

Arrington: The FCC Needs To Listen To Google - pg
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/22/the-fcc-needs-to-listen-to-google/

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ivankirigin
It's amazing that everyone I've talked to that knows about this is very
excited about the possibilities. And yet, the effort to make things more open
might fail. Astounding.

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jsjenkins168
Efforts might fail if Google doesnt participate in the auction and the
carriers buy the spectrum. Traditionally Google has had almost no lobbying
power. Recently they've been trying but still do not have the political
influence that the major carriers do, who will likely lobby the FCC away from
accepting the rules that Google proposed. If this is the case and Google does
not bid, it will be a big blow to the US wireless industry. The existing
stronghold that the carriers have is choking competition and therefore
innovation. Its really frustrating.

On the flip side though, if the FCC accepts the proposed rules and Google does
bid and win, it could usher in a new era of opportunities for startups. I
think the prospect of this is very exciting..

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rms
How much better would our society be if most of the frequencies were unowned
and available for public use?

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myoung8
It depends--there's no good answer since it didn't happen, but regulation can
be a good thing. It created incentives to build out the types of networks that
require massive cap-ex (cellular, TV broadcast).

If no one built these in the first place, we wouldn't have anything to build
"open access" on.

Regulation turns out to be a bad thing when it turns into a function of
political favors vs. public interest.

As with most things in life, regulation is good in moderation.

