FCC not Schizo at all

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: hugh crawford <hugh () hughcrawford com>
Date: August 8, 2005 11:31:02 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: declan.mccullagh () cnet com
Subject: FCC not Schizo at all



Dave, Declan McCullagh's column was so wrong headed I just had to put  
up a response at
http://www.thoughtballoon.com/fcc-not-schizo.html

Perhaps the IP list would find it of interest

FCC not Schizo at all
In Declan McCullagh's column: Schizo FCC deregulates DSL, but   
regulates Net-wiretapping <http://news.com.com/FCC+schizo+on+DSL%2C 
+wiretapping/2010-1071_3-5821077.html> he says

"The text of the FCC's CALEA order is not yet public, but early signs  
are worrisome. The FCC's two-page summary <http://dw.com.com/redir? 
destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fhraunfoss.fcc.gov%2Fedocs_public%2Fattachmatch% 
2FDOC-260434A1.pdf&siteId=3&oId=2010-1071-5821077&ontId=12&lop=nl.ex>  
says that voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers like Vonage  
that mimic traditional phone service must rewire their networks to be  
easily wiretappable."

It says nothing of the kind. Skyp , Vonage , et al have no wires ,  
can't "rewire" anything and don't own the networks that they run on.  
The FCC may act as dumb as a sack of wet hammers, but they aren't  
dumb enough say that "(VoIP) providers like Vonage that mimic  
traditional phone service must rewire their networks to be easily  
wiretappable"

The summary is titled "FCC Requires Certain Broadband and VoIP  
Providers to Accommodate Wiretaps" It sounds more like a possible  
move to only allow the broadband providers themselves to offer VoIP  
and to allow them to filter out other VoIP providers, since there is  
probably not any workable technology to enable  a  VoIP provider to  
"accommodate wiretaps" without owning the physical network.

This fits in with the other FCC news of the week, where the FCC has  
defined DSL as well as cable broadband to be an "information service"  
where the provider can pick and chose services to allow on their  
network rather than a "telecommunications service" which is required  
to allow competing services to ride over their network. If an  
"information service" is like cable TV where you can watch anything  
the cable company wants to let you ( sort of like the Soviet Union  
where if you want cheap galoshes you get cheap galoshes, and if you  
want basketball shoes you get cheap galoshes , want a car, you get  
cheap galoshes ...) and a "telecommunications service" is like using  
the phone to call anywhere you want and talk about anything you want,  
or maybe even play your saxophone to friends, or listen to bird  
songs, or ( after AT&T lost control of what you could attach to the  
phone system) use a fax machine or modem.

Now that both DSL and Cable broadband are deemed "information  
services" there won't be any regulatory pressure on the DSL providers  
to open their networks , and thus no(t much) market pressure on the  
cable broadband providers keep their networks open. In short both the  
phone (DSL) companies and the cable broadband companies get to act  
like cable companies with their soviet style marketing.What's more,  
once both cable and DSL are "information services" then the FCC can  
hold service providers responsible for the content, services, and  
protocols that they allow on their networks. This comes back to title  
of the summary   "FCC Requires Certain Broadband and VoIP Providers  
to Accommodate Wiretaps" . Note that it is not titled "FCC Requires  
Certain Broadband Providers and VoIP Providers to Accommodate  
Wiretaps" or "FCC Requires Certain Broadband, and VoIP Providers to  
Accommodate Wiretaps"  It seems clear that the intent of the FCC is  
that only the Broadband Providers themselves offer VoIP.

Anybody who doubts that the FCC thinks that they can dictate what the  
services and content the broadband providers offer need only remember  
the recent comments by the commissioner that there isn't any real  
difference between cable and broadcast TV and thus the FCC should be  
able to apply the same standards to cable programming as they do to  
broadcast.

It is clear that the FCC has a consistent model where there are only  
Content Providers and Content Consumers. This is in contrast to Users  
of tools like the Internet, personal computers and video recorders  
all of which the FCC has proposed should be regulated to protect  
Content Providers from Content Consumers.

Declan McCullagh made a comparison in his column to the Soviet Union  
and I just couldn't help but do the same, but to make one last  
comparison the precedent for the regulation of  creative and  
communications tools like the Internet, personal computers and video  
recorders that immediately jumps to mind is the old Soviet Union  
making its citizens register their typewriters.

Maybe if personal computers, video cameras, Internet phones and HDTVs  
could undergo a little feature creep and be used to fire bullets the  
current administration would leave them alone

Hugh Crawford


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