federal communications commission

The Left is incessantly freaking about all sorts of things – about which very little freaking is actually necessary.

The Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) recent vote to begin the process of undoing an Obama-era power grab is the right solution for putting consumers—not lobbyists and lawmakers—in the innovation driver’s seat.

Why is net neutrality, the controversial notion that all Internet traffic should be treated the same, so difficult to resolve? An underappreciated reason is each side defines the core terms of net neutrality very differently.

Net neutrality and consumer privacy are in tension because they are very different concepts, priorities, and approaches for the handling of information online.

The growth starts now.

We are in the midst of what is referred to as the “transition” – the hand off of power from one president to another. God bless America – these conversions are peaceful. Even when the exchange takes place between presidents of opposing political parties, as is currently underway.

To prove to the public once and for all that the FCC’s proposed broadband privacy rules are designed to benefit consumers and not special interests, the FCC has agreed to answer some reel questions from reel people about their reel privacy concerns just before they vote on the rules October 27.

Back before Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga, there was a British band that did pretty well – Pink Floyd. Aside from gigantic albums The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall, they released in 1987 A Momentary Lapse of Reason.

The evidence increasingly proves that Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon, companies collectively known as “GAFA,” are the dominant consumer-technology, “edge” platforms/incumbents in their respective communication sector markets of: information, smartphones, social media, and ecommerce. The evidence below shows Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon to clearly be the emerging dominant communications incumbents of the 21st century communications sector ecosystem and that an apparent FCC assumption that “edge” companies cannot be a competition problem is both naïve and erroneous.

The FCC’s proposed privacy rule in no way will lead to the stated goal of protecting consumers. In fact, the logical and obvious result of the proposal is to create a confusing thicket of government privacy rules emanating from both the FCC and FTC which will lead consumer confusion and likely real harm.

“Fixing” what’s not broken. Radically changing what everyone likes. Abandoning what works exceptionally well for what’s failed miserably in the past, and forcing outdated regulations on what is the most modern part of the economy.

Isn’t Congress due the same deference from the FCC that the FCC expects from the courts?

Will the FCC defer to the new Congress for a reasonable period of time so it can pass consensus on net neutrality legislation?

Perhaps the only thing government loves more than spending our money – is taking it.