WASHINGTON, March 30, 2010 – Deborah Taylor Tate, a former commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, lauds some of the agency’s National Broadband Plan, but cautions that government should stay focused on “light touch” policies that spur innovation.
In a guest editorial published late last week in the Tennessean, she praises the agency’s efforts in transparency in putting the plan together: “The very nature of the public participation was primarily due to dazzling technologies already available to most Americans. From the 23,000 online comments to blogs, Twitter and Facebook, the FCC succeeded in meeting one important goal: increased civic engagement.”
She also commends the plan’s chapter regarding integrating digital literacy into classrooms, “ensuring that our children are taught not merely keyboarding but keys for safety in cyberspace.”
Taylor Tate adds that “we all want world-class education, health care and jobs,” and then cites Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker who said: “The government does not have unlimited resources to support even the most worthwhile efforts.”
Taylor Tate heartily agrees in her article with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s remarks that “government has a crucial, but restrained, role” and that private investment and competition “play a vital role” in broadband expansion.
And this, of course, is why people like her deny that the U.S. has any problems with broadband – so they can say the government should not get involved. The longer we allow industry to determine who has access, the farther behind our peers we will fall.