Will the FCC Regulate the Net? 287
Lam1969 writes "Computerworld's Robert Mitchell wonders if the FCC could one day have regulatory power over the Internet. The causes? As telephone calls are increasingly delivered as an IP service, and traditional telephony fades away, traditional telephone companies are demanding a level regulatory regimen for all service providers. From the article: "Assuming that the FCC buys arguments such as this, we could see a new regulatory focus on the Internet and a decline in the hands-off attitude shown in the past. From the regulators' viewpoint, the Internet increasingly may be viewed as just another utility that requires oversight.""
not the internet (Score:5, Informative)
FCC authority (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Geek revolt (Score:3, Informative)
Mechanisms such as the WIPO [wipo.int] and WTO [wto.org] are incredibly influential entities, and have already been able to leverage many governments to implement laws governing media, and other communications [see: DMCA [wikipedia.org], EUCD [wikipedia.org]].
Most of this work is due to the lobbying from large multi-nationals, as it is their interests that are at stake. In the case of the Internet, it would be logical to assume that affected corporations will lobby the relevant organizations to ensure global enforcement of rules that benefit them.
It is sensible to expect then, that in lieu of any bold moves to stop it happening, a similar fate will befall the internet.
Re:Who cares? The future needs no FCC. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Geek revolt (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Who cares? The future needs no FCC. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:not the internet (Score:5, Informative)
Working on a project... (Score:2, Informative)
That sends messages over IP to landlines. The FCC is already involved.
Why not? Secret Service does it for every printer (Score:3, Informative)
You're right, it would be totally impractical for a government agency to put spying technology on an entire line of computer products [washingtonpost.com]. Yeah, no need to worry about THAT ever happening.
-Eric
Some of those charges are phony (Score:3, Informative)
What you're paying for is the ability to connect to a separate long-distance carrier. This charge keeps going up, even though the cost of providing bulk transport keeps going down.