Re: Why The FCC Wants To Smash Open The iPhone

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
Date: August 1, 2009 11:41:28 AM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Why The FCC Wants To Smash Open The iPhone

Why The FCC Wants To Smash Open The iPhone
by Erick Schonfeld on August 1, 2009
<http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/01/why-the-fcc-wants-to-smash-open-the-iphone/?awesm=tcrn.ch_2CGU&utm_campaign=techcrunch&utm_medium=tcrn.ch-twitter&utm_source=direct-tcrn.ch&utm_content=twitter-publisher-main 
>
Right about now, Apple probably wishes it had never rejected Google  
Voice and related apps from the iPhone. Or maybe it was AT&T who  
rejected the apps. Nobody really knows. But the FCC launched an  
investigation last night to find out, sending letters to all three  
companies (Apple, AT&T, and Google) asking them to explain exactly  
what happened.

On its face, it might seem odd to some people that the FCC is  
investigating the rejection of a single iPhone app. After all, iPhone  
apps are rejected every day. But the Google Voice rejection caused an  
unusual amount of uproar

, and there is nothing like a high-profile case to make an example out  
of in pursuit of pushing a bigger policy agenda. The FCC investigation  
is not just about the arbitrary rejection of a single app. It is the  
FCC’s way of putting a stake in the ground for making the wireless  
networks controlled by cell phone carriers as open as the Internet.

Today there are two different sets of rules for applications and  
devices on the Internet. On the wired Internet, we can connect any  
type of PC or other computing device and use any applications we want  
on those devices. On the wireless Internet controlled by cellular  
carriers like AT&T, we can only use the phones they allow on their  
networks and can only use the applications they approve. This was fine  
when the wireless networks were used mostly just for voice calls. But  
now that they are increasingly becoming our mobile connections to the  
Internet and mobile phones are becoming full-fledged mobile computers,  
an argument has been growing that the same rules of open access that  
rule the wired Internet should apply to the wireless Internet.

Whlle Apple and AT&T are cannot be too happy about the FCC  
investigation, Google must secretly be pleased as punch. It was only  
two years ago, prior to the 700MHz wireless spectrum auctions, that it  
was pleading with the FCC to adopt principles guaranteeing open access  
for applications, devices, services, and other networks. Now two years  
later, in a different context and under a different administration,  
the FCC is pushing for the same principles.

In its letters requesting more information from all three companies,  
the FCC cites “pending FCC proceedings regarding wireless open access  
(RM-11361) and handset exclusivity (RM-11497). That first proceeding  
on open access dates back to 2007 when Skype requested

 that cell phone carriers open up their networks to all applications  
(see Skype’s petition here

). Like Google Voice, Skype helps consumers bypass the carriers. The  
carriers don’t like that because that’s their erodes their core  
business and turns them into dumb pipes.

[snip]



-------------------------------------------
Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com