Congress To Investigate FCC

SirLurksAlot writes to let us know that Congress is planning to question the FCC on the way the commission is run. From the article: "The FCC — and Chairman Kevin Martin in particular — are in hot water with Congress... While Martin was at CES, telling all who would listen that the FCC will investigate Comcast's traffic-shaping practices, the House Energy and Commerce Committee announced a formal investigation of the FCC. The news couldn't be more welcome to the industries that the FCC regulates.'"

"Couldn't be more welcome"

[Anonymous Coward]

The news couldn't be more welcome to the industries that the FCC regulates.

Probably true.

They probably don't like the way the FCC is regulating them, so a few "campaign contributions" later, their bought-and-paid-for, em, concerned Representatives and Senators just "happen" to investigate the FCC.

When are Pelosi and Reid getting around to earmark reform, anyway? Or will they be too damn busy investigating steroid use in baseball?

Meh, no wonder their approval rating is half of W's.

Re:Unspecific

[elrous0]

Do you honestly think that they're investigating the FCC as a way to say "Thanks FCC, great job standing up to those telcos!" Give me a break. The telcos have called in their bribes amd slapped their bitches into line (i.e. "Congress") to get them to bring the hammer down on the FCC for daring to actually stand up for the consumer on some issues.

TFA says

[pesho]

Well that's exactly what the article implies if you read it to the end. They are investigating FCC for not being corrupt enough: The cable operators are upset about the FCC's attempt to regulate their industry, along with the Commission's decision last year to nullify many of their exclusive contracts with apartment buildings. The telephone companies aren't thrilled about the FCC's 700MHz auction conditions (Verizon even sued), and everyone wants the FCC to keep away from their traffic monitoring and shaping practices. That would please the industries regulated by the FCC. Multichannel News reports that AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast all bashed the agency in a CES panel yesterday, with each group wanting to see major changes in the way that the FCC operates Perhaps the strongest criticism came from Verizon's Tom Tauke, who argued that the FCC just isn't set up to deal with the modern world. "The FCC is structured about broadcast, cable and telephone," he said. "That isn't the world we are live in, and it isn't the world we are going to. The FCC has to be overhauled for the Internet world."

Re:Cash Cow Concerns

[goldspider]

So it's capitalism's fault that people choose not to live within their means? Corporations are forcing people to overextend themselves and buy things they cannot afford?

That's not to say the problems you describe do not exist; they just aren't caused by capitalism.

Re:ah-oh

[pilgrim23]

In many ways, the 1990s on the Internet resembled the radio spectrum of the 1930s: Some commercial use, some military use and a whole lot of accademic and hobbyist use.
  Ham Radio Operators have watched the FCC for decades. And well they should; Whenever that board sits in their awsome pontification, Hams loose just a little more spectrum. Radio has been distributed in direct relation to the money distributed. Internet will follow this well worn government path. If you want a good lesson on how a service that to this day (see Katrina, see any natrual disaster) has proven its service when all other means of communication fail), to this DAY serves all of us, and for their trouble gets it in the shorts, Ask a Ham. You will get a glimpse at the near future of the "Net". -73

Re:Cash Cow Concerns

[p0tat03]

I agree wholeheartedly. In our modern world the internet is as vital to the nation as its roadways. And just like how we don't have our roads privately owned and charging users for the privilege of driving on them, we all pitch into their expansion and maintenance via taxes. So the same we must do for our network infrastructure. The government needs to own the airwaves and the networks, and tax money must go towards supporting them.

More immediately however, we need to really bust the telco/cablecos' balls for collusion. There is absolutely no way cellular and land-broadband rates need to stay at their current state. There is absolutely and obvious collusion going on here, and we need to get them for it.

Here in Canada we've recently launched a governmental investigation into price fixing of chocolate. This is laughable. Here we are going after confectioners, when it is patently obvious that gas stations, telephone companies, and a whole slew of much-more-important vendors are doing the same, and gouging at even worse margins! But I suppose the chocolate industry doesn't buy enough politicians to avoid their wrath...

Investigations are not really about corruption

[Bored MPA]

Congressional investigations are about agenda setting, political capital (getting more people on board), and/or chicken.

1) Congress can elevate issues of policy/culture into the media when conducting an "investigation." Whether about steroids or blowjobs or whether the family network can have an a la carte anti-abortion show.

2) Senators and Reps can get an ass-ton of sound bites out to interested parties--citizens, corporations, and their monied representatives (lobbyists, family groups, net neutrality folks). In this case you can get your message out to a VERY diverse set of groups...from family issues to tech issues, without pissing either group off. Goldmine.

3) Chicken. Ohhhh chicken, how I love the: "Dear corporation, if you don't a) give us more money or b) clean up your act, we will be forced to pwn you." That is not an exaggeration when it comes to regulatory action. The gov't can and does wield immense power over corporations through taking control of processes--and it is a simple risk analysis for a corp to decide whether or not to change behavior or play fast and loose. After all, the longer it takes for congress to act, the more profit you can make.

Examples of the tit for tat:
Industry blinks: Movie Ratings, Health Care reform (portions of clinton's 90s playbook was used by the medical industry), Big Pharma advertising on TV about free medicine for poor people (avoiding price controls).

Industry runs congress over: Ummm, automakers, tobacco

Congress runs em over: safety, but mainly because competitive industry players actually want gov't regulation on product safety issues.

Congress blinks: MPG standards (we could have been at 50 mpg in 2000-2002, according to the auto industry), anything involving financial services

Note that congress never "wins," they just change the rules of the game by cutting off a profit option and their actions are rarely draconian because many of them are concerned about jobs lost in their state.