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Telecompetition: The Free Market Road to the Information Highway

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Gasman introduces the concept of convergence, in which he shows that the main sources of communication are converging into one industry: information. Until now, the print media has been governed by the first amendment free speech protection, while telephones have been constricted by the universal access principal, and radio and television have been controlled by public interest policy. Within the next few years, the lines of distinction will blur sufficiently that if we don't reconsider these paradigms, we may be headed for big trouble, or at least regulatory measures that make less and less sense.

For instance, newspapers are likely to establish a web presence, but they may decide to supplement the stories with live action MPEG recordings. How are these to be regulated - as protected speech (like a newspaper), as universal access (since it comes in over your phone line), or as public interest (like television, and therefore subject to Fairness Doctrine)? Gasman suggests a change in the understanding of the First Amendment based on a property rights approach, in which all information transmission is protected, no matter what the means of recording, transmission, or playback. Gasman also shows that government involvement in the subsidization of infrastructure is neither necessary, nor benign, and usually leads to deceleration rather than acceleration of progress. Consider the initial success and subsequent failure of the Videotex machine in France: many Americans thought that we should emulate this investment in technology, but later recognized that free market investment in additional bandwidth and compression software has put Americans far ahead of the French.