Progress and Freedom Foundation Closes Doors

The Progress and Freedom Foundation, a free market and free speech think tank, has closed its doors.

According to
Adam Thierer, President and Director, Center for Digital Media Freedom,
the ranks had recently dwindled to six employees.

"Basically I
am walking out the door in an hour and I am the last man out," He
told B&C midafternoon Thursday. "Everyone else was terminated or
resigned over the past couple of weeks."

"We just no longer have the resources to make ends meet. We can't be a think tank without somebody paying the bills," Thierer added.

PFF was
founded in 1993. Its charter most recently has been as a
"market-oriented think tank that studies the digital revolution and its
implications
for public policy." For example, just two weeks ago it filed an amicus
brief at the Supreme Court "urging the Court to protect the free speech
rights of videogame creators."

Thierer has
been a familiar face at Hill hearings, including weighing in on network
neutrality and mergers. He has also been a staunch defender of
the First Amendment and written extensively about issues from privacy
to Title II.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.