[governance] [Dewayne-Net] Shutting Down The Phone System Gets Real: The Regulatory Implications of AT&T Upgrading To An All IP Network

Thu Nov 15 18:43:27 EST 2012

I am sorry but do you mean technical standards, which these and other companies routinely set and define (of course in a consensus driven environment at the ietf), or policy standards, where while they .. like any large company with a global presence, do lobby governments worldwide?   Of course when lobbying at the national level, they would have to compete for influence with other entities that may well be purely local players.

--srs (htc one x)

----- Reply message -----
From: "michael gurstein" <gurstein at gmail.com>
To: "'Rashmi Rangnath'" <rrangnath at publicknowledge.org>, <governance at lists.igcaucus.org>
Subject: [governance] [Dewayne-Net] Shutting Down The Phone System Gets Real: The Regulatory Implications of AT&T Upgrading To An All IP Network
Date: Fri, Nov 16, 2012 4:52 AM

Hi Rashmi,

I can see where, for US based companies (and to a lesser degree CS and
individuals) it would be important to hold the regulator to account -- to
ensure for example that the regulator doesn't mess with de facto standards,
content policy that sort of thing established by primarily US based Internet
companies (Google, eBay, PayPal, Facebook and so on) It is less clear to me
why this should matter to folks in countries which don't have companies in a
position to dominate elements of the Internet in such a way as to establish
these de facto standards.  

In fact, I would guess (as I was arguing in my original blogpost)  that for
those countries and the citizens of those countries having some involvement
in establishing/enforcing those standards etc.  would be of direct interest
and for them the only means that that is likely to available is through some
sort of international body such as the ITU.

I agree with you about the problem with closed processes and I think that
that should be an issue for everyone since being "closed" in this instance
means that there is a lack of accountability overal. 

However, I think the issue of "openness" and accountability should extend as
well to those entities (such as the private, mostly US based companies e.g.
Google, Facebook, PayPal) which dominate certain elements of the Internet
and in this way are setting de facto global standards/policies etc.  cf.
http://gurstein.wordpress.com/2012/02/25/gmail-hell-day-4-dealing-with-the-b
org-or-being-evil-without-really-thinking-about-it/ and
http://gurstein.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/gmail-hell2-an-epilogue-they-are-th
e-borg-and-they-are-too-big-to-be-allowed-to-fail/

Best,

M

From: Rashmi Rangnath [mailto:rrangnath at publicknowledge.org] 
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2012 1:44 PM
To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org; michael gurstein
Subject: Re: [governance] [Dewayne-Net] Shutting Down The Phone System Gets
Real: The Regulatory Implications of AT&T Upgrading To An All IP Network

Michael:

I think there is a significant difference between national regulations and
regulation by a body such as the ITU. National regulations anticipate
national needs, and in the case of the US (and I suspect many other
countries) happens within processes that hold the regulator accountable to
the public. While the regulator may not always act in the public interest,
there are mechanisms in place that would hold the regulator to account. 

In contrast, international regulations need to be much more high level
because they cannot anticipate particular local needs. I think a high level
statement of principle at the ITU that calls for universal access to
broadband is good. 

Another cause for discomfort with detailed ITU regulations stems from its
closed processes.

Best,

Rashmi

On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 12:46 PM, michael gurstein <gurstein at gmail.com>
wrote:

I'm sure this is naïve of me, but I'm wondering what the difference (at the
level of principle) might be between arguing as below, for regulation (in
support of the public interest) for an IP based network through the FCC and
arguing for regulation of "the Internet" (in support of the public interest)
at the WCIT/the ITU (as per for example
http://gurstein.wordpress.com/2012/10/11/the-ituwcit-thinking-about-internet
<http://gurstein.wordpress.com/2012/10/11/the-ituwcit-thinking-about-interne
t-regulatory-policy-from-an-ldc-perspective/> 
-regulatory-policy-from-an-ldc-perspective/

(and please could we discuss this at the level of theory/principle while
avoiding US "exceptionalism"...

M

-----Original Message-----
From: dewayne-net at warpspeed.com [mailto:dewayne-net at warpspeed.com] On Behalf
Of Dewayne Hendricks
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2012 2:46 PM
To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Shutting Down The Phone System Gets Real: The
Implications of AT&T Upgrading To An All IP Network

Shutting Down The Phone System Gets Real: The Implications of AT&T Upgrading
To An All IP Network.
By Harold Feld
November 13, 2012
<http://www.publicknowledge.org/blog/shutting-down-phone-system-gets-real-im
plicat>

I believe AT&Ts announcement last week about its plans to upgrade its
network and replace its rural copper lines with wireless is the single most
important development in telecom since passage of the Telecommunications Act
of 1996. It impacts just about every aspect of wireline and wireless policy.

For those who missed it in the morning-after blur of the election results,
AT&T announced that it will invest an additional $14 billion to upgrade its
wireline and wireless networks, so that it projects investing $22 billion a
year for the next several years in capital expenditures (CAPEX as they say
on The Street). At the end of the three year time frame, AT&T expects to
have converted its existing time division multiplexing (TDM
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