Normally, FCC issues are left to the PFF blog side of the operation, not addressed on IPCentral.Info.

But issues seem to be converging. On March 22, the FCC announced an Inquiry into Broadband Market Practices. The press release (there is nothing in the Fed Reg yet) refers to the Commission's 2005 Internet Policy Statement and seeks comment on "whether [it] should incorporate a new principle of nondiscrimination and, if so, how would 'nondiscrimination' be defined, and how would such a principle read."

One of the four specific questions raised: "Whether our policies should distinguish between content providers that charge end users for access to content and those that do not."

The accompanying statement of the Chairman says:

The intent of these principles was to protect consumers’ access to the lawful online content of their choice and to foster the creation, adoption and use of Internet broadband content, applications, and services. . . . This inquiry will provide a convenient forum for various providers, including network and content providers, to tell us what is happening in the market and about their concerns. . . . . . We have the dual responsibilities of creating an environment that promotes infrastructure investment and broadband deployment and to ensure that consumers' access to content on the Internet is protected.

posted by James DeLong @ 10:06 AM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

A neat video, from the Fiber to the Home Council.

posted by James DeLong @ 11:09 AM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (1)

Jack Shafer of Slate, not exactly a bastion of conservative thought, just published a strong piece advocating a property-rights approach to spectrum. Lead-off:

Suppose Congress had established in the early 19th century a Federal Publications Commission to regulate the newspaper, magazine, and newsletter businesses. The supporters of the FPC would have argued that such regulation was necessary because paper-pulp-grade timber is a scarce resource, and this scarcity made it incumbent upon the government to determine not only who could enter the publications business but where. Hence, the FPC would issue publication licenses to the "best" applicants and deny the rest.

Technology alone can't bring the spectrum feast to entrepreneurs and consumers. More capitalism—not less—charts the path to abundance.

For those who want the government to expand fair use or otherwise micromanage intellectual property rights, bear in mind Shafer's summing up of FCC history:

what the FCC really excelled at was postponing the creation of new technologies. It stalled the emergence of such feasible technologies as FM radio, pay TV, cell phones, satellite radio, and satellite TV, just to name a few. As Declan McCullagh wrote in 2004, if the FCC had been in charge of the Web, we'd still be waiting for its standards engineers to approve of the first Web browser.

posted by James DeLong @ 9:48 AM | Big Tent , Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (4)

Plane rides are for reading, so on my way to MT, I re-read the excellent artilcle by Prof. Mark Schultz and David Walker, HOW INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY BECAME CONTROVERSIAL: NGOS AND THE NEW INTERNATIONAL IP AGENDA.

The piece discusses what it calls "The New International IP Agenda" and its proponents, which have:

brought new controversy into international IP policy discussions. This broad agenda, united by a thread of skepticism regarding intellectual property and a common network of NGOs and activists, has been asserted in many different contexts. Discussions and negotiations regarding a wide variety of topics, including international development, pharmaceuticals, software patents, the digital divide, and cultural policy, now include contentious debates regarding the morality and efficacy of intellectual property rights.

To a large degree, this attack uses the language of "human rights" -- the people of the world have a right to medicine, or knowledge, or whatever, and therefore anything that inhibits access RIGHT NOW, even in the interests of long run development, is immoral.

But what a crabbed view of human rights this represents. The peoples of the world have a right to be dependent, and to be doled out whatever goods and services the do-gooders and planners of the developed world decide they deserve, this year. (It may change next year.)

Those of us who are pro-property rights have a rather different view of human rights. We think everyone has a right to be a proud and producing member of the global economy, with an opportunity to reap the rewards of his/her actions and to decide for his/her self what goods and services he/she deserves in exchange. This seems not to be something the proponents of the new IP agenda want -- for whatever dark psychological reason.

But I will take our vision over theirs, any day, and under any criteria you want to apply, practical or ethical.

posted by James DeLong @ 12:34 PM | Big Tent , Free Culture Movement , International , Physical Property , Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (1)

Akamai and Sony have struck a deal whereby Akamai will distribute Sony's PLAYSTATION (R) Network. The news story, translated from Japanese, says:

Through the use of Akamai's distributed delivery services, unlike alternative offerings that rely on centralized data-center servers located domestically, it becomes possible to achieve greater reliability and scale by delivering added value to ubiquitous terminals, such as cell phones. Akamai's dynamic content delivery capabilities also ensure high performance and reliability of dynamically-rendered, personalized Web content.

All right, you proponents of net neutrality, fill in the blank: "This is bad because _______________."

posted by James DeLong @ 8:00 AM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (3)

One gets so accusomed to polticians' mealy mouth that it is bracing to hear honest communication. So a toast to FCC Commissioner MacDowell for a blast of recent candor.

The background is that McDowell [corrected] had to decide whether to sit on the AT&T/Bell South merger despite a history of involvement with the companies. The Commission is deadlocked, based on corrosive partisan politics rather than any real legal issue, so his participation is important, and there is a general principle of administrative law called the rule of necessity that favors participation when a conflict of interest is not serious and sensible administration demands it.

So McDowell sought the opinion of his GC, who came up with mush, and the Commissioner declined to participate, explaining:

McDowell said in a statement that [the GC's] memo left him with no confidence or comfort. "I had expected a memorandum making a strong and clear case for my participation. Instead, the [memo] is hesitant, does not acknowledge crucial facts and analyses and concludes by framing this matter as an ethical coin-toss frozen in mid-air.

"I expected the legal equivalent of body armor, I was handed Swiss cheese," he added. "Accordingly, I disqualify myself from this matter. This state of affairs is personally disappointing to me. It appears that the lingering question of my involvement is being used as yet another excuse for delay and inaction."

posted by James DeLong @ 3:22 PM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (1)

C|Net News has a roundup of the impact of the election on various tech and IP issus. If Rick Boucher becomes Chair of the IP subcommittee, obviously he will be able to force movement on his long-dormant proposals to expand "fair use" in ways that would destroy DRM, and thus the whole U.S. system of intellectual property protection. (My editorial comment - not C|Net's.)

Other issues -- net neutrality is back on the agenda; broadcast flag may be on the agenda for the lame duck session-- if not, it will go nowhere.

To the extent that the anti-net neutrality or pro-IP forces are assuming that a Bush veto would save them from anything extreme, they are whistling in the dark. Bush is not a veto-er, and is unlikely to change. As bitter conservatives say, if he signed the anti-free speech McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, he'll sign anything.

posted by James DeLong @ 10:15 AM | Access: Commons, Fair Use, Orphan Works, Public Domain , Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

PFF economist Tom Lenard says:

I supported the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust case against Microsoft, because I thought the evidence of its anticompetitive behavior was compelling. But I always opposed remedies that would turn Microsoft into a public utility and subject it to common carrier regulation. This is precisely what would happen if the Windows platform becomes subject to an "open access" requirement of the sort that some applications providers and antitrust enforcers now seem to want in the context of security software. It is hard to envision anything that could be worse for innovation in this critical, technically complex sector of the economy.

posted by James DeLong @ 12:44 PM | Antitrust , International , Software , Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (1)

Perhaps Canada's Videotron needs an economics lesson from Second Life. According to the Globe and Mail, the company says "it will invest $300-million this year as its average customer uses four times more bandwidth than just a year ago."

Sounds like a growing business, but the company's reaction is to urge the Canadian government "to slap a transmission tariff on providers — like the music and film industry — so they can shoulder part of the burden." -- “If the movie studio were to mail a DVD . . . they would expect to pay postage or courier fees,” Depatie said. “Why should they not expect a transmission tariff?” He left unclear whether "whether such a tariff would be passed on to consumers through higher download fees." "But Depatie said he's against raising rates for Internet service and that it's only fair for content providers to help foot the infrastructure cost."

Continue reading Have You Thought of Charging Them? . . .

posted by James DeLong @ 9:12 AM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

See here.

posted by James DeLong @ 12:49 PM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 9:00 AM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 9:58 AM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 9:20 AM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 9:54 AM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 12:34 PM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 8:58 AM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 2:48 PM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 1:52 PM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 11:36 AM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 8:27 AM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 2:37 PM | Internet: P2P, Search Engines... , Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 8:05 AM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 1:50 PM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 2:57 PM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 10:16 AM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 5:41 PM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 12:40 PM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 2:20 PM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 8:34 AM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 8:16 AM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 12:00 PM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 9:18 AM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 9:09 AM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 9:32 AM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 8:02 AM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)

posted by James DeLong @ 9:06 AM | Telecom

Link to this Entry | Printer-Friendly | Email a Comment | Post a Comment (0)