Cato Institute lights a fire

Adam Thierer, director of the Cato Institute's telecommunications studies division, has written a screed entitled "Howard Dean's Plan for the Internet: Collectivism In, Property Rights Out." In it Thierer lambasts not just Dean but Lawrence Lessig, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, and anyone else questioning the commercialization of the Internet and intellectual property in general. That provoked bitter rejoinders from the likes of David Weinberger ("Inept Cato Analysis of Dean Net Policy"), David Isenberg ("Adam Thierer's latest blast - incompetent or dishonest?"), Howard Reingold ("Cato can't distinguish collectivism from collective action ") and Lessig ("Cato'$ Late$t"). We won't add our two cents, except to note that this is one of the hottest online policy debates we've seen in quite a while.