FMC: Policymaker Roundtable
Everything policy related still feels so up in the air, like progress has been made…but not really. “We’re working on it…”, but what a long tedious process. It’s troublesome because these hot issues are so easily forgotten…especially as they fall out of the media spotlight (both mainstream and community based).
Also feels so reactive – how do you anticipate these things and shape legislature around that? Not easy…couldn’t have predicted Napster, but could the legislative reaction been better? Admittedly though, it’s hard for these policymakers to convince ‘the hypothetical’ to their collegues…which impacts the ability to be nimble and respond to change quicker.
Dept of Justice and FTC – taking a “wait and see” stand on net neutrality…which is unfortunate.
What issues will make it to the finishline before the election? Aaron Cooper suggests IP reform, LP FM, harmoney between labels/webcasters… tough order to fill…let’s hope some of it does happen.
Kenneth DeGraff brought up the point that with broadband, don’t just focus on download speeds, also the uploading and sharing…huge issue for the creative community. Which was followed up by an important point from a member of the audience — fix the definition of broadband…the measurement of access. Twice the price at 1/20th the speed. 200kbps is the speed they still use in the definition…which was set in 1997. Way out of date and many industrial countries are rapidly moving past us.
Rachel, why is it unfortunate that they’re taking a cautious approach? There hasn’t been any serious allegation of ongoing discrimination, and the few times something like that has happened, the FCC has moved pretty quickly to fix it. Even if there is a problem, there are antitrust laws long in place which would take care of any issues along those lines. I represent the Hands Off coalition — we agree that the Internet must remain open. But we also think that pre-emptive regulations would have unanticipated, and adverse consequences.
Hi HOTI Dave,
There a balance, for sure – you don’t want to move too quickly and then have to say “oops” and clean up a big, unnecessary mess. But at the same time, when I hear words like “wait and see”, I find it frustrating because it’s incredibly passive. It doesn’t indicate that there’s thought and time being invested in making these decisions…and while I don’t want this to become a debate about the merits and weaknesses with the FCC, they’re not perfect, and I don’t think there track record for fixing things quickly when discrimination/controversy needs to be addressed is as clean as you suggest…
Thanks for stopping by!