Use the PUCs and PSCs
A healty discussion on another forum has reminded me of something we all need to be reminded of.
Regardless of how Net Neutrality turns out at the federal level, every state has these things called PSCs or PUCs, commissions which in theory provide oversight for the various public utilities within that state. In many cases, the telcos and cable companies have made promises to the PUCs/PSCs about their behavior in return for regulatory relief. The link I refered to earlier, http://www.newnetworks.com/TeletruthresponseVerizon.htm is a detailed discussion of things Verizon promised the PA PUC more than 10 years ago, and how that has turned out.
The PUCs and PSCs are a tool that have tended to be ignored and forgotten. This is bad, and it needs to change.
I'm not entirely sure I'm for this new wave of legislation; I think I'd rather see the FCC try and do their job properly (where what they are doing right now is hardly proper). But in the absense of any change on the federal scene, well, the PUCs and PSCs are just sitting there...
Can they actually do anything about broken promises? In general, Federal Law preempts state law when they overlap.
June 19, 2006 6:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
True, but it would seem that if the Feds fail to address Net Neutrality, then there won't be any conflicting Federal law to worry about.
Remember, right now the telcos are requesting an absence of legislation and an absence of regulation so they can do whatever they want.
The other thing to keep any eye on is the spread of wireless ISPs; I was a bit negative about this a while ago, but I did a little poking around and now realize that there is a broadening availability. There aren't that many markets yet, but if the telcos and the cable companies make things bad enough (and there are already rumors of one cable/media company blocking craigslist (intentionally or otherwise) when they happen to have a competing classifieds service).
June 19, 2006 9:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
An old Internet saying goes something like, "The Internet views censorship as damage, and works around it." I hope there's still some truth to it.
I suspect that the telcos will try to slip in legislation preempting the states from doing anything about the promises, even when they promote the absense of legislation.
Or maybe the current Supreme Court may rule on dormant interstate commerce powers, that prohibit certain state actions even in the absense of Federal action.
Wireless ISPs may be the solution, primarily because there is no physical connection to constrain the consumer. If they don't already, wireless ISPs will certainly eventually use strong encryption in interfacing with consumers, to prevent outsiders from monitoring the exchanges.
June 19, 2006 10:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Right now, the telcos are content to ignore the state commissions except for when they want something. I don't see this as changing unless something like a grassroots effort to push at the commissions to get them to do their jobs develops. I would expect that any success at this would then generate pushback, but until a state commission actually shows teeth, they won't worry too much. See the article on Verizon and Pennsylvania I linked too; Verizon has played extremely loose there, the state commission has called them on it, and absolutely nothing is happening. It would be intensely interesting to see PA consumers start pushing.
As for strong encryption, there are no technological barriers right now, just a lack of options that are understandable & available to the common consumer. As for me, all my outbound email goes SMTP over TLS, my inbound email comes POP3S, and I run encrypted SSH tunnels everywhere need requires. I just don't think that Joe Consumer would want to deal with this stuff; I'm used to it, but why would he want to get used to it?
June 19, 2006 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink