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Silicon Valley looks too comfy for comfort to Washington |
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Seriously, playtime is over, Big Business. And tech companies in particular are being told it’s time to start cleaning up their toys.
Following in the footsteps of the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, the Federal Communications Commission is starting to show its teeth under the Obama administration.
Julius Genachowski, President Obama’s choice to head the FCC, plans to review the exclusive arrangements between wireless carriers and cell phone makers.
The most notable exclusive arrangement, of course, is the one between AT&T and Apple over the iPhone. Being the sole carrier of the smartphone has been an incredible boon to AT&T, bringing over millions of new customers despite complaints of spotty service.
Apple is already at the center of an FTC inquiry over two shared board member it has with Google – Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson.
And, for its part, the DoJ has been looking into the alleged no-poaching pacts among some of the biggest tech companies, including, once again, Apple and Google.
It’s unclear where these reviews and inquiries will lead. But they certainly are serving notice that the decades of lax regulation over competition are over and the comfy confines of Silicon Valley look a little too comfy to Washington.
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