Another voice: the FCC needs to change

If you are a regular reader, you’ve seen a number of rants from all parties here on Third Pipe demanding change at the FCC. We’re skeptical of “net neutrality” legislation that keeps resurfacing in Congress because it always extends the reach of the feds who are part of the problem rather than part of the solution. Broadband needs to become an ecosystem rather than the heavily regulated and by virtue of regulation protected duopoly that exists today. In an ecosystem, the customer choses the winners and losers. In the regulated environment, the nanny state makes the selection for us. We prefer to make our own choices thank you.

In a post on Cnet today, the Free State Foundation’s Randolph May goes a step further than the usual Third Pipe position, convincingly arguing that regulation of all electronic media needs to end:

So what to do? The existing Communications Act, which ties regulatory activity to outmoded techno-functional regulatory constructs, should be replaced by a statute tying regulation firmly to marketplace realities. What would then matter would not be whether a service is classified as “telecommunications,” “cable,” “broadcasting,” “mobile,” and so forth, but whether services face marketplace competition.

At the very least, I’m now convinced that the regulation debate does need to extend to all electronic media. It’s a good read, worthy of your consideration. I’ll be spending time contemplating Mr. May’s position, you should too.