FCC Leaves Public in the Dark

FCC LEAVES PUBLIC IN DARK
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: John Dunbar]
It's odd for an agency that has the word "communications" as its middle name, but the Federal Communications Commission routinely leaves the public in the dark about how it makes critical policy decisions. That secrecy was on display during the recent debate over how the government should auction off the rights to billions of dollars worth of publicly owned airwaves. For three weeks, potential bidders such as AT&T Inc. and Google Inc. and a coalition of public interest groups waged a war through the media over proposed rules, prepared under FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, that would guide the auction. The debate advanced largely on rumor and speculation, because Martin's draft, as required by agency rules, was never made public. In fact, even when commissioners approved the auction rules at an open meeting on July 31, the rules still hadn't been made public. The auction rules experience is not unique. It is how the agency has conducted the public's business for at least a decade, some observers say.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070904/fcc_secrecy.html?.v=5

* Groups Raise Concerns About 700MHz Auction
A $1.3 billion reserve price for a piece of wireless spectrum to be auctioned by the FCC in January is too high, according to Frontline Wireless.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136763-pg,1/article.html