FCC knocks telcos' secret plan to divide and bill the web

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Date: January 8, 2006 12:14:24 PM EST
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] FCC knocks telcos' secret plan to divide and  
bill the web
Reply-To: dewayne () warpspeed com

Original URL: <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/07/ces_fcc_wsj/>

FCC knocks telcos' secret plan to divide and bill the web

By Ashlee Vance in Las Vegas
Published Saturday 7th January 2006 08:37 GMT
CES Forgive us if the FCC Chairman’s message today about maintaining  
a level of decency on the public airwaves didn't take. A pair of very  
large, very exposed breasts proved too distracting.

Yes, these are the moments you pray for every year here at the  
Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The gadget fest, for those of you  
who haven't heard, takes place at the same time as the Adult  
Entertainment Expo. The two conferences, in fact, collide at the  
Sands Expo and Convention Center where a few CES sessions are held.  
Throughout the Sands' halls, you'll see the g-string set meet the  
Crackberry crew.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin today held a question and ansdwer session  
at the Sands where he touched on a number of topics, including US  
broadband usage, VoIP and, of course, keeping TV and radio safe for  
public consumption. After the Chairman's speech ended, we walked  
about ten feet and ran into a woman exposing herself in the middle of  
the conference hall. Only Las Vegas could bring porn stars and Janet  
Jackson nipple-busters so close. (We're Martin's aides kept him away  
form the thigh-highs, frilly undies and leather boots.)

The Chairman – a huge improvement over chief Janet Jackson nipple  
shielder Michael Powell – tossed out the party line on most subjects.  
He called for a speedier broadband rollout, vowed to make VoIP  
companies meet landline safety standards and urged consumers to  
embrace digital TV. You've heard all these messages in the past.

What you may not be familiar with is the FCC's intense fear that  
media companies or the telephone companies will wall off content and  
internet services from certain classes of customers. While not  
perfectly clear about the issue at hand, Martin seems to think the  
internet will be divided up and with different classes of content  
walled off from consumers.

"(I would) be concerned if you talked about network providers  
blocking access to content that consumers want," he said.

Service providers should be free to charge different amounts for  
varying bandwidth, but they should not be allowed to cordon off  
content from consumers, Martin said.

[snip]
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>



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