Foreign Ownership Restrictions in Communications and 'Cultural' Trade: National Security Implications.
Abstract
The controversy surrounding massive legislative opening and reform of the domestic U.S. telecommunications market in 1996 all but obscured a subsidiary -- and uncompleted - debate over whether also to remove the last remaining international barriers, that is, foreign ownership restrictions in communications. Even if Congress had acted on foreign ownership restrictions, any relaxation would likely have been strictly limited because of traditional political concerns about foreign influence in the American broadcast industry. Nonetheless, a reexamination of foreign ownership restrictions is both important and timely. As we enter the 'information age', we need not merely to review whether these restrictions are anachronisms with respect to protecting our national security, but to ask whether their continued existence is harmful to broader Amercan interests. Do they affect the ability of U.S. firms to compete globally and of U.S. consumers to receive a complete and truly competitive range of services? Many analysts would say yes. In a world where global alliances are increasing and trade disputes are more and more likely to revolve around governmental notions of protecting 'cultural identity', keeping the U.S. communications market closed to foreigners may harm rather than help U.S. efforts to open foreign markets to our own exports and business interests. This paper looks at the original national se%urity concerns giving rise to foreign ownership restrictions, and presents the case that information technologies have long since outstripped any effectiveness section 310 -- a licensing tool -- may have had in preventing foreign agents from transmitting radio messages (whether espionage or propaganda) during wartime.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADA314840
Entities
People
- Donna M. Dipaolo
Organizations
- Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy