Technical Help for the FCC

[TheBigA]

There has been a lot of criticism of the FCC in terms of their ability to make proper technical decisions. It's been pointed out that the FCC's budget has been severely cut, and so they don't have the level of technical staffing required to make proper decisions. Amazingly, someone in Congress recognized this problem, and there's a bill in the Senate aimed at rectifying that problem. It's still in committee and has a long way to go. But the fact that someone has realized this problem is a great start.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-2881

This is no guarantee they will make good hires or bring in unbiased engineers. But lately, their decisions have been based more on agendas and policies than technology. Considering the role technology plays in FCC decisions, this is long overdue.

 

[w9wi]

This is no guarantee they will make good hires or bring in unbiased engineers. But lately, their decisions have been based more on agendas and policies than technology. Considering the role technology plays in FCC decisions, this is long overdue.

Having good engineers working for the Commission is only half the problem.* The other half is for the Commissioners to pay attention to them. And the third half is for Congress to stop overriding the Commission's engineering staff when they make decisions lobbyists don't like.

* My impression, admittedly not based on much interaction with the group, is that the existing technical staff is quite competent.