Ars Technica has a review of FCC Commish Deb Tate's latest talk about DRM, ISP filtering, Net Neutrality, and the like. Not surprising, Tate is at UPenn to talk about Piracy and its impact on our economy. Tate is from Nashville and is has been a shill for Corporate America as part of the Republican party at the FCC. What is surprising is that ARS thinks she is shallow and says so.
"As one of the handful of people voting on crucial issues that affect the US telecommunications sector, one would hope to see clear thought, sharp analysis, and a grasp of the relevant facts. Some concern for the "public interest" might not be out of order, as well. ... It was therefore disturbing to see that, three paragraphs into her talk, Tate was already trotting out 20-year old industry propaganda points..."
This kind of sums it up:
"Regulation and legislation fit her definition of "humble" so long as they serve the interests of content owners, as though the FCC as an agency is charged with overseeing corporate welfare alone and not setting ground rules for the confusing tangle of interests in US business, academic, and private life."
Here's hoping 2009 brings us a new FCC that actually understands the concepts it is charged with regulating. (I'm not holding my breath since more than 60% of the FCC consists of lawyers instead of technicians or engineers, but then this country is over run with lawyers. Florida opened 2 law schools recently. Why? Didn't we have enough?)
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