Monday, March 28, 2005
What's A Cable Modem?
Tomorrow the Supremes hear an argument on whether a cable modem is an "information service" or a "telecommunications service." As reported in Forbes this is a fight over who gets to interpret the statute. The FCC, despite a terrible track record in the Ninth Circuit, thinks it's an "information service." The Ninth Circuit agrees with Brand X (the ISP that brought the case) that cable modems are telecom services - with the implication that consumers should be able to use their cable modems with someone other than Comcast as their ISP.
The notion that ISP service is somehow different than the IP transport from the cable modem to the first node on the network is just one more insanity of US telecom regulation. It's high time that this system be overhauled. My prescription - abolish all regulation, just like the CAB and the ICC were eliminated by the Carter administration. Sure a lot of airlines went bankrupt, but now I can fly for $299 round trip to New York even with oil prices at a record high.
The notion that ISP service is somehow different than the IP transport from the cable modem to the first node on the network is just one more insanity of US telecom regulation. It's high time that this system be overhauled. My prescription - abolish all regulation, just like the CAB and the ICC were eliminated by the Carter administration. Sure a lot of airlines went bankrupt, but now I can fly for $299 round trip to New York even with oil prices at a record high.
