Posted on 11/24/2016 2:46:48 AM PST by markomalley
A top advisor to Donald Trump on tech policy matters proposed all but abolishing the nation's telecom regulator last month, foreshadowing possible moves by the president-elect to sharply reduce the Federal Communications Commission's role as a consumer protection watchdog.
In an Oct. 21 blog post, Mark Jamison, who on Monday was named one of two members of Trump's tech policy transition team, laid out his ideal vision for the government's role in telecommunications, concluding there is little need for the agency to exist.
"Most of the original motivations for having an FCC have gone away," Jamison wrote. "Telecommunications network providers and [Internet service providers] are rarely, if ever, monopolies."
The FCC declined to comment for this story, but its current leadership has disagreed strongly with that analysis. Its Democratic chairman, Tom Wheeler, has spoken of an Internet service "duopoly" in much of the country that limits competition. And he has compared telecommunications to the rail and telegraph networks of the 19th century, calling for new rules of the road as the Internet becomes the dominant communications platform of the 21st century.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Oh God, please let this come to pass! Amen.
“proposed all but abolishing”
This appears to be a severe trimming back of their mission back to its roots, which were as I recall for amateur radio licensing and technical accountability. Getting back to basics.
Yeah, like net-neutrality.
We could catch up with Asia on cell phone technology.
No. It’s an idea that needs to happen.
The FCC is too involved in bribery and crony capitalism. It has become a socialist tool and at this point it is far better to axe it outright and then install a scaled back organization with zero employees from the corrupted dead one.
It was established by the Communications Act of 1934. It along with NTIA (who regulates government entities) were mainly purposed to de-conflict the frequency spectrum in the RF world and to regulate cable, telephony, telegraph, etc.
I think that there are valid reasons to do these things, chiefly out of a sense of order and planning and logical expansion and improvement. However, it should not be the FCC’s business to regulate content, equal time or a host of other things it now does. It most certainly needs a comprehensive overhaul IMO to get the politics out and common sense and planning back in.
Tally ho!!!!
MAGA
Shrink the government!
KYPD
I’ve been tempted to get some better radios than the Motorola Walkabouts to use for my work - out in the woods and away from other users so I can’t imagine I would be interfering with anything. But - it sure looks like a hassle to get an FCC license. But if I don’t and get caught, it could be a huge fine - tens of thousands of dollars iirc. So I stick with the Walkabouts. Of course when one falls into the water I don’t feel as bad about it.
Yup, get back to basics of allocating and maintaining Freq. bands.
Trump is sending strong messages that he intends to de-politicize Federal Agencies, and with that comes smaller agencies.
Frequency allotments and useage need some planning and enforcement discipline. Coordination with other countries is also a plus. Content control not so much.
We don’t need the EPA as powerful as it is either.
Transient interference from low-powered devices such as you describe should not be the business of the Federal government. Siting of radio, television, and cellular towers is a different story and needs interstate coordination. CB Radio was deregulated and the world did not end.
This is just a start.
oh no! If we get rid of the FCC, kids will drink poisoned water and get lung cancer!!!
I was an attorney at the FCC right out of law school. Lasted for three months and then had to get out. It was a bureaucratic nightmare, and you had people who literally sat around all day and did absolutely nothing.
PURC Director
Director, Public Utility Research Center
University of Florida,
Warrington College of Business
Public Utility Research Center
PO Box 117142
202 MAT
Gainesville, Florida 32611-7142
352.392.2929
Email (jamisoma at ufl.edu)
Leadership and Strategy, Competition and Pricing, Cost Analysis, Universal Service
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