US communication policy after convergence

Communication systems are now converging, but communication policy has evolved to treat different media differently. Most solutions for a post-convergence communication policy are adjustments to inherited regulatory categories. Instead, this article revisits the underlying goals of policy-making across all media. First, the article presents a conceptual model for the communication policy process as one of inertia punctuated by crisis. Second, it applies this model to a very brief history of policy in the US, considering print, post, telephony, broadcasting and the internet. Third, from this analysis it suggests useful approaches in a converged environment, distinguishing three underlying goals for policy: the right to public dissemination, the right to private exchange and the right to design communication platforms.