Authors: Johannes Bauer and Jean Hardy On February 8, 1996, in a festive ceremony in the Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress, President Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The 30th anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on the Act and the state of digital policy. It was the first major overhaul of the Communications Act since 1934. Efforts to overhaul communications law started in the 1970s but by the 1990s the need for reform was tangible. Specific provisions of the Act must be understood in the context of prior regulatory and antitrust policies. Particularly the incremental liberalization of equipment and services markets pursued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the break-up of the Bell System by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) set the stage. The Act achieved many of its stated goals, but it failed to achieve others and […]
