From: Arlo J. Bensinger (ajb102@psu.edu)
Date: Tue Dec 14 2004 - 17:11:49 GMT
Sam, Mark,
Just a brief comment...
Sam wrote:
> I think the issue here is about who gets to decide what counts as 'the highest
quality use of the
> public airwaves'.
I know this is little off what your point is, but I'd interject that the issue
is to whether or not "public airwaves" exist, or if all bandwidth should be
open to commerical purchase.
There is already a balance, the FCC has 'reserved' certain bandwidth for public
use (shortwave radio, etc), and has allocated other bandwidth for commericial
purchase. However, the conservatives are irked that even a small allocation
exists for "public use", and have moved repeatedly to force the FCC to
commercialize ALL bandwidth. (The same way they are irked that "public lands"
exist, and are repeatedly on record seeking to commercialize federal parks).
Underlying this is the naive belief that corporations, if given control of ALL
airwaves, will respond to "what people want", but bandwidth in the public
commons will result in "the government deciding what people listen to". For a
great review of the stifling effects of corporate control on DQ (the author, of
course, does not call it DQ but innovation) read "The Future of Ideas: The Fate
of the Commons in a Connected World" by Lawrence Lessig.
What's funny is that the conservatives (who, unlike the liberals, don't protect
us from ourselves) have also repeatedly moved to strengthen government's
control over broadcast content (witness the Howard Stern debacle). So I think
we need to be real careful when asserting that one side philosophically favors
no-government control. It is, in this case, an argument over government
ownership, and not government control.
Okay, didn't mean to interrupt...
Arlo
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