Author Archives: Timothy B Lee

An oft-repeated criticism of the Citizens United decision is that the protections enumerated in the Bill of Rights apply to individuals, not corporations. This is an argument that seems plausible on first glance, but as Julian nicely illustrates, it falls … Continue reading →

I’ve updated my disclosure statement, which now includes all sources of income through the end of 2009. The only significant change is the addition of an honorarium I received from a firm called “Qualitative Insights” for participating last month in … Continue reading →

The Supreme Court handed down its decision in Citizens United v. FEC, a case that considered whether the FEC could regulate the publication of a movie critical of Hillary Clinton via a video-on-demand service. My celebratory tweeting attracted skeptical responses … Continue reading →

My friends Jerry and Cord have launched a new website that’s worth checking out if you’re at all involved with the creation or maintenance of websites—and these days that’s a lot of us. The site, called ReadyMadeWeb, keeps you up-to-date … Continue reading →

Back in October, I praised a Kerry Howley essay for Reason in which she criticized libertarians who focus exclusively on threats to liberty that originate with the state. And I pointed to the free software movement as an example of … Continue reading →

More US taxpayer money being spent to prevent Haitians from escaping Haiti: Every day, a United States Air Force cargo plane specially equipped with radio transmitters flies for five hours over the devastated country, broadcasting news and a recorded message … Continue reading →

My brother was in Haiti when the Earthquake struck. He was lucky to be on a building that didn’t collapse, and so he wasn’t injured. He spent the next several days helping dig people out from under the rubble, assisting … Continue reading →

Over at the New York Times “Room for Debate” blog, I discuss whether Google can help defeat Chinese censorship: Google can also help by embedding privacy-preserving and censorship- circumventing technologies more deeply into its existing products. Its recent decision to … Continue reading →

Google made a surprising announcement on Tuesday that it is considering pulling out of China in the wake of a sophisticated attack on its infrastructure. One aspect of Google’s post that hasn’t received a lot of attention is Google’s statement … Continue reading →

This is the season for end-of-the-decade roundups, and the tone has been glum. I’m inclined to agree with Reihan Salam’s contrarian take: we shouldn’t let the obvious negative trends blind us to positive trends that are subtler but may be … Continue reading →