Genachowski Enters FCC In 12-Step Program To Stop Enabling Consumer Abuse

[Commentary] The first step in recovery is admitting you have a problem. For regulatory agencies, the first step is admitting that industry has a problem and that the wonderful happy world of the unregulated market - no matter how wildly competitive it might or might not be - doesn't always protect consumers and that in fact, sometimes, free market dogma to the contrary, you actually reach the best result for everyone by having government set basic rules of disclosure and enforcement.

This week, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski started taking the FCC in the welcome direction of consumer protection. The agenda is to have the FCC empower consumers by requiring clear disclosure of things like billing terms and possible fees. In addition, require businesses to give consumers tools to avoid hidden fees and set some standard definitions for things like "download speed" that ensure that customers can easily understand the terms of an agreement before signing and can verify that they get what they pay for. These things may seem so common sense that one might mistake Genachowski's initiative for something trivial rather than a dramatic 180-degree turn over the last ten years.