I noticed a survey on FreePress.org last week with very interesting results. They asked what people would choose as the priorities for the next FCC chair. I was curious, so I filled out the survey so as to see what the accumulated results were. I was suprised with what I found. Take the survey yourself and then read on for my reaction.
I chose three options that all had to do with open, free networks: "Protect an open Internet by enforcing Net Neutrality", "Foster more competition among wired and wireless Internet service providers", and "Create open access standards for mobile phone networks". It turns out that my first choice for an open Internet was the most popular, but after that came two political and cultural options: break up media conglomerates, and stopping "fake news" propaganda. I see those two choices as diametrically opposed to my three: from my perspective, I see my three choices as calling for free open networks, and the other two choices as forcing open networks (breaking up conglomerates) and forcing some supposed quality of information (stopping news-like advertisements). I'm guess I'm just suprised that the free speech crowd, usually known for advocating a hands-off approach, would be calling for such direct government oversight and manipulation in the communications markets.
Comments (1)
August 17, 2010
5:08AM | #
ohh wow thats crazyy.