speaking of... the health of telecom R&D

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Date: Sat, 21 Jun 2003 07:44:33 -0400
From: anonymous


Greetings Dave,

speaking of the health of Telecom R&D,
The Center for Public Integrity, a great govt.-watch public interest
organization, seems to target an industry a year.  This time around it has
focused on the FCC and govt.-related telecommunications industry abuses.
The entire site is a wonderful wonderful resource (more than a few Commerce
Committee Senators have cited recent reports from the site) and I have used
its easily accessed data over FCC data several times.

The most recent article there is on the Telecommunications Development
Fund - a quasi-governmental "VC fund" that is supposed to invest in telecom
R&D, and is bankrolled by the interest on spectrum auction deposits.

http://www.openairwaves.org/telecom/report.aspx?aid=31

Pretty damning stuff.  To excerpt :
-FCC Chairman Michael Powell appointed himself to the board, raising
questions as to whether it is a good idea to put the top FCC regulator in
charge of a venture capital fund in the same industry he regulates.
-The fund's CEO, who earned $245,000 in 2001, was involved in the John Huang
China-gate campaign finance scandal during the Clinton administration.
-The fund, which considers itself a private entity, actively lobbies
Congress for money.
-Despite owing its existence to federal legislation and auctions on the
publicly owned spectrum, there is virtually no public oversight of its
activities.



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