Lessig: Ditch The FCC, Replace It With Innovation Agency
Larry Lessig has a piece in Newsweek suggesting that the new administration abolish the FCC and replace it
with something he calls the Innovation Environment Protection Agency
(iEPA) -- whose purpose is less about
control, and more about getting
government out of the way when not necessary. The purpose of such an
agency
would be: "minimal intervention to maximize innovation," with a
core focus on keeping the government away
from handing out favors and,
more importantly, carefully reviewing any government monopolies to see
if they
cause net benefit or net harm. He starts off by talking about
monopolies on things like spectrum, but says the
agency can and should
expand to cover monopolies such as copyright and patents.