Posts
Open-source is for everyone, even your adversaries
Last week, an investigation by Reuters revealed that Chinese researchers have been using open-source AI tools to build nefarious-sounding models that may have some military application. The reporting purports that adversaries in the Chinese Communist Party and its military wing are taking advantage of the liberal software licensing of American innovations in the AI space,…
What’s the best way to protect your financial privacy? Congress weighing legal options
“Something that we’ve lost as American consumers is financial privacy,” Yael Ossowski, Consumer Choice Center, told Channel 2 Action News. “Essentially, we have financial surveillance.” My comments on the Saving Privacy Act on WSB-TV and syndicated to various local TV markets.
Self-custody is Nonnegotiable
In the corridors of power in board rooms, lecture halls, and legislative chambers, Bitcoin is no longer an enigma resigned to just technology or economics enthusiasts. After a decade of gradual adoption, Bitcoin is an innovation invoked in political debates, presidential speeches, quarterly earnings reports, and is now the most recognized “crypto” by anyone with…
Lawfare is bleeding the economy
It’s perplexing that Australian policymakers would roll out the red carpet for those who oppose the resources sector — the very industry that drives and powers national prosperity. Why kneecap your own champions that fund your successful industry? The single most egregious example of this economic self-harm is so-called “lawfare”; the gaming of the legal…
Lina Khan’s Partisan Pivot Should Be the Beginning of Her End
Democratic candidates are crisscrossing the country to garner support before November’s elections. Joining campaign events alongside the likes of Senator Bernie Sanders, Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi will be an unlikely star and supposedly independent federal employee, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan. Khan is due to travel to Austin, Chicago, and Arizona…
Yaël Ossowski on Antitrust: Protect Innovation, Not Punish It
The Consumer Choice Center (CCC) was founded with a vision to lead consumer rights and promote freedom of choice in an increasingly regulated world. The spark that ignited this movement occurred when co-founder Fred Roeder, living in Berlin, witnessed a powerful clash between innovation and established industry players. As rideshare apps like Uber began to…
Johnson & Johnson’s ‘Texas Two Step’ Needs a Conclusion
One of the most followed corporate trials of the decade is drawing nearer to a close. Johnson & Johnson’s Red River Talc subsidiary in Texas filed a third time for bankruptcy in the Southern District of Texas while a majority of affected plaintiffs have indicated they wish to settle. With more than 75 percent of plaintiffs on board, this…
Consumers dudded by secret class action suits
We are no strangers to settling our problems in court. Indeed, it is a core function of citizens in free societies. Staffed by esteemed judges and sometimes juries, people who believe they’ve been wronged can take their claims before a neutral tribunal to plead their case in hopes of a positive outcome and settlement, whether…
FCC Comments to protect radio frequency for open-source projects and ham radio
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,…
Third-Party Litigation Finance: Chinese Interference with the US Judicial System?
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…