IP: Reflections on FCC meetings.

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>

[Note:  This item comes from reader Benn Kobb.  DLH]

At 7:07 -0700 5/11/02, Bennett Kobb wrote:
> From: Bennett Kobb <bkobb () newsignals com>
> To: dewayne () warpspeed com
> Subject: Reflections on FCC meetings.
> Date: Sat, 11 May 2002 07:07:13 -0700
> MIME-Version: 1.0
>
> Dave Hughes remarked that he wants to testify before the FCC
> Commissioners on an item he is concerned about (Amateur Service
> spectrum). Of course, public testimony to Commissioners in a formal
> public meeting almost never happens.
>
> There are infrequent "en banc" hearings before the Commission, but
> the witness list is carefully controlled. There is no application
> form to try to get to testify, and members of the public are usually
> not welcome to speak. Witnesses are usually CEOs, counsel for trade
> associations, economists and the like -- the same folks who work
> year round to influence FCC policy anyway.
>
> That spectrum item probably won't come before the Commissioners in a
> public meeting at all. Most Amateur Radio items are not considered
> important enough to take up time at the FCC's legally required
> monthly meetings. The items are normally handled 'on circulation',
> meaning the Commissioners read the bureaus' proposals on their own
> time and vote by computer.
>
> I found a couple of exceptions. One is when there simply isn't
> enough interesting stuff to vote on at the required meeting. So they
> dig a little deeper and pull out the technogeek stuff that may be
> less interesting -- but nevertheless is ready for a vote -- and put
> it on the agenda.
>
> Obscure FCC staffers are called into the limelight to present such
> an item to the Commissioners. They offer the staffers a few pats on
> the head, and chuckle about the obscurity of the item and the people
> whose job it is to think about it.
>
> The other occasion is what I call a "Notice of Proposed Happy
> Making." This is an item they think will make some group really
> happy (like giving them spectrum, or something supposed to help
> consumers) and the FCC wants publicity for it.
>
> When you walk into the FCC meeting room and you see CNN and other TV
> cameras present, it's either Happy Time, or AOL Time Warner is
> merging with AT&T Comcast.
>
> The 2.4 GHz item is probably not happy enough to warrant that treatment.
>
> I have attended many FCC meetings and can remember only one
> occasion, in 1984, when an outburst came from a member of the
> audience.
>
> The subject matter was of intense interest to me: allocation of
> spectrum for something called PRCS -- a sophisticated 800 MHz
> license-free, trunking mobile radio and phone system. The FCC had
> been working on it since the 70s. The cellular phone industry and
> Motorola were aghast at PRCS and fiercely opposed it. An
> experimental PRCS system was on the air in Washington.
>
> The item was placed on the agenda, but abruptly removed -- often a
> sign of high political temperature. It was handled at a subsequent
> meeting.
>
> It was not clear which way the Commissioners would vote. When it
> seemed like they might actually authorize PRCS, a member of the
> audience stood up and started loudly railing against the proposal.
> This was so unusual and shocking -- even more so, because the person
> protesting was James McKinney, the former chief of the FCC's
> wireless bureau and no longer a FCC employee.
>
> He said that if the FCC allowed the public to have this service, the
> FCC would never be able to control it. He eventually sat down amid
> some nervous laughter. The Commissioners then voted against PRCS (50
> FR 865, 1985).
>
> Anyway, the whole incident was memorable. The FCC is much more
> security conscious nowadays. If someone were to address the
> Commissioners without permission, they might not even get out an
> entire sentence before security people grab them.
>
> Benn



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