Intellectual Property Law

Wu on Jump-Starting Tech Policy: Hire Experts

By Cynthia Brumfield

Ubiquitous commentator Tim Wu has this piece in today's Slate, part of a "Fixing It" series the publication is running, that offers some solutions to the nation's tech policy problems. Among his short-term suggestions are a few that hinge on one basic solution: the government should hire actual experts to help formulate tech and telecom policy.

In addition to creating an "FCC dream team" of commissioners composed of actual experts, as opposed to commissioners who arrived by virtue of political connections, Wu thinks we should have a broadband czar who takes charge of the nation's broadband policy, instead of allowing the country's haphazard broadband development to bounce from Congress to the FCC to the White House, as it currently does.

Another recommendation by Wu is to make the government more transparent by naming a White House CTO or CIO to find out what the barriers to government transparency are and to spearhead efforts, such as a a government search engine, that would open up the process. Money quote: "Bush leaves behind a transparency tradition somewhere between Brezhnev and Dracula."

He suggests that the government could strengthen its international policies but offers confusing support for why we need this -- something about drug companies trying to keep low-cost generic drugs out of developing nations. Wu also tosses out a few other suggestions, such as fixing immigration policy to allow tech talent to work in the U.S. and solving the patent system mess, worthy goals for intractable problems.

Full post as published by IP Democracy on April 01, 2008 (boomark / email).