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Tuesday 10 August 2010

No more discussions, we need decisions

As FCC people wend their way towards our European shores next month for the conference season, let's not lose sight of what is happening elsewhere. It is a particular failing of this isle to filter out events elsewhere in the mistaken belief "we know best".

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

Michael Copps, FCC Commissioner, has put out a one paragraph statement that bears several readings. The issue, Net neutrality, is not one which we can avoid either. Nor is his statement so simplistic that we cannot also apply it to our own regulatory environment.

“Some will claim this announcement moves the discussion forward. That’s one of its many problems. It is time to move a decision forward—a decision to reassert FCC authority over broadband telecommunications, to guarantee an open Internet now and forever, and to put the interests of consumers in front of the interests of giant corporations.”


Replace "FCC" with "Ofcom" or "ASA". Focus particularly on "discussion" versus "decision". Consider "authority", "open", "interest", "consumers", and "corporations".

Re-word this statement from current UK or EU perspective, and it is of worthy of 2 minutes consideration by us all in Europe today.

3 comments:

Cybersavvy UK said...

Oh, and if anyone opens a net neutrality debate here, which is most definitely NOT the point of this post, I may find them a small beret to consume!

chris said...

too busy trying to get internet access to worry about all this right now...
...but i take your point, it is a concern we should keep in mind, especially when our version of the FCC in the UK doesn't know what it is that it is trying to regulate. Witness the shambles of the digital economy act...

GuyJ said...

Can we become the 51st State of the USA now please!