FCC will tame the Internet - or Kill It

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Reply to. dave () farber net

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary security deserve neither liberty nor 
security.”   Benjamin Franklin 

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Brett Glass <brett () lariat net>
> Date: June 21, 2010 11:38:55 PM EDT
> To: "dave () farber net" <dave () farber net>, Ip ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
> Subject: FCC will tame the Internet - or Kill It

> FCC Will Tame the Internet Or Kill It
>
> Published: Friday, 18 Jun 2010 | 12:07 PM ET
> By: Dennis Kneale
> CNBC Media & Technology Editor
>
> For almost two decades the U.S. government has kept its meddlesome mudhooks off the Internet, freeing it to spread 
> its kudzu-like tendrils into the global economy. And it worked. The FCC took a big step this week to end all of that. 
> For the first time, the Federal Communications Commission proposes using a set of 75-year-old phone regulations to 
> oversee the Net of the 21st century and have a say in the prices that companies like AT&T and Comcast can charge. And 
> set rules for what traffic they must carry. (Comcast is acquiring a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal' CNBC's parent 
> company. The deal is awaiting regulatory approval.)
>
> Some telecom execs say the FCC's agenda is downright radical. It could thwart high hopes for the wireless Internet, 
> centerstage of the next digital revolution. The agency assault could restack the pecking order of winners and losers 
> and reshape their stock prices, affecting the portfolios of millions of retirees and investors. It would impose new 
> burdens on big carriers, while granting new power to content purveyors like Google and Yahoo.
>
> At stake is billions of dollars that carriers like Verizon and AT&T spend each year to spruce up their networks to 
> carry more digital bits. They will slash their spending if the feds restrain their upside; that could hurts jobs 
> growth in high-tech, which employs well over two million people in the U.S.
>
> If the FCC foray is imminent, "We have to re-evaluate whether we put shovels in the ground," is how AT&T's chief 
> executive, Randall Stephenson, put it this week.
>
> The last time the FCC tried such a major incursion, in the mid-1990s, Stephenson, then the company's chief financial 
> officer, cut annual capital spending by more than half, from $12 billion to $5 billion dollars a year. That cut 
> lasted for four years, until the courts threw out the FCC overreach.
>
> More at
>
> http://www.cnbc.com/id/37779304



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