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But, perhaps the "we think there should be powers AND limitations because the gov't will abuse any gray areas" were right after all - because the government has and does place limits on the press. Without the specific no-no's detailed, I think these days we'd be in a heap of trouble.
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Ah. I see why you thought it a non-sequitor -- you were talking about the mess we would be in without the Bill of Rights, and I thought you were talking about the specific no-no's the gov't placed on the press. Never mind.
I'm not sure why the FCC
needs to regulate things like bandwidth in fibre optic cables, though. It seems to me the businesspeople, with actual money invested in it, would act in their own best interests to optimize their income. So, if you want a connection through which you can hear a pin drop, you might choose Sprint. If you just want 60 minutes for 99 cents, and voice quality is good enough, you might choose Joe's Fones. The companies would have a business plan optimized for their niche, and customers could choose one that best suits them. There would be no lack of businesses like Consumer Reports to rate the various suppliers for a price, though there seems to be no lack of free, competent computer buying advice available on the 'Net, as long as you can tell the hackers from the hacks.
I guess a case can be made about radio frequencies, though I am not sure that would be that big of a problem. The first chief engineer whose signal drifted over into WTBS' range would be in big trouble, and may have to pay off all the advertising money WTBS lost in the meantime. I think that even shared resources could probably be handled on a voluntary basis, just as they are in parks and picnic grounds. If someone is already there, you don't just go over and kick them out. You find another place to sit down.
There would probably be a low-cost, free market group form spontaneously to coordinate the frequencies anyway, just as there was to coordinate domain names on the Internet, and to assign manufacturer numbers in the UPC system they use with the scanners in grocery stores. Totally voluntary compliance, and I don't believe I have ever heard of anyone using someone else's manufacturer number.
[ 04-17-2003, 07:32 PM: Message edited by: Thorfinn ]