You are here Tim Wu's "datatopian" wireless net neutrality rejects competiton policy
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2007-02-14 00:15
My core problems with Professor Tim Wu's white paper for the FTC on wireless net neutrality are with his disguised core assumptions.
First, it is clear from Mr. Wu's top two recommendations that Mr. Wu rejects U.S. competition policy and wireless competition policy as abject failures.
Mr. Wu should come clean and just say in a straightforward language what his White Paper strongly implies.
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Its obvious that Mr. Wu does not think that competition works in communications or in wireless.
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He does not think competition best serves consumers, and has the datatopian view that "benevolent all knowing" regulators need to decide what technologies should succeed, who can innovate and who can't, who can make money and who can't.
Second, Professor Wu analysis suffers from what I call the "perfection fallacy."
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He assumes the wireless market should be perfect and then provides anecdotes of how it is not perfect. What he tries to pass off as intellectual rigor, is actually intellectual rigor mortis.
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After pointing out all the imperfections of competition, he then leaps to the unsupported conclusion that his regulation can do everything better.
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If he was more intellectually honest, he would also point out the many imperfections of the centralized decision-making approach that he was advocating.
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Then he could more fairly compare the imperfections of both:
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