[BARC-List] Fwd: NYTimes.com Article: F.C.C. Begins Rewriting Rules on Delivery of the Internet

[Arthur N1NHZ]

       This looks like BPL to me.  --  Arthur  N1NHZ

>Subject: NYTimes.com Article: F.C.C. Begins Rewriting Rules on Delivery of 
>the Internet
>Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2004 21:16:21 -0500 (EST)
>
>This article from NYTimes.com
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>F.C.C. Begins Rewriting Rules on Delivery of the Internet
>
>February 12, 2004
>  By STEPHEN LABATON
>
>WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 - The Federal Communications Commission
>began writing new rules today that officials and industry
>experts said would profoundly alter both the way the
>Internet is delivered and used in homes and businesses.
>
>In one set of proceedings, the commission began writing
>regulations to enable computer users to gain access to the
>Internet through electric power lines. Consumers will be
>able to plug their modems directly into the wall sockets
>just as they do with any garden variety appliance.
>Officials said the new rules, which are to be completed in
>the coming months, would enable utilities to offer an
>alternative to the cable and phone companies and provide an
>enormous possible benefit to rural communities that are
>served by the power grid but not by broadband providers.
>
>In a second set of proceedings, commissioners began
>considering what rules ought to apply to companies offering
>Internet space and software to enable computer users to
>send and receive telephone calls.
>
>A majority of the commissioners suggested that the new
>phone services should have significantly fewer regulatory
>burdens than traditional phone carriers. The agency also
>voted 4-to-1 to approve the application of a small Internet
>company, Pulver.com, asking that its service of providing
>computer-to-computer phone service not make it subject to
>the same regulations and access charges as the phone
>carriers.
>
>Industry experts say that neither the phone service nor the
>broadband delivery systems offered by electric companies
>will take any sizable market share for at least the next
>two years. But in moving forward with the new regulations,
>they said the agency was reducing regulatory uncertainty
>and encouraging major companies and investors to make
>investments in the new technologies to enable them to move
>to market more quickly.
>
>The F.C.C. chairman, Michael K. Powell, and his two
>Republican colleagues on the commission said the agency's
>decisions on the two sets of rules and the Pulver
>application would ultimately transform the
>telecommunications industry and the Internet.
>
>"This represents a commitment of the commission of bringing
>tomorrow's technology today," Mr. Powell said. He added
>that the rules governing the new phone services were
>intended to make them as ubiquitous as e-mail, and at
>possibly a significantly lower cost than traditional
>phones, since the services would have lower regulatory
>costs.
>
>A Republican commissioner, Kathleen Q. Abernathy, said that
>the agency and industry "stands at the threshold of a
>profound transformation of the telecommunications
>marketplace" as more companies - including such giants as
>AT&T and Verizon - move from circuit-switching phone
>technology to Internet-based technology.
>
>But one Democratic commissioner, Michael J. Copps, raised
>objections to the Pulver petition and questioned the
>underlying themes of deregulation in the two rulemaking
>proceedings. He said that they had set the agency on a
>course that could effectively rewrite the
>Telecommunications Act of 1996 and make it easier for the
>incumbent phone companies to escape necessary regulation.
>
>Mr. Copps also criticized the majority of the commission
>for rejecting a request by law enforcement agencies that
>the F.C.C. first work out the legal and technical problems
>in monitoring phone calls over the Internet before granting
>Pulver's application or considering new rules for the
>Internet-based phone services.
>
>"I believe it is reckless to proceed, and I cannot support
>this decision at this time," he said of the Pulver
>application. "The majority apparently prefers to act now
>and fix law enforcement issues later - along with universal
>service, public safety, disability access and a host of
>other policies we are only beginning to address."
>
>Mr. Powell replied pointedly to Mr. Copps's criticism that
>the agency was rewriting the Telecommunications Act by
>offering a new deregulatory climate that the old phone
>companies might seek to take advantage of.
>
>"We can talk about rewriting the Telecommunications Act,"
>he said. "But the Telecommunications Act is nine years old
>and it is being rewritten by technology."
>
>http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/12/technology/12CND-NET.html?ex=1077638580&ei=1&en=bce00346b2e78b97