Declan McCullagh’s article Why the FCC should die is thought provoking:
The venerable FCC, created in 1934, is no longer necessary. Its justification for existence was weak 70 years ago, but advances in technology since then have eliminated whatever arguments remained. Central planning didn’t work for the Soviet Union, and it’s not working for us. The FCC is now an agency that does more harm than good.
Consider some examples of bureaucratic malfeasance that the FCC, with the complicity of the U.S. Congress, has committed. The FCC rejected long-distance telephone service competition in 1968, banned Americans from buying their own non-Bell telephones in 1956, dragged its feet in the 1970s when considering whether video telephones would be allowed and did not grant modern cellular telephone licenses until 1981–about four decades after Bell Labs invented the technology.
McCullagh cites to and highly recommends Peter Huber’s 1997 book Law & Disorder in Cyberspace: Abolish the FCC and let Common Law Rule the Telecosm. I agree that Huber’s analysis is worth reading. The real problem is that no one notices that the allocation of the wireless spectrum as inefficient as the Soviet government because it’s invisible. If we could see the spectrum that is being used inefficiently we’d be organizing a revolution.
P.S. If you want a better practice, check out this Ultimate Guide.
