Destroying the Village in order to Save it

Russell Shaw makes "an argument for FCC VoIP oversight even a Libertarian might agree with".

If you make your calls over VoIP, especially a flat-rate plan, then the nagging minutiae of PSTN call rate tracking becomes a secondary concern at most. That’s because with VoIP, these complicating issues such as termination fees and local regulation will be less at the forefront. Or maybe not at all. Which is exactly why the FCC want to reserve the right to regulate this stuff, and not grant the individual states the authority to do so.

Oh, I see, we have to destroy the village in order to save it.

Yes, I know, I can point to several significant instances where this has actually worked. Australian Aborigines are much better off for having been colonised by England instead of France. And yes, federal regulation does give an industry an umbrella against state and local regulation, and there have been occasions when this industry or that has been happy for this. Then again, the person who was held up at his shop, and therefore not at home when it collapsed and killed everyone inside will be grateful to the robber, but that doesn't translate into an argument for armed robbery as government policy (oh, wait...).