Broadband regulation: Why wait for Congress?

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: GIBBS & BRADNER
08/16/05

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Net Insider columnist Scott Bradner takes a look at the FCC's
  decision to end regulations requiring incumbent
  telecommunications carriers to share their DSL broadband
  connections with competitors
* Links related to Gibbs & Bradner
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus: Broadband regulation: Why wait for Congress?

By Scott Bradner

A few days after I filed last week's column
<http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2005/080805bradner.html>
the FCC decided not to wait for the legislative process and
just give Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) a bunch of what he wants
plus some things he did not ask for. So far, what we know is
from FCC press releases
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad5208> and statements from
some of the commissioners ( Martin
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad5209>, Abernathy
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad5210>, Copps
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad5211>, Adelstein
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad5212> ) because the actual
orders have yet to be released. From this, it is clear that the
FCC removed all sharing requirements from telephone company DSL
infrastructure, extended wiretapping requirements to
facilities-based ISPs and adopted a toothless set of degraded
principles relating to Internet service. Congress and the courts
will speak on these actions, but it's still interesting to get
glimpses such as these into the mind set of today's FCC.

As far as I can tell the FCC did just what Ensign wanted to do;
that is, remove the requirement to share DSL equipment while
retaining the requirement to resell the underlying copper
circuits at reduced rates. The FCC also published a set of
principles covering consumer entitlements for Internet service
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad5213> that are close to
some of the customer rights in the Ensign bill.

The FCC's version is quite a piece of work. I had to read it a
number of times before I understood how little it said. There
are four ringing principles, including being able to access
Internet content, run whatever applications you want using
whatever devices you want and being able to have competition
among providers of different types. But each one on its own and
all four as a group are undercut to worthlessness by conditions
placed on it.

For example, you can run any application as long as law
enforcement says you can. For some of the law enforcement people
I've talked to that would mean you could not use a VPN back to
the office to read your confidential corporate e-mail. In
addition, all four principles are subservient to "reasonable
network management," meaning that an ISP could say I can't
manage my network if you run that application or access that
content.

Both the FCC and the carriers say they do not block customer
access to applications and that customers would never stand for
it if they did. I won't say they are lying, but a lot of ISPs
block e-mail (other than from their own e-mail servers) today,
and what choice would the customer have? Under this plan, there
are just two providers, and both have the incentive to block
customers' access to services they don't have a stake in.

The FCC does not quite know what to do about the Universal
Service Fund, so it has told all to keep doing what they have
been for a few months while the FCC does yet another study.

The FCC also did basically what it said it would do a year ago
and extended general wiretapping requirements to
facilities-based ISPs and VoIP providers
<http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2004/081604bradner.html>
that interconnect with the public switched telephone network.

So now we know that the FCC's priorities are, in order: 1)
protect incumbent carriers, 2) give law enforcement more than it
needs and a distant 3) pretend to be concerned about the
customer.

Disclaimer: Harvard has more resources than most students need,
but that is a good thing. The above observation about a bad
thing is mine, not the university's.

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. Cisco to juice 6500 switch
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad5214>

2. Cisco to double Catalyst 6500 switch capacity in coming
months, report says
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad5215>

3. Test: CipherTrust tops encryption field
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad5216>

4. Microsoft tool to simplify Vista deployment
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad5217>

5. Future-proof your network
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad3811>

Today's most-forwarded story:

Cisco to juice 6500 switch
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad5218>
_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Scott Bradner

Bradner is a consultant with Harvard University's University
Information Systems. He can be reached at <mailto:sob@sobco.com>
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Avaya
Network World Executive Guide: Evaluating VoIP in the Enterprise

Got VoIP? More and more companies are answering yes...the
reasons vary from cost savings, network flexibility, and ease of
administration. Yet others are drawn to the promise of advanced
VoIP applications such as unified messaging and collaboration.
Register now and get a free copy of Network World's Got VoIP?
Executive Guide, which outlines the keys to successful VoIP
deployments.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=110513
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Gibbs archive:
http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/gibbs.html

Bradner archive:
http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/bradner.html
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