James Fallows at the Atlantic recently ran a reader contest to nominate the worst public policy decision of the past fifty years. (<a href="http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/stupidest_policy_ever_contest_1.php"The winner? Ethanol subsidies.) I’d like to do the same for technology policy.
Readers, please submit your suggestions for the stupidest infotech policy ever. An ideal submission is an infotech policy that (1) was established by a government, (2) did serious damage, (3) had wide support across the political spectrum, (4) failed for reasons that should have been obvious at the time, (5) failed even by the standards of its own supporters. It’s not enough that you would have chosen differently, or that you would have weighed competing public goods differently – we’re looking for a policy that no reasonable person, with the benefit of hindsight, would support.
Submit your suggestions in the comments. Once the discussion has died down, I’ll choose a winner. If this contest is successful, we’ll follow it up with a best policy contest.
