Regulation Hypocrisy

Michael Powell, President of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, and former FCC Chairman, has a good blog exposing the hypocrisy of CEA's Gary Shapiro in continuing to urge the FCC to adopt "AllVid" technical mandates governing set-top boxes. Well worth reading.

For well over a year, the Free State Foundation has argued, in its Perspectives and blogs way too numerous to recount here, that the Commission's proposed "AllVid" regulations are completely unnecessary and counterproductive. We have also explained, for example here in "AllVid's First Amendment Problem," that such mandates prescribing video content are likely inconsistent with the First Amendment.

Here's a piece by FSF's Seth Cooper, published just last week, that once again convincingly makes the case that not only should the proposed All-Vid regulations not be adopted but that the entire set-top box regulatory regime should be sunset. Again, many more pieces are on our website, going back many years.

Michael Powell was right to call Gary Shapiro on Gary's hypocritical stand -- opposing regulations and espousing marketplace freedom, except when he thinks such regulations will give his members some ill-gotten regulatory advantage. Of course, it is the consumers who suffer from this pro-regulatory gamesmanship.