Regulation

Reihan Salam

Operations — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:02:00 -0500

Fellow

Reihan Salam is an associate editor at The Atlantic, and was previously a producer for NBC News, a junior editor and editorial researcher at The New York Times, a research associate at the Council on Foreign Relations, and a reporter-researcher at The New Republic. He is the co-author of Grand New Party: How Conservatives Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream (Doubleday, 2008). He writes regularly on politics, culture, and technology for The Weekly Standard, Slate, and other publications, and he is the editor of “The American Scene,” a wide-ranging blog.

As a Fellow at the New America… more

'Free My Phone!'

Communications — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 11:30:00 -0500

A New America Event
01/22/2008 - 11:30am

"Free My Phone" was the impassioned headline of Wall Street Journal personal technology columnist, Walt Mossberg, who took both the wireless carriers and the FCC to task for not giving consumers the choice to use the devices and applications of their choice. Currently, wireless carriers can restrict the phones and other devices consumers can use on their network, what device features they can access, and what software applications and content they can download. This "locking and blocking" has been prohibited in relation to traditional wireline telephone service since the 1968 Carterfone decision by the FCC gave consumers the right to purchase their choice of equipment and to connect any telephone or safe device without carrier-imposed limitations.

The event examined the current debate regarding the ability of wireless carriers to limit consumer freedom and whether an increasing marketplace trend toward more openness will be sufficient, or if regulation extending the wireline Carterfone rules is needed to ensure consumer choice and freedom in the wireless telecommunications market. New America also released a paper by Rob Frieden of Penn State University, which described the FCC precedent for wireless Carterfone regulation.

FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps served as keynote speaker. Commissioner Copps commended pledges from Verizon and others to increase openness on their wireless networks, but cautioned that the FCC should “trust but verify” those promises. “I really hope that, when I open my Wall Street Journal and Business Week in 2009, our next panelists will be telling me that the wireless marketplace is every bit as vibrant as the rest of the consumer electronics marketplace,” Copps said.

Walt Mossberg highlighted the growing need for government intervention to pry open the wireless market and increase consumer freedom. He noted that when consumers purchase a new computer, they do not have to get permission from their Internet service provider (ISP). Stephen Wildstrom agreed with Mossberg and further expressed concern over the increasing practice of wireless and wired providers to interfere with Internet content and services under the pretext of network management.

Robert W. Quinn noted that AT&T had a longstanding policy to allow outside devices and applications on its wireless network. Anthony Lewis offered that Verizon through its "Any Apps, Any Device" -- an Open Development Initiative, wants to encourage new types of devices and work with developers to create innovation. "This will not work if I dictate to my customers," he said. Bob Calaff, T-mobile technology policy director, said the government needs to be careful about imposing new regulations on wireless carriers. "We're not talking about a toaster or a refrigerator or even a landline phone or a PC," he said. "When we head into these policy debates, we have to be mindful that these are integral components of the network and that one size does not fit all."

Rob Frieden argued that the FCC has ample statutory authority to extend Carterfone rules to wireless carriers and has extended similar consumer protections to other technologies and services. He provided that wireless carries have an economic incentive to limit consumer freedom. “Locking and limiting subsidized handsets helps carriers foreclose subscriber access to services, content and applications available from third parties that make no financial contribution to the wireless carrier and possibly compete with services offered by the carriers,” he said.

Chistopher Libertelli of Skype, echoed Commissioner Copps reservations concerning promises by carriers to open their networks. "Sitting here, we can't predict how these press released will turn into real consumer rights," Libertelli said. Blair Levin also expressed caution about Verizon’s Open Development Initiative, noting that Verizon would only move forward if the new network created both an additional revenue source, and did not take revenue away from its established proprietary network.

The Countrywide Conundrum

Articles — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 11:41:00 -0500

It's more than a little difficult to imagine Angelo Mozilo, the embattled chief executive of mortgage lending giant Countrywide Financial, being a Drucker disciple. But just last year he didn't hesitate to paint himself that way and, in at least one sense, he was right.

"As the late Peter Drucker once said, the entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity," Mozilo told an audience of bond holders, bankers, and others. "This is the essence of Countrywide's culture."

Countrywide, lashed like many other companies by the subprime storm, isn't crowing as much anymore. A few weeks… more

Taking the Initiative on Curbing Health Cost

Articles — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 20:11:00 -0400

Over the next few weeks, as the healthcare debate heats up in Sacramento and passions start to boil over, expect to hear one four-letter word uttered an awful lot: cost.

Actually, make that cost containment.

The Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights is bent on bringing loads of attention to the issue. And this is not a group that anybody should take lightly -- particularly when it has a compelling case to make.

The foundation’s founder, Harvey Rosenfield, was the author of Proposition 103, the 1988 ballot measure that imposed strict regulations on auto, home and other property and casualty insurers,… more

Capital Warfare

adminn — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 12:56:00 -0400

With Iraq, Afghanistan and the war on terror dominating headlines in Washington these days, there's a real danger that U.S. policymakers will lose sight of the other major war currently being fought around the world -- the war for capital. While other countries are fighting with all they've got, many in the U.S. remain complacent, indifferent or antagonistic. Big mistake. There's a clear relationship between global financial leadership and global influence, and if history is any guide, Americans can't assume that today's financial powerhouse will be tomorrow's.

The war for capital is a three-front battle, encompassing competition among sources, markets and… more

Toward an Energy Efficiency Trading System

Articles — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 20:56:00 -0500

Now that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has come out with unequivocal evidence of human-caused global warming, all eyes are on Capitol Hill to finally come up with a plan to deal with greenhouse gases and US energy security. More than a decade of wrangling over the details of greenhouse cap and trade, raising CAFE standards, and imposing gasoline taxes has lead to a deadlock that has cost Americans time, opportunities, and (as prices have risen over the last five years) about a trillion dollars in extra energy costs. In order to move forward, we need a breakthrough plan… more

Bush Education Secretary Endorses Principle Behind National Education Standards Plan Announced at New America Foundation

Education Policy — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 00:51:00 -0500

President Bush's Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, has endorsed the principle underlying a national education standards incentive plan developed with the support of the New America and Thomas B. Fordham Foundations, according two major press reports. On Monday, January 8th, Senator Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT) and Congressman Vernon R. Ehlers (R-MI) unveiled their version of a plan for uniform, "American" education standards to an overcapacity crowd at the New America Foundation's… more

Get Out of the Way, Drivers

Articles — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 03:22:00 -0500

You might think that holiday shoppers driving on the nation’s highways would have enough to worry about with bad weather and high gas prices. But unless there is a sudden about-face on the part of the Federal Highway Administration, Americans are about to receive an unwelcome gift that, unlike a wrong-color necktie or bad-fitting socks, could literally kill them.

The FHA, which oversees our nation’s highway system, is about to issue a regulation allowing 97-foot-long multi-truck monstrosities to roar up and down our highways. These vehicle combinations, called "saddlemount vehicle transporter combinations," or simply "four-ways," consist of four trucks linked… more

A Healthy Dose of Reality on Drug Safety

Articles — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0400

Only 9% of American adults think the pharmaceutical industry is trustworthy, according to a recent Harris poll. That means that the makers of lifesaving and life-enhancing drugs rank just above tobacco companies in the public's esteem.

How could this happen? Easily. Despite efforts to reform the Food and Drug Administration after its scandalous failures to police drug-safety standards in the cases of Vioxx and other dangerous drugs, the FDA still does not have clear safety policies and can be too slow in responding to danger signals, according to a report released Monday by the Government Accountability Office.

The GAO… more

Sacramento's Growth Dilemma

Articles — Sun, 06 Mar 2005 00:00:00 -0500

Sacramento rests on the edge of what could prove a difficult decade, which could either make or break its momentum toward becoming one of the regional winners in the new century.

For much of the late '90s and in the early 2000s, Sacramento seemed to be finding itself and spreading its wings. Boosted by an ever-expanding government sector, the region also was becoming an important "spillover" region for the Silicon Valley and for educated professionals fleeing the congested, overpriced Bay Area housing market.

From the early 1990s to 2003, both the city and the region enjoyed population growth rates close to… more