Me on Geeky Tech Stuff at NRO

I've got a piece on Tim Wu's wireless Carterphone paper up at NRO today.

Not surprisingly, Wu, a leader in the fight to regulate the Internet (he coined the phrase “net neutrality”), thinks the wireless industry could benefit from greater regulation too. He makes several major recommendations, including applying neutrality rules to wireless networks, and enacting a “wireless Carterphone” policy that would prohibit wireless operators from approving the devices attached to their networks. The paper offers some useful coverage of the complexities and weaknesses of the wireless industry, but his major recommendations — all predicated on the notion that the wireless industry is essentially uncompetitive — don’t seem warranted. At best, Wu offers solid suggestions to the wireless industry about how it might improve its service offerings, but too often his report reads like a list of consumer gripes designed to prod telecom bureaucrats into various regulatory moves.