Former FCC Bureau Chief and Senior Fellow at the American Consumer Institute, Dr. Larry Darby, was interviewd on the radio program, Federal Drive, by Tom Temin and Jane Norris.  Click here to hear the interview and tell us your comments.

April 17, 2009
Senator John F. Kerry
218 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Dear Chairman Kerry:
You and your colleagues will very likely soon receive a petition from members of Free Press urging you to launch “an investigation of Time Warner Cable’s plans to impose an unfair penalty against Internet users.” The correspondence will be motivated in substantial [...]

April 17, 2009
 
 
Congressman Rick Boucher
 2187 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
 
 
Dear Chairman Boucher:
 
            You and your colleagues will very likely soon receive a petition from members of Free Press urging you to launch “an investigation of Time Warner Cable’s plans to impose an unfair penalty against Internet users.”  The correspondence will be motivated in substantial [...]

ITEM: TELECOM SUBCOMMITTEE TO HOLD
UNIVERSAL SERVICE REFORM (USF) REFORM HEARING
Universal service has long enjoyed widespread support in principle as an objective of US telecommunications policy. However, changes in technology, regulation and markets over the years have complicated its pursuit and raised serious questions about best to define its objectives and to fashion rules to govern [...]

Less than six weeks from now, millions of Americans will be denied access to news, information and entertainment now provided by their television sets. Having sold the airwaves now used to transmit programmed TV signals, the government has discovered that its efforts to inform consumers and to have them convert to the new technology are [...]

Consumer Perspectives for the New Year: The Need for Full Disclosure of Relevant Information about Products
Discussion of stimulus packages, bailouts and related macroeconomic policy options to create jobs and to get the economy going again has pushed into the background equally important debates over the role of government in individual market segments ranging through those [...]

We recently conducted an online survey of consumers asking the following question: “What communications device is most important in meeting your communications needs?”  The general direction of consumer preferences was not surprising, but the spread of their preferences for different devices tends to corroborate and magnify our impressions of the directions being taken under the influence of [...]

A recent story in the telecom trade press quoted spokesmen for consumer organizations in opposition to including tax credits for broadband network infrastructure providers as part of the President-elect’s economic stimulus package now being shaped in Congress. One stated: “Telecom companies should not get tax breaks to build out broadband networks…Money should go to state [...]

Details of President-elect Obama’s stimulus package are not known, but its general focus on creating jobs is coming increasingly clear. He recently characterized the package in part as: “…a two-year, nationwide effort to jump-start job creation in America.” It has been reported that the president-elect has directed his economic team “to come up with an [...]

In this season of political fervor and contention, consensus on anything of substance is rare.  Standing out is the virtually unanimous view that we as a nation should be taking all reasonable measures to spur development of broadband telecommunications networks.  The consensus is partially grounded in concerns about US broadband development vis-à-vis other countries, but [...]