August 11, 2004
Government Hides Cell Reliability Info

According to Wired News, the FCC is using the "terrorism" excuse to deny the public information about the reliability of wireless network infrastructure.

The FCC began collecting information about the phone network in 1991 and made the information public, precisely because the regulators thought the public had a valid need for that information. But since Sept. 11, the need to protect against highly skilled, well-educated terrorists who use the Internet to examine infrastructure outweighs the advantages of full disclosure, according to an FCC official.
In the name of vague, indefinite fears, with no end in sight, the government is taking information out of the public market. The carriers love it, because it gives them one fewer area in which they need compete -- a form of legally sanctioned collusion -- the government puts another check mark next to "doing something," and the public loses yet another government service.

We have always been at war with Oceania.

Posted by Wendy at 08:17 AM