The FCC's policy with regard to ISPs goes back over 30 years. In 1966, in a proceeding known as Computer I, the FCC first asked "what is the regulatory difference between computers that facilitate communications and computers with which we communication." The FCC divided the universe at that time into pure communications, pure data processing, and hybrid stuff. Pure communications is regulated under title II as common carriers. Data processing was seen at the time as highly competitive and innovated, with very low barriers to entry to the market. There was, therefore, no need to regulate that industry. Therefore the FCC's policy of not regulating what would become the Internet was born. And for the stuff in between, the hybrid stuff, well, the FCC would just figure it out. In the 1970s, the computer networks became distributed (terminals began to get intelligent) and the FCC was overwhelmed figuring out what the hybrid stuff was. Therefore the FCC initiated Computer II. In this proceeding, the FCC refined its definitions and came up with the basic versus enhanced services distinction. Basic telecommunications is where a message crosses the network virtually transparent to the network - There is essentially no interaction between the network and the content of the message. Enhanced services were pretty much anything else - anything which involved data processing or protocol conversion or something where the message returned by the computer is different from the message inputted. ISPs fall under the definition of enhanced service providers. These proceedings did much more than set definitions. Of course they declared that what would be ISPs were not regulated as common carriers by the FCC. They also set restrictions for telephone company (monopolies) entrance into the competitive ESP market and exempt ISPs from the metered access charges (modem taxes) that long distance companies pay. (I am working on a Guide where all of these rules as they exist today are set forth). In response to the CNET article where the challengers say that only Congress has authority to exempt ISPs from common carrier regulation, it should be noted that the US Congress adopted the FCC's regulatory scheme in the Telecom Act of 1996, setting forth the definition of Information Service Providers which included all ESPs and which are unregulated. More information about all this can be found at www.cybertelecom.org. Look at "What is the Enhanced Service Provider Status of ISPs" at http://www.cybertelecom.org/faqs/espart.htm -B

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Rodney Joffe <rjoffe@centergate.com> 10/02/00 04:30PM >>>

The list seems quiet. In the interests of noise and testing a new procmail recipe... The SUPREME COURT has spoken again... http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-2915149.html?tag=st.ne.1002.lthd.1005-2... -- Rodney Joffe CenterGate Research Group, LLC. http://www.centergate.com "Technology so advanced, even we don't understand it!"(SM) ______________________________________________ FREE Personalized Email at Mail.com Sign up at http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup