Changes Are in the Air

The coming conversion of television reception from analog airwaves to digital is bringing much more than a switch from one converter box to another. This is going to really shake things up, quite a bit. I remain skeptical (as I usually do with anything the government puts its hand into).

This could be good, could be bad:

WASHINGTON — Before he steps down as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Kevin Martin still hopes to win approval for his plan to auction off a slice of the airwaves for a free nationwide wireless broadband network.

So to increase the chances that his proposal will win the support of his fellow commissioners, Martin said this week that he has removed one especially contested element: a requirement that the provider of the wireless network filter Internet content to block any material deemed inappropriate for children.

The only problem with government beneficence is that government control always follows. As much as I think I like the idea of freely-accessible, free WiFi, I am hesitant to give it my complete stamp of approval because government has a tendency to abuse power, and continue a system of, for example, taxation, for centuries. The telephone excise tax to pay for the Spanish-American War is still a law, for pete’s sake! So whether it’s tea leaves or Blackberry plants, the government wants it’s nose in it, and they will want to tax it forever!

And the initial sell is almost always “for the children,” isn’t it? Hey- that’s a noble and worthy cause, protecting the kids, yes. But we’d be idiots if we thought that was all the government would (or will) have up their sleeves. Eventually, government control will move from nannying the children to nannying the adults. I am not concerned with protecting pornography as free speech– faaaar from it– but I AM concerned with government shutting down free speech, criticism, and the transmission of information, especially when it is the government that feels criticized. These are dangerous grounds.

Perhaps a middle-ground of free, controlled airwaves with Wi-Fi is doable, but there must be limits on government control and not just limits of information/citizen control.