Efforts to revise our telecommunications policy are really taking off in moves beyond the net neutrality debate. Here are a few new additions:
- Banning MP3 Streaming: Efforts to require DRM on streaming media may make streaming in non-protected formats a violation of the law (thus locking in the grossly incompatible proprietary formats).
- Congress may consider mandatory ISP snooping: Enforcing log retention timeframes on ISPs to help law enforcement track illegal Internet activity.
These are both good examples of how our policy is coming to revolve around control: both by the government and by the communications industry. A good legislative history of these efforts might be an interesting project as it could show if these actions are being driven by need, by impulse to legislate, or by industry requests. These difficult issues have such great public impact, and yet one must wonder how the public can have an impact on the debate.