Requiem for an Agency

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission had a great run. Under six Chairmen, Democrat and Republican, the FCC played an important role in one of the greatest economic and cultural transformations in history: the global rise of the converged digital communications environment that now pervades our lives. The agency wasn’t the source of the entrepreneurial ideas, technical innovations, and massive investments, of course. All that took place predominantly in the private sector. Yet without the FCC, the Internet ecosystem today would be different, and in most ways worse: less vibrant, less advanced, less competitive, less open, and less reflective of American leadership and values. Along the way, this tiny agency—a tenth the size of the Environmental Protection Agency—became a highly visible and important player in critical public policy debates.

And now, I fear, the FCC’s moment in the sun is coming to an end. The Trump FCC may become at best insignificant, and at worst, a tool for mischief and dirty tricks that will weaken the foundations of our democracy.

[Kevin Werbach is a Professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania]