NCTA Seeks To Protect Us From Terrorists Too Lazy To Search Cable Public Files

[Commentary] Public Knowledge joined the Public Interest Spectrum Coalition to, among other things, oppose this Petition for Reconsideration filed by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) in the white spaces docket. It numbers among the silliest things I have read in nearly 15 years of practice — which takes much.

NCTA believes that if its members must put the geographic coordinates of their cable headends into the publicly accessible database, we will create a veritable shopping list for terrorists eager to strike at our vital Internet hubs and greatest source of OnDemand soft-core porn (God bless the First Amendment and US v. Playboy Enterprises, Inc.). Normally when I see the cable industry post something this outrageously silly, I ask myself “what are they hiding?” But I honestly could not think of any other reason why they would want the location of their cable headends secret. It doesn't impact interconnection or tell us anything broadband-related because what matters is the location of broadcast receiver antennas and, besides, cable operators don't have any interconnection obligations. It doesn't impact franchise fees, or provide any information about whether or not operators are meeting their build out obligations. Reluctantly, I concluded that the cable guys seriously believe that if we publish the locations of cable headends, swarms of “terrorists and saboteurs” are going to attack us on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis to destroy our access to broadband.