russian ransomware group LockBit resulted…