Timothy Sandefur begins The Permission Society—a runner-up for WORLD’s 2016 Book of the Year in the Understanding the World category—with this sentence: “Not having to ask for permission is one of the most essential parts of freedom.” His last chapter begins: “The basic principle of the Permission Society is that freedom is a privilege the government may give or take away as it sees fit.” In between, Sandefur shows how the United States has morphed from its founding ideal of inalienable rights to an oppo

Here is how work regulation works on me: If there is not enough of it, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do; if there is too much of it, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.

Massachusetts has taken the lead to improve background screening of ride-share drivers, setting what Gov. Charlie Baker calls a new “national standard.”

The law went into effect Jan. 6, requiring drivers for companies such as Uber and Lyft to pass the most stringent industry background checks in the United States, according to Massachusetts officials. The increased scrutiny comes amid growing concerns over passenger safety in the app-oriented transportation world, with Massachusetts’s most recent criminal incident occurring on Christmas Day. 

Starting Tuesday, the tens of millions of people around the world who use Airbnb, a home-sharing platform that has soared in popularity since its 2007 launch, must sign a new “Community Commitment” that forbids discrimination of any kind.