Re Federal takeover of 5G wireless network raises significant concerns

["Dave Farber" <dave () farber net>]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Ross Stapleton-Gray <ross.stapletongray () gmail com>
Date: Mon, Jan 29, 2018 at 12:40 PM
Subject: Re: [IP] Federal takeover of 5G wireless network raises
significant concerns
To: DAVID FARBER <dave () farber net>


On Mon, Jan 29, 2018 at 8:44 AM, Blake Reid <blake.reid () colorado edu> wrote:

> Unsurprisingly, Chairman Pai opposed the idea this morning:
...Any federal effort to construct a nationalized 5G network would be a
> costly and counterproductive distraction from the policies we need to help
> the United States win the 5G future.
>
> As an information technology & policy analyst, as a former federal
employee, and as a citizen, while I agree with the idea the nationalizing
U.S. telecomms being a bad one, I'd really like to draw attention to the
second half of this phrase.

If I were running the FCC, I'd be advocating for policies and strategies
that would promote the general welfare, and in particular the health and
education of U.S. citizens (and being the lefty I am, benefit the world
more broadly). But "win the 5G future" suggests that it's a dick-waving
contest, and we don't want to lose it to those other guys.

I've regularly differed with the "we must get high-speed broadband
everywhere" advocates, where it's not at all clear to me that there's a
similar interest in that then being applied to promotion of the general
welfare. I do not think making it a priority that kids can watch the latest
Avengers movie on their phones is as important as helping them become more
educated, especially where the former, as a vehicle to promote unhealthy
things (product placement of everything from phones to sneakers to the U.S.
armed forces), isn't matched by any real investment in the latter.

As a school board member in the digital age, it's rather depressing that
we've not used the Internet, at any speed, as a medium for education and
access to knowledge, as much as we have as a source for infotainment. (But
kudos to various groups and individuals who're doing good work nonetheless,
including non-profits like Khan Academy and the Internet Archive, and
innovative companies like Quizlet and Duolingo.)

Ross

Stapleton-Gray & Associates, Inc.
Albany, CA



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