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President Obama To Nominate Cable and Wireless Lobbyist To Head FCC

Posted by Soulskill on from the break-out-the-tinfoil-hats dept.

symbolset writes "The Wall Street Journal and others are reporting that longtime telecomm lobbyist Tom Wheeler will be nominated to head the Federal Communications Commission. According to the LA Times: 'Wheeler is a former president of the National Cable Television Assn. and the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Assn. Despite his close ties to industries he will soon regulate, some media watchdogs are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. "As someone who has known Tom for years, I believe that he will be an independent, proactive chairman," said Gigi B. Sohn, president and chief executive of Public Knowledge, adding that she has "no doubt that Tom will have an open door and an open mind, and that ultimately his decisions will be based on what he genuinely believes is best for the public interest, not any particular industry."'"

4 of 304 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Third parties by Yakasha · · Score: 3, Informative

    as there would be no anti-trust laws to keep them from colluding, price-fixing, etc. and any competitor who tried to enter the field would be crushed before they could get a foothold.

    You're confusing "minimal" with "no" regulation. Very different words.

  2. All is not lost by symbolset · · Score: 5, Informative

    Part of the vetting process for this means taking down your blog. Fortunately the Wayback Machine is our friend. I haven't read the whole blog yet, but this article about SOPA seems to indicate Mr. Wheeler might not be entirely clueless.

    Hat tip to Slate's Emma Roller, who found it.

    --
    Help stamp out iliturcy.
  3. It is time to choose your party by Spykk · · Score: 3, Informative

    This event is the punctuation mark on a diatribe that should have convinced you to vote third party. Voting for a Democrat or a Republican is WASTING your vote. The published views of a party are meaningless when their actions are entirely self-serving. If you don't think that your countries laws should be dictated by corporations that view you as a commodity then it is your patriotic duty to vote for someone, ANYONE, who is not beholden to one side of the corporate coin or the other.

  4. Re:Conflict of interest by WGFCrafty · · Score: 3, Informative

    Really? Every one? Must have missed FDRs slacking the second time round cause he got a third.