The chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission started a blog yesterday and it has already attracted an avalance of comments from readers. Many of the comments focus on controversial issues now before the Commission, like broadband over powerlines, penalties for "indecent" content, excessive concentration of ownership in the broadcasting industry, and letting wi-fi use unoccupied TV channels.
In his first posting chairman Powell wrote: "One reason I am participating in AlwaysOn Network's blog is to hear from the tech community directly and to try to get beyond the traditional inside the Beltway Washington world where lobbyists filter the techies. I am looking forward to an open, transparent and meritocracy-based communication—attributes that bloggers are famous for! Regulated interests have about an 80 year head start on the entrepreneurial tech community when it comes to informing regulators what they want and need, but if anyone can make up for that, Silicon Valley can..."
We can only hope that the signal/noise ratio will quickly improve in the comments, lest he decide that a direct, open public channel is a waste of his time.