Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Cable Lobbyist Tom Wheeler Confirmed As New FCC Chief

Posted by Unknown on from the jealous-of-australian-data-caps dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The U.S. Senate confirmed Tuesday the nomination of a new chairman to the Federal Communications Commission. Wheeler is a former investor and head of telecommunications industry groups. President Barack Obama said, when announcing Wheeler as his choice in May, that 'for more than 30 years, Tom has been at the forefront of some of the very dramatic changes that we've seen in the way we communicate and how we live our lives.'"

15 of 242 comments (clear)

  1. thank you sir by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    may i have another?

    1. Re:thank you sir by i+kan+reed · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yes, your next one will be delivered sometime between 2-8PM next Wednesday, please be at your house that entire time.

  2. Dare to Hope by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Dare to Hope; Prepare to be Disappointed.

    1. Re:Dare to Hope by ApplePy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Hey now... we were promised transparency by the Precedent, and we got it! All the corruption is completely out in the open now!

      --
      That I'm right, and you don't like it, doesn't mean I'm a troll.
  3. Re:Good luck seeing a la carte anytime soon. by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you like your cable plan, you can keep your cable plan.

  4. Regulatory capture by symbolset · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Wikipedia:

    Regulatory capture occurs when a regulatory agency, created to act in the public interest, instead advances the commercial or special concerns of interest groups that dominate the industry or sector it is charged with regulating. Regulatory capture is a form of government failure, as it can act as an encouragement for firms to produce negative externalities. The agencies are called "captured agencies".

    Federal Communications Commission

    Legal scholars have pointed to the possibility that federal agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had been captured by media conglomerates. Peter Schuck of Yale Law School has argued that the FCC is subject to capture by the media industries' leaders and therefore reinforce the operation of corporate cartels in a form of "corporate socialism" that serves to "regressively tax consumers, impoverish small firms, inhibit new entry, stifle innovation, and diminish consumer choice". The FCC selectively granted communications licenses to some radio and television stations in a process that excludes other citizens and little stations from having access to the public.

    Michael K. Powell, who served on the FCC for eight years and was chairman for four, was appointed president and chief executive officer of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, a lobby group. As of April 25, 2011, he will be the chief lobbyist and the industry's liaison with Congress, the White House, the FCC and other federal agencies. Meredith Attwell Baker was one of the FCC commissioners who approved a controversial merger between NBC Universal and Comcast. Four months later, she announced her resignation from the FCC to join Comcast's Washington, D.C. lobbying office. Legally, she is prevented from lobbying anyone at the FCC for two years and an agreement made by Comcast with the FCC as a condition of approving the merger will ban her from lobbying any executive branch agency for life. Nonetheless, Craig Aaron, of Free Press, who opposed the merger, complained that "the complete capture of government by industry barely raises any eyebrows" and said public policy would continue to suffer from the "continuously revolving door at the FCC".

    --
    Help stamp out iliturcy.
    1. Re:Regulatory capture by phantomfive · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is why a lot of people say it's better to do government operations as close to the people as possible. That is, if it can be done at a city level, do it at a city level. If it can be done at a state level, do it at a state level. Only a few things should be done at the national level.

      The farther things get from the people, the easier it is for them to be corrupted (or rather, if some town gets corrupted, it doesn't affect people outside that town).

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    2. Re:Regulatory capture by phantomfive · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Problem is, this central agency is already bought and paid for.

      At risk of pointing out the obvious, that's a good part of why you don't have a chance of doing it centrally.

      You think it sounds easier centrally, because you think, "If I were in charge, we could........." but you are not in charge, and good luck getting a non-corrupt person in charge and keeping him there. Do you REALLY think you have a chance of getting a less-corrupt president than Obama in the next election?

      However, if your goal is to get a less-corrupt mayor......that is a lot more achievable for someone like you.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  5. Like Wile E Coyote named head of Roadrunner rescue by JoeyRox · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You know a government is corrupt when they don't even bother to hide it anymore.

  6. Re:Good luck seeing a la carte anytime soon. by Rockoon · · Score: 5, Funny

    I just got a letter saying that I have to pay a fee for not subscribing to a cable television plan...

    --
    "His name was James Damore."
  7. Re:Good luck seeing a la carte anytime soon. by lgw · · Score: 5, Funny

    Every time you say you don't believe the fine is really a tax, a fairy dies.

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  8. This can't possibly be an accurate report. by Seumas · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm sorry, but I don't believe this whatsoever. I distinctly remember our president campaigning on an end to the revolving door of industry lobbyists and executives to head political positions and vice versa.

    A little googling later . . . : https://www.opensecrets.org/obama/rev.php

    Oh. Well, then. . .

  9. Did he get a waiver to serve? by MobyDisk · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Obama said that he would not allow lobbyists to server in government posts, but he put in a waiver procedure that permits it. Did this person go through that waiver procedure?
    FYI: Politifact information about the lobbyist promise. There haven't been any updates there regarding this position.

  10. Thud! by some+old+guy · · Score: 5, Funny

    The sound of the Last Obama Fan On Slashdot's forehead hitting the desk.

    --
    Scruting the inscrutable for over 50 years.
  11. Another lobbyist? by Biosci777 · · Score: 5, Informative
    This president promised he would boot the lobbyists; that they would not have access to his administration. The FCC appointment is only the latest evidence that that promise is broken. Conor McGrath wrote in the Journal of Public Affairs in September that Obama employs 119 (make that 120 now) former lobbyists.

    Wow. If I fall off the wagon and break my promise, I'm like any other human. But when I do it over and over again with no sign of regret or shame, that's different. That's a matter of character, and you would be right to be slow to trust me in other areas.