Blog - Page 17

Telecommunications reform (HB 168) was amended in the Georgia State Senate to protect the Public Service Commission’s authority to resolve consumer complaints against providers of old-fashioned telephone service. Good politics, perhaps, but PSC jurisdiction for consumer issues is redundant since the Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs already protects consumers. And although it may sound counterintuitive, PSC authority can actually harm consumers by restraining full and fair competition. That’s because the PSC only has jurisdiction to resolve consumer complaints affecting wireline telephone service, but not wireless or VoIP services with which they compete. If the PSC isn’t careful, it can create unequal marketplace advantages and burdens depending on the type of technology competitors use to deliver their services. Nevertheless, HB 168 Read More ›

Former FCC Chairman Michael Powell, reacting to a proposal to reclassify broadband as a “telecommunications” service under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934, in an interview with Cecilia Kang of the Washington Post: Here’s the bottom line, to talk about going to Title II is talking about doing something relatively epic, novel and unprecedented. It doesn’t mean they couldn’t do it, but I might challenge it. * * * * I hate the idea of Title II for broadband. I think we would really regret it because for a regulator versed in what it means, it means thousands and thousands of pages that would fall into this space and we would spend our lifetime trying to clean it Read More ›

A federal takeover of the Internet, according to President Obama’s former special assistant for science, technology and innovation policy, is as simple as formally relabelling Internet access services as “telecommunications services,” rather than “information services,” as they are called now. Susan Crawford argues that this wouldn’t be unprecedented at all. Until August 2005, the commission required that companies providing high-speed access to the Internet over telephone lines not discriminate among Web sites * * * * But under the Bush administration the F.C.C. deregulated high-speed Internet providers, arguing that cable Internet access was different from the kind of high-speed Internet access provided by phone companies * * * * This was a radical move, because it reversed the long-held assumption Read More ›

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the authority the FCC used to regulate Internet access providers is very limited. The ruling is obviously a victory for broadband Internet access providers. But it is also a victory for the rest of us. As the court noted, the legal interpretation the FCC fought to defend “would virtually free the Commission from its congressional tether.” In Comcast v. FCC, the court said it was okay for Comcast to discriminate against peer-to-peer file sharing as necessary to manage scarce network capacity. The opinion was written by Judge David S. Tatel, a Clinton nominee. The question before the court was whether the FCC has any jurisdiction to regulate Internet access Read More ›

The National Broadband Plan is going to take a while to digest. The following recommendations are included in the description of how the FCC plans to subsidize broadband — which may be necessary if it frightens away private investment with network neutrality regulation which deprives private investors of a fair return on their capital: RECOMMENDATION 8.2: The FCC should create the Connect America Fund (CAF). (p. 145-46) RECOMMENDATION 8.3: The FCC should create the Mobility Fund. (p. 146) RECOMMENDATION 8.4: The FCC should design new USF funds in a tax-efficient manner to minimize the size of the gap. (p. 146) RECOMMENDATION 8.6: The FCC should take action to shift up to $15.5 billion over the next decade from the current Read More ›

Tom Tauke, a top Verizon executive: In my view, the current statute is badly out of date. Now is the time to focus on updating the law affecting the Internet. To fulfill broadband’s potential it’s time for Congress to take a fresh look at our nation’s communications policy framework. Tauke’s top recommendations include: A behavioral advertising policy that requires an easy to use process for affirmative consent from a user before that user can be tracked on-line should apply to all players engaged in behavioral advertising, regardless of where they sit in the space and what technology is used. Competitive subsidies that are technologically neutral and targeted solely for the benefit of consumers, not corporate intermediaries, would be one alternative Read More ›

The Washington Post’s reaction to the National Broadband Plan that was deemed approved and issued with fanfare by the FCC this week: BY THE Federal Communications Commission’s own account, broadband use in the United States has exploded over the past decade * * * * So it is curious that the FCC’s newly released National Broadband Plan faults the market for failing to “bring the power and promise of broadband to us all” — in reality, some 7 million households unable to get broadband because it is not offered in their areas. Such an assessment — and the call for government intervention to subsidize service for rural or poor communities — is premature, at best. * * * * it Read More ›

Former FCC Chairman Reed E. Hundt

Notorious former regulator Reed Hundt admitted he tried to screw telephone companies and broadcasters during a session at Columbia University, according to Harry Jessell at TVNewsCheck.
“In other words, we stole the value from the telephone network and gave it to … society. When I say we stole it, it was a government rule that produced this outcome.”
If this doesn’t sound Nixonian, it ought to. It was Nixon who famously said, “If the President does it, it is not illegal.” But the president is not above the law, and he was forced to resign.
Also, one cannot steal from a company, although this point is often overlooked. One can only steal from a group of investors, employees and/or consumers. They are the ones who ultimately pay.
While the FCC was stealing from the communities of interest represented by the telephone companies, Hundt said, it also tried to repress broadcasting: “This is a little naughty: We delayed the transition to HDTV and fought a big battle against the whole idea.”
Hundt thought his actions all served a higher purpose, i.e., “We decided … that the Internet ought to be the common medium in the United States and that broadcast should not be,” he said. “We also thought the Internet would fundamentally be pro-democracy and that broadcast had become a threat to democracy.” Huh?

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Some of the fascinating ways social media sites are making it easier for police to nab the bad guys, from FOXNews.com, Police in Indiana were able to arrest a New York fugitive who turned himself in by posting his workplace on his MySpace and Facebook pages. A Florida man who was convicted of murdering of his friend was caught because he posted pictures of the friend on his MySpace page next to the words “rest in peace” and “live through me,” hours before the death was even reported to police. A burglar in Pennsylvania who ransacked a home and stole some jewelry was caught after the victim found the burglar’s Facebook account open on her home computer. A bank fraud Read More ›

<a href=http://www.iltechpartner.org/beta/wp-content/uploads/ITP_ILBCC_ILHCC-Study.pdf We have completed a new paper examining the need for regulatory reform in Illinois for the Illinois Technology Partnership. Illinois was one of the first states to take the first step in permitting competition in the local telephone market. But it failed finish the job. In 1985, the Illinois General Assembly declared that “competition should be pursued as a substitute for regulation,” delivering new technologies, improved service quality, choice among telecommunications providers and ultimately lower prices for consumers. The goal of the 1985 act, which was to open the market to competition, has been achieved, but not the task of ensuring that consumers will reap the full benefits of competition — which requires eliminating legacy regulation that is Read More ›