The WSJ has an article by the FCC’s Robert M. McDowell on July 24, 2007, p. A15, “Broadband Baloney,” critiquing among other things the OECD’s discouraging data on broadband in the United States:
American consumers are poised to reap a windfall of benefits from a new wave of broadband deployment. But you would never know it by the rhetoric of those who would have us believe that the nation is falling behind, indeed in free fall.
Looming over the horizon are heavy-handed government mandates setting arbitrary standards, speeds and build-out requirements that could favor some technologies over others, raise prices and degrade service. This would be a mistaken road to take — although it would hardly be the first time in history that alarmists have ignored cold, hard facts in pursuit of bad policy.
Tyler Cowan has further remarks on the topic, with comments.
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