FCC regulators want to provide wider and cheaper broadband access by subsidizing it, raising taxes, and forcing network owners to share their network infrastructure with competitors.

A few things the FCC should consider:

-Subsidies don’t make broadband access any less expensive. They just change who pays for it. In this case, that would be anybody with a phone. Which probably includes you. The great economist Ludwig von Mises observed that “A government can no more determine prices than a goose can lay hen’s…

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This week, the New America Foundation called for government-mandated “Truth-in-Labeling” from the nation’s broadband service providers. They’ve even created a mock-up of what they think such a disclosure form should look like. In addition to fees, service limits, and contract terms, NAF would like the disclosures to include information such as minimum reliability, maximum latency, and a service guarantee.

While it’s true that the actual speed a user experiences is often a fraction of the advertised speed, this isn’t secret knowledge.…

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You know them from the cap-and-trade climate bill that failed to generate funding for Obama’s proposed health reforms.  Now, they’re joining forces again. Rep. Henry Waxman (D.-CA) announced Thursday that he will co-sponsor a net-neutrality bill introduced by Rep. Ed Markey (D.-MA).  Misleadingly named the Internet Freedom Preservation Act, Waxman-Markey v 2.0 would hold Internet Service Providers legally responsible for ensuring that every user has access to whatever they want, whenever they want, regardless of the actual resources available.

While Internet firms…

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CEI submitted our initial comments to the FCC on broadband policy last month, and this week we submitted our reply comments. A brief overview:

International Comparisons: The gap between the US and other industrialized nations is vastly overstated. The differences between the leaders and the rest only amounts to a few months given the current extraordinary rate of growth. Much of our alleged lag is due to the fact that we subsidize broadband less than others, and yet we still seem to…

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The Commission must not only identify the most cost-effective approach for catalyzing broadband deployment but also ensure that any public funds spent are used in an economically efficient manner. A national broadband plan, therefore, must consider the possibility that spending any taxpayer dollars whatsoever on broadband deployment might be contrary to the public interest.
– CEI, in comments to the FCC

The debate over broadband subsidies has largely focused on whether the US is lagging behind other industrialized nations in the construction of…

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Under that Orwellian slogan, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, or “Ma Bell,” operated its telephone monopoly for the better part of the 20th century. For sixty years, regulators nurtured Ma Bell’s control of the industry, convinced that the telephone market was a natural monopoly. At one point, AT&T’s grip was so tight that the company owned not only the wires in our walls but also the telephones we plugged into them, and its monopoly persisted until the company in…

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Your hosts Richard Morrison and Cord Blomquist are joined by special guest co-host Jeremy Lott for a very swashbuckling Episode 38 of LibertyWeek. We start with the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips from Somali pirates by the U.S. Navy and Special Forces, look into the murky finances of AIG CEO Edward Liddy in Scandal Watch, and figure out what ISPs are up to in Technology News. We also get an update on how West Virginia is about to become even more Wild and Wonderful, and finally we…

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There has been some noise in technology circles the last week over the FCC comment period or Notice of Inquiry (NOI) in regards to the broadband Internet portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act otherwise known as “the stimulus.”

The NOI allows individuals, association groups, public policy organizations like CEI, and businesses to issue their comments, suggestions, advise—anything really—to the FCC.   This allows “the public” to describe how they feel like the funds should be spent and the best…

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Your hosts Richard Morrison and Cord Blomquist bring you Episode 32 of the LibertyWeek podcast with special guest Sam Kazman and surprise guest co-host Jeremy Lott. We start by looking into the possible future of the Federal Communications Commission with nominee Julius Genachowski about to ascend to the chairmanship, and then take another stroll through the New Great Depression with high-level financial talks between unpopular British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and über-popular President Barack Obama. Oregonian brewers fight a proposed fifteen…

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Aside from the fact that the Senate lacks the necessary votes to pass its version of the stimulus, the bill does actually have a much more in-depth plan for broadband expansion into unserved and underserved areas of the country.  In stark contrast, the House version has no concrete plan.

The Senate version of the stimulus raises the amount of money spent on broadband up to $9 billion, much more than $2.825 billion in the House version.  But either amount is a dangerous…

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I’m sad to see PC Magazine leave the newsstand, but I’m glad it’s not gone for good. Though I often enjoyed picking up a copy when stranded at a faraway airport, I usually read it online. Even after subscribing to the hard copy this year (which had to be the year it was discontinued) I absorbed most PC Mag content via my laptop.

I hope that the columnists continue to be a big part of the magazine. Not only is PC Mag…

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