The politics of a paradigm shift: Telecommunications regulation and the communications revolution

Abstract

As a result of the convergence of telecommunications and mass communications technologies, American policymakers face a series of critical decisions about infrastructural investment, technical architecture, and regulation that will determine the character of the U.S. electronic industrial base. This article develops the argument that the current policy trajectory will likely lead to some awkward choices. Powerful vested interests have distorted the communications policy process. Regulatory inertia has come to tie the hands of the regulators as well as the hands of industry leaders.We argue that there exists a critical opportunity for independent communications policy research to make a difference and to anticipate and facilitate a paradigm shift in telecommunications regulation.

Explicating Net Diversity in Trend Assessment

“…In this context, the European Union’s policy debates as to whether the multiplicity of new media platforms eases traditional diversity concerns is noteworthy because it rightly highlights the need that the policy principles established in the broadcasting industry may not categorically be extended into new media contexts. Albeit differences, the common concern in the United States and European policy contexts is to what extent the established policy priorities are often too outmoded to be in parallel with the technological transitions underway in new media systems (see Neuman, McKnight, & Solomon, 1993, for a policy paradigm shift). As the increased levels of the supply of Internet access availability continue to be stratified, the argument that there exists no need for promoting information diversity seems tenuous.…”

Personalized Ad in Your Google Glass? Wearable Technology, Hands-Off Data Collection, and New Policy Imperative

“…This is not only to create effective regulations, but also to predict the trajectory of wearable computing that is still unfolding. On the basis of the impetus behind the institutional practices identified earlier, we can inch policy reconfiguration into a hopeful scenario (Neuman et al 1993;Pool 1983). Accordingly, a proactive policy frame is proposed to create mechanisms in which policymakers effectively address Google Glass-like wearable computing.…”