On Fri, 20 Jun 1997, Benjamin Grosman wrote:
yet another example of those ill-educated in a particular matter succumbing to either a knee-jerk political reaction,
Agencies such as the FCC, FAA, and FDA were created to make policy recommendations in technical areas were politicians aren't qualified. If we're really going to have government stomping all over the Internet, it's crazy that there isn't an appropriate agency to make appropriate policy recommendations in this area, which is more technical and developing more rapidly than fields such as aviation or food&drug, where senators and congresspeople generally accept advice from presidential appointees who collaborate with industry. I'm not saying I _want_ an agency making decisions for us; only that it would be slightly less hideously exasperating than our present situation, where technoliterates are being ruled by technoilliterates. The FCC actually made some halfway decent decisions determining standards in broadcasting, before the agency became terminally incestuous and corrupt. We might get two or three good years out of a Federal Internet Agency, depending who was appointed to run it. --CP