Dean blogs about the FCC
Dean has posted his first entry to Lessig's blog, addressing the issue of FCC and media deregulation. Rather than excerpt it, I encourage everyone to read it in full - it is well-argued and Dean makes his point effectively.
However, I confess to being somewhat surprised. This is Lessig's blog, after all - and while the media deregulation is a problem, it's also somewhat tangential to the issues that Dean could be addressing (and the ones that he needs to address, if he wants to court the Slashdot demographic).
Here is my comment to his post:
What do you think? Is Lessig's blog the right place to be talking about the FCC? Is the FCC more important than the DMCA and the SBCEA?
On my original comment post to Lessig's blog, I mistakenly called Lessig's book "The End of Ideas" instead of "The Future of Ideas." I've corrected it above. Though with the current atmosphere of silencing fair use, it might amount to much the same thing.
However, I confess to being somewhat surprised. This is Lessig's blog, after all - and while the media deregulation is a problem, it's also somewhat tangential to the issues that Dean could be addressing (and the ones that he needs to address, if he wants to court the Slashdot demographic).
Here is my comment to his post:
Governor,
It’s a privelege to be able to discuss these issues with you, and I greatly appreciate the opportunity.
I agree that the FCC-sanctioned media consolidation is a threat, but there will always be other information channels. In fact, most interest groups tend to simply flock to channels that reflect their own views rather than search out any truly independent medium - this is the sole reason for FOX News vast success, not any FCC actions per se. With former Vice President Al Gore proposing a liberal cable news channel, the trend is reflected on the opposite side of the partisan divide and there’s no intrinsic reason that media consolidation needs to be a threat to liberal ideas alone.
A much greater threat, IMHO is that of copyright abuse. As you are no doubt aware, Professor Lessig has been extensively discussing how copyright extensions pose a serious threat to the inventive engine of society, on this blog and in his book, “The Future of Ideas” (which I assume you’ve read). Today the DMCA and the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act, tomorrow the Thou Shalt Not Reverse Engineer Act and the end of the public domain as we know it.
What is your position on the threat to the public domain? And what policies do you intend to support to address that threat?
Regards, Aziz H. Poonawalla
Dean Nation 2004 blog
What do you think? Is Lessig's blog the right place to be talking about the FCC? Is the FCC more important than the DMCA and the SBCEA?
On my original comment post to Lessig's blog, I mistakenly called Lessig's book "The End of Ideas" instead of "The Future of Ideas." I've corrected it above. Though with the current atmosphere of silencing fair use, it might amount to much the same thing.
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