Recently,
the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Tom Wheeler opened up to public comment
the agency’s decision whether to permit the use of cell phones on airline
flights.
This
decision follows the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) decision to allow airlines to safely
expand passenger use of consumer electronics during all phases of flight.
Chairman
Wheeler recently announced his own views: “The job of the FCC with
respect to this issue is limited to issues related to communications
technology. Technology is available and being deployed today on flights
outside the United States that permits use of mobile devices on planes without
causing interference to cell phone networks on the ground. These advances
in technology likely no longer warrant – on a technological basis – the
prohibition of in-flight phone use with the appropriate on-board
equipment.
He went
on to further note that “[w]e understand that many passengers would prefer that
voice calls not be made on airplanes. I feel that way myself.
Ultimately, if the FCC adopts the proposal in the coming months, it will
be airlines’ decisions, in consultation with their customers, as to whether to
permit voice calls while airborne.”
Therefore,
Chairman Wheeler’s decision to open the controversial issue up to public
commentary took an act of political courage. The FCC recognizes that its
charge is limited to technological issues, and such restraint should permit free
market forces to work to set the correct level of regulation.
Further,
Chairman Wheeler is also advancing the position that rewriting “net neutrality”
rules to require a flat playing field for all Internet providers may be a form
of potentially unwarranted interference with the free market’s desire to offer
faster Internet connections to those who want to pay for them.
Many
commentators agree, and argue effectively that Internet access is no different than any other commodity subject to market forces:
“Wouldn’t it be great if a two bedroom, 2,000 square foot apartment on
Park Avenue cost the same as one in Queens? Or if a front row ticket to a
Broadway show cost the same as one in the mezzanine? Wouldn’t it be great
if you could buy a new BMW for the same amount as a new Hyundai? Or if
the price of a Harvard education were equal to one from your local community
college? These things are priced differently. They are not neutral.
Nothing is neutral in a free market economy."
Chairman
Wheeler’s willingness to discuss the proper level of governmental regulation of
the free market in the mobile telephone and Internet access situations is a
breath of fresh air in a political environment too often filled with federal
agencies seeking to perennially expand their regulatory power and exert
leverage over the free market, regardless of consequence.
The
Chairman should be applauded for his courage in entertaining these important
discussions in such a toxic political environment.
