Marshall Steinbaum :fire: (@Econ_Marshall): Think about this, and then also think about someone being imprisoned for not answering a phone call and the fact that about 1/20 of the phone calls I receive come from a real person, and 3/4 time I answer the phone I regret doing so. Spam uses valuable spectrum to kill us. https://twitter.com/dyjuantatro/status/1408979290562121728
Auctioning off spectrum—the worst idea in telecommunications policy history? Why in god’s name would we allocate a scarce resource—necessary to public & societal health—on the basis of willingness (and ability) to pay???
When the mechanism design people write their self-congratulatory books & articles about how economics is actually good because thanks to their brilliance we allocate spectrum by auction, do they consult the Census people who can no longer get anyone to answer their surveys? (No)
The neoliberalization of telecoms policy: under-appreciated cause of the current predicament in which we find ourselves. From media consolidation in the hands of right-wing ideologues, to the abolition of content regulation, to the sale of the public square to the highest bidder.