Public Knowledge wants the FCC to regulate broadband as a telecom service instead of an information service. The goal: to promote net neutrality. This seemingly innocuous change is a Trojan horse, opening the way for the agency to regulate the services that Internet providers must offer to all – a disincentive to innovation, and thus a bad deal for consumers.
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Misdirection1 comment to Misdirection |
Professor Dieter Helm (Oxford) is a very fine fly fisherman, and an even better economist. If you haven’t done so, take a look at his new book “The Carbon Crunch: How We Are Getting Climate Change Wrong — and How to Fix It” for a bit of unconventional wisdom. He argues that politicians and the general public have not shown any real interest in addressing climate change. Helm argues that places like Europe should focus on setting a price for carbon that would cover consumption (and not just production), and that fracking could be a good “bridge” technology for reducing consumption of coal. The book is readable and insightful for those interested in the inside track on climate policy. 
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FERC Order 436 and subsequent orders unbundled the gas pipeline industry, requiring pipelines to operate as open access transporters, and allowing customers to negotiate directly with gas suppliers. Most advocates of open markets thought this to be a good thing. Indeed, the pipeline network probably operates more efficiently than it did.
But now some of the same people who likely applauded pipeline open access (or do you prefer the old system of regulated bundled service?), tell us that we are creating a Trojan horse if we require telecommunications companies, which use public rights-of-way, public airwaves and the public’s powers of eminent domain, to provide open access transportation. I am a consumer. It does not seem to be a bad deal to me. Allowing those with control of the transportation path historically created through government and regulated entities to unfairly compete with its customers would seem to be the bad idea.