Rob Atkinson argues anti-RFID privacy advocates should spend less time creating paper tigers out of RFIDs and focus on the enormous societal gains that are being achieved through RFID technology.

As Congress considers whether to provide emergency assistance to the Big Three automakers, a number of advocates have called for tying such aid to significant reforms by the automakers. In a Washington Times op-ed Rob Atkinson and Mark Cooper argue that Congress should tie any aid to automakers to preemption of anti-consumer state auto dealer franchise law, including laws that prohibit auto manufactures from selling directly to consumers over the Internet. In doing so, Congress can not only help the Big Three but bring down the cost of vehicles for consumers as well.

ITIF President Rob Atkinson discusses privacy in the digital era at Congressional Quarterly’s Forum on Technology.

There has been perhaps no profession that has more aggressively sought to fend off e-commerce competition than optometry. The American Optometric Association journal Optometry has now published a study that purports to find that contact lens patients are more at risk when buying lenses online. This ITIF report analyzes the study and finds that not only is the study fraught with flaws in much of the methodology, but many of the implications suggested by the authors are either over-reaching in their scope, fallacious in their reasoning, or silent in refuting equally plausible alternative explanations.

Recently, a Pennsylvanian couple sued Google for publishing photos of their home on Google Maps. This lawsuit highlights the argument made by privacy advocates that technologies like Google Street View are invasive and inappropriate. In this WebMemo, ITIF Senior Analyst Daniel Castro argues that not only are these privacy fears unfounded, but if we were to accept the position of these privacy advocates, we would have to ban a whole host of modern technologies.

In a new 3-part series, PBS explores how nanotechnology will change our world. Part 1, “Watching You, You Watching Me” taped at the Museum of Science, Boston, features a panel discussion moderated by John Hockenberry, Emmy and Peabody winning correspondent, NPR and NBC News, and including Rob Atkinson, President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

Article by Rob Atkinson in CIO Magazine about how CIOs should respond to the challenges posed by those who oppose the implementation of new technologies like RFID.

Article in CIO Magazine by Robert Atkinson addressing IT opponents.

Presentation by Rob Atkinson at the 2006 Biometric Consortium Conference in Baltimore, MD. The presentation discusses the messages and tactics biometric opponents use and what biometric proponents need to do to counter the detractors.

An increasing share of consumers purchase contact lenses online, enjoying considerable savings. But if optometrists, working with contact lens manufacturers, have their way, few consumers will be able to do so because optometrists are increasingly prescribing doctors’-only lenses that patients cannot buy online. ITIF President Rob Atkinson argues that private restraints instigated by manufacturers on behalf of optometrists to limit the online sale of contact lenses are anti-competitive and anti-consumer, and that government should step in to address this market abuse.

Because online legal services are a direct threat to revenues, the legal industry has used its regulatory power to thwart the emergence of these cheaper and more convenient online legal offerings. Attorney James Johnston and ITIF president Rob Atkinson argue that policy makers should encourage the development of online legal services, and specifically that offering advice or preparing legal documents online should not be deemed the practice of law if the consumer does not expect to establish an attorney/client relationship with the online service.

On May 4th, ITIF President Rob Atkinson debated radio frequency identification (RFID) foe Katherine Albrecht at the 16th Annual Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference.