Gov’t Still Trying to Catch Up to Broadband
If you thought it was confusing that your cable company can now offer you phone service and your power company wants to sell you internet access just imagine what the government is dealing with:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit previously ruled broadband from cable companies had a telecommunications component and should be subject to stricter regulations and overturned the FCC (news - web sites) action.
The government countered that the court failed to yield to the FCC’s expertise and that the decision was reasonable.
“Classifying cable modem service as a telecommunications service would drastically change the regulatory environment for cable modem service,” the U.S. government said in its brief by acting U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement.
If the appeals court decision stood, cable companies would be forced to follow pricing regulations, contribute to the universal service fund that subsidizes telephone service and face other obligations, the brief said.
While you are still trying to wrap your head around the idea that everything is a “dumb pipe” the government has more than a century of legislation treating each of these utilities as separate services governed by different laws. For example: you can buy a phone attachment to your computer to make calls via the internet but should that company be responsible for allowing you to make 9-1-1 calls?
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