] Michael K. Powell announced this afternoon that he would ] step down as chairman of the Federal Communications ] Commission in March, ending a four-year term that was ] marked by the tightening of standards on decency and ] attempts to loosen restrictions on media ownership. This may be bad news. As assinine as the indecency stuff is, he has tended to take a free-markets approach to regulation. Lessig has spoken favorably of him on various occassions. ] The replacements being considered for Mr. Powell are said by ] administration officials to include another Republican member of ] the commission, Kevin Martin; Becky Klein, a former head of the ] public utility commission in Texas; Patrick Wood III, the head of ] the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; and Michael Gallagher, ] head of the National Telecommunications and Information ] Administration in the Commerce Department. I don't know anything about any of these people. (I didn't know he was a Clinton appointee -- Bush made him chair) |