cronyism

Cell Phones to Ring All Day, Beginning June 2007

Bush Administration Announces New Consumer Feature

Beginning in June 2007, American cell-phones will ring when idle and fall silent when a call comes through, said a Federal Trade Commission spokesman in an advanced announcement. In an executive order published last week in the Federal Register, the White House said the change "gives phone customers the right to pay only for the services they want, like making the constant ringing stop."

"Idle cellphones will be much easier to find when the ringers are used consistently," said Brad Hanging-Chad, a 2006 Bob Jones University graduate who is now awaiting Senate confirmation as the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission.

"Most customers are expected to be happy with the reverse ring-silence modality, but those who prefer the traditional ring-when-called mode can now purchase that value added service for just $6.99 and up per month," said Mr. Hanging-Chad, who did not return reporters' phone calls about his stock in several wireless telephone carriers.

Although regulations to be implemented in 2012 will require phone companies to offer the "no ring" function for "a reasonable fee", customers can call this number or this number now to report charges that seem excessive.

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Words to live by

So the recent struggles about network neutrality have led me to recognize something I hadn't quite seen before. And that something in turn makes more puzzling the debates that have been raised around network neutrality. The something to recognize is that in a fundamental sense, fair use (FU) and network neutrality (NN) are the same thing. They are both state enforced limits on the property rights of others. In both cases, the limits are slight --the vast range of uses granted a copyright holder are only slightly restricted by FU; the vast range of uses allowed a network owner are only slightly restricted by NN. And in both cases, the line defining the limits is uncertain. But in both cases, those who support each say that the limits imposed on the property right are necessary for some important social end (admittedly, different in each case), and that the costs of enforcing those limits are outweighed by the benefits of protecting that social end. So from this perspective, it is easy to understand those who reject FU and NN (who are they?). And it is easy to understand those who embrace FU and NN. What gets difficult is understanding those who embrace one while rejecting the other --at least when that rejection is articulated in terms of "government regulation".

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Lawrence Lessig