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-
- Computer underground Digest Wed Jun 12, 1996 Volume 8 : Issue 44
- ISSN 1004-042X
-
- Editor: Jim Thomas (cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu)
- News Editor: Gordon Meyer (gmeyer@sun.soci.niu.edu)
- Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
- Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish
- Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith
- Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
- Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
- Ian Dickinson
- Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest
-
- CONTENTS, #8.44 (Wed, Jun 12, 1996)
-
- File 1--"Silencing the Net" -- Human Rights Watch
- File 2--Burmese businessman sentenced for unauthorized telephones, faxes
- File 3--European Commission "looking actively" at net-regulation
- File 4--Singapore providers may block access
- File 5--Vietnam announces strict Internet controls
- File 6--Seoul battles Pyongyang in cyberspace
- File 7--Re: Report from Germany on "backdoor" net-censorship
- File 8--(fwd) THE REGULATORS MEET THE INTERNET
- File 9--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 Apr, 1996)
-
- CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION ApPEARS IN
- THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE.
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Date: Fri, 10 May 1996 21:19:32 -0700 (PDT)
- From: Declan McCullagh <declan@EFF.ORG>
- Subject: File 1--"Silencing the Net" -- Human Rights Watch
-
- I can't emphasize enough the importance of this report from Human Rights
- Watch.
-
- Read it! "Silencing the Net" talks about the very topics we've been
- discussing here -- movements towards greater controls of the Net in France,
- Germany, Zambia, China, Singapore, and many other countries. Much of the
- information in the report is new and not available anywhere else online.
-
- "Silencing the Net" marks a turning point in the Net-censorship fight --
- the involvement of major NGOs. It comes not a moment too soon, for the G7
- Ministerial Conference on the Information Society and Development starts
- Monday. Next month, according to a report:
-
- Lacking the power to police the Internet, France will invite its G7
- partners (at Lyons in June) to consider the co-ordinated introduction of a
- "code of good conduct".
- [Archived at http://fight-censorship.dementia.org/dl?num=2449]
-
- Longtime fight-censorship reader Karen Sorensen wrote much of this report,
- based on a letter for the GII conference prepared by 1995 Bradford Wiley
- Fellow Ann Beeson. I picked up a hardcopy of "Silencing the Net" at the CDA
- hearing today -- go get yours now!
-
- I have "Silencing the Net" archived at:
- http://fight-censorship.dementia.org/dl?num=2423
- My international net-censorship roundup is at:
- http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~declan/international/
-
- -Declan
-
-
-
- // declan@eff.org // I do not represent the EFF // declan@well.com //
-
-
-
- FOR RELEASE MAY 10, 1996
-
- For Further Information:
- Karen Sorensen (212) 972-8400, x 233
- Robert Kimzey (212) 972-8400, x 297
- Susan Osnos (212) 972-8400, x 216
-
-
- EFFORTS TO CENSOR THE INTERNET EXPAND
- U.S. a Miserable Role Model with Passage of Communications Decency Act
-
- May 10, 1996 (New York) Governments around the world, claiming they want to
- protect children, thwart terrorists or silence racists and hate mongers, are
- rushing to eradicate freedom of expression on the Internet. "The U.S. Congress
- and the Clinton administration, reacting to recent hysteria over cyberporn,'
- led the way by passing the Communications Decency Act," says Karen Sorensen,
- Human Rights Watch on-line research associate. "It is particularly crucial
- now, in the early stages of vast technological change, that all governments
- reaffirm their commitment to respect the rights of citizens to communicate
- freely, and for the United States as the birthplace of the Internet, to be a
- model for free speech, not censorship," she adds. Human Rights Watch is a
- plaintiff in the lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union
- challenging the CDA on constitutional grounds. The hearings in the lawsuit,
- which was filed in U.S. Federal District Court on February 8 (the day it was
- signed into law) end today in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The judges are
- expected to rule shortly thereafter.
-
- In addition, Human Rights Watch is calling on the nations participating in the
- G7 Ministerial Conference on the Information Society and Development to be
- held in South Africa from May 13-15, 1996, to repudiate the international
- trend toward censorship and to express unequivocal support for free expression
- guarantees on-line. Among the G7 countries Britain, Canada, France, Germany,
- Italy, Japan, and the United States only the U.S. has actually passed
- legislation curtailing freedom of expression on-line. The trend toward
- restricting on-line communication is growing, according to Silencing the Net:
- The Threat to Freedom of Expression On-line, which documents restrictions that
- have been put in place in at least twenty countries, including the following:
-
- -- China, which requires users and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to
- register with authorities;
-
- -- Vietnam and Saudi Arabia, which permit only a single, government-controlled
- gateway for Internet service;
-
- -- United States, which has enacted new Internet-specific legislation that
- imposes more restrictive regulations on electronic expression than those
- currently applied to printed expression;
-
- -- India, which charges exorbitant rates for international access through the
- state-owned phone company;
-
- -- Germany, which has cut off access to particular host computers or Internet
- sites;
-
- -- Singapore, which has chosen to regulate the Internet as if it were a
- broadcast medium, and requires political and religious content providers to
- register with the state; and
-
- -- New Zealand, which classifies computer disks as publications and has seized
- and restricted them accordingly.
-
- Human Rights Watch recommends principles for international and regional bodies
- and nations to follow when formulating public policy and laws affecting the
- Internet, sets forth the international legal principles governing on-line
- expression, and, examines some of the current attempts around the globe to
- censor on-line communication.
-
- The 24-page report is available via e-mail at sorensk@hrw.org or from the
- Human Rights Gopher:
- URL: gopher://gopher.humanrights.org:5000/11/int/hrw/general
-
- Paper copies of Silencing the Net are available from the Publications
- Department, Human Rights Watch, 485 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10017-6104 for
- $3.60 (domestic), $4.50 (international). Visa/MasterCard accepted.
-
- Human Rights Watch
- Human Rights Watch is a nongovernmental organization established in 1978 to
- monitor and promote the observance of internationally recognized human rights
- in Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East and among the signatories of
- the Helsinki accords. It is supported by contributions from private
- individuals and foundations worldwide. It accepts no government funds,
- directly or indirectly. The staff includes Kenneth Roth, executive director;
- Cynthia Brown, program director; Holly J. Burkhalter, advocacy director;
- Barbara Guglielmo, finance and administration director; Robert Kimzey,
- publications director; Jeri Laber, special advisor; Gara LaMarche, associate
- director; Lotte Leicht, Brussels office director; Juan Mendez, general
- counsel; Susan Osnos, communications director; Jemera Rone, counsel; and
- Joanna Weschler, United Nations representative. Robert L. Bernstein is the
- chair of the board and Adrian W. DeWind is vice chair.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sun, 19 May 1996 12:52:00 -0400 (EDT)
- From: Declan B. McCullagh <declan+@CMU.EDU>
- Subject: File 2--Burmese businessman sentenced for unauthorized telephones, faxe
- s
-
- [If Burma's government won't allow unauthorized telephones, I suspect
- they won't be too keen on the Internet. *sigh* Something else to add to
- <http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~declan/international/>. --Declan]
-
-
- ---------- Forwarded message begins here ----------
-
- From--camcc@abraxis.com
- Date--Sun, 19 May 1996 11:40:11 -0400
- Subject--News from Burma
-
- ASIA
- 'Excommunication'
-
- An anglo-Burmese businessman friendly with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu
- Kyi has been sentenced to thre years in jail for owning unauthorized
- telephones and fax machines. James Leander Nichols, also known as Leo
- Nicholas, was punished for having two fax machines and a telephone
- switchboard with nine lines in his home, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's political
- party said. In an effort to discourage contact between Burmese citizens and
- the outside world, Burma's military government requires people to get
- permission to own a fax machine, satellite dish, or sophisticated phone system.
-
- News Services
- The Atlanta Constitution/The Atlanta Journal
-
- Alec
-
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sat, 4 May 1996 14:30:27 -0400 (EDT)
- From: "Declan B. McCullagh" <declan+@CMU.EDU>
- Subject: File 3--European Commission "looking actively" at net-regulation
-
- [I just updated my international net-censorship page, which is now at
- <http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~declan/international/>. This "informal meeting"
- by the EC comes just in time for the G-7 summit next month... --Declan]
-
-
- ---------- Forwarded message begins here ----------
-
- BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1996 MAY 3 (NB) -- The European Commission (EC) has
- confirmed it is now looking actively at methods by which its official
- agencies can police the Internet.
-
- Speaking earlier this week in Italy, where an informal IT (information
- technology) meeting took place between various EC agencies, Agostino
- Gambino, the Italian Minister for Telecommunications, told journalists
- that the main focus of the regulatory changes will be to protect the
- interests of children, and outlaw criminal activity on the Internet.
-
- Gambino said that an informal meeting between himself and his EC
- member country counterparts in Bologna, Italy, had been successful,
- and had established a framework for a full report from the EC. Once
- the report was prepared, he said, a decision on how best to proceed
- would be taken by Brussels.
-
- "Many member states perceive the need now for some discipline, some
- kind of regulatory framework, codes of ethics," he told journalists,
- adding the French government has proposed that EC member states draw
- up a draft global convention on ethics, legislation and the Internet.
-
- [...]
-
- According to EC officials, the first task of the Consultative
- Commission on Racism and Xenophobia (CRAX), as it is called, will be
- to investigate and, using legal means, stamp out the current wave of
- racism on the Internet.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 23:42:43 -0400 (EDT)
- From: "Declan B. McCullagh" <declan+@CMU.EDU>
- Subject: File 4--Singapore providers may block access
-
- ---------- Forwarded message begins here ----------
-
- May 1, 1996
-
- CENTRAL, HONG KONG, 1996 MAY 1 (NB) -- Singapore's Internet operators
- could block their sites to non-subscribers. According to the
- Telecommunication Authority of Singapore, which regulates Internet
- provisions, there are no regulations to stop operators from restricting
- access to their services.
-
- A report in the Singapore Straits Times said that two of the country's
- three Internet providers were looking at the option of blocking access
- to their sites from non-subscribers.
-
- Pacific Internet said: "With regards to new services, we are always on
- the lookout for new opportunities. However, we will cross the bridge
- when we come to it."
-
- A CyberWay spokesman indicated that the company was looking at
- introducing "special services which may be exclusive to CyberWay
- subscribers."
-
- [...]
-
- However, it seems the issue is little more than a storm in tea-cup,
- since the "blocking" to be discussed is only on specific services the
- ISPs provide for their own subscribers -- services similar to those
- being planned both by Hong Kong's Netvigator ISP and Asia Online.
- In both cases the value-added services must be paid for, either by
- having an account with the ISP, or by giving credit card details.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject-- email repression in Belarus
- Date-- Thu, 30 May 1996 13:38:21 +0300
-
- Dear friends,
-
- I received the following disturbing message from friends in Minsk
- today and translated it. Feel free to forward it further. Please
- excuse cross-postings.
-
- Alyson
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- May 23, 1996
-
- New Rules for Working on the Internet in Belarus
-
- The President's Administration has made a special decree obligating
- all users of the Internet in the country to register with the police.
- Everyone who has an electronic mail address in a state-run or
- independent network must report to the local regional station.
-
- According to the official version, this is linked with the battle
- against anti-governmental information and with the suppression of
- enemy-of-the-people provocation. The deadline for registration is 30
- days. Serious punishments, which are not outlined in the text of the
- decree, await those who do not register. According to the opinion of
- a highly-placed Administration official, the new decree will assist
- "the healthy development of the information industry of the country."
-
- PC World Belarus magazine
- #2, 1996
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- Copyright © "RM", 1996. All right reserved.
- WWW: designed & provided by Mediacom information company
- Server: Relis of "Relcom" corp.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 6 Jun 1996 23:22:55 -0400 (EDT)
- From: "Declan B. McCullagh" <declan+@CMU.EDU>
- Subject: File 5--Vietnam announces strict Internet controls
-
- ((My international net-censorship roundup is at
- http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~declan/international/ --Declan))
-
- HANOI, June 6 (Reuter) - Vietnam has imposed strict rules on use of
- the Internet including a ban on direct access by private
- individuals.
-
- Under the rules, which came into effect in late May but were
- released to journalists this week, the Vietnamese government would
- monitor information and subscribers. Vietnam has limited access to
- the Internet at present but has yet to establish a full commercial
- node.
-
- Under the directive, issued by the General Directorate of Posts and
- Telecommunications, subscribers will only be allowed access via
- companies which restrict information in accordance with state
- regulations.
-
- The rules make Internet users legally responsible for any
- information they provide or receive. Companies which provide
- commercial access are also bound to give Vietnam's Interior (Police)
- Ministry monitoring powers. Despite nearly a decade of reforms and
- a growing news media industry, Vietnam still maintains tight control
- over the flow of information.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 6 Jun 1996 23:21:22 -0400 (EDT)
- From: "Declan B. McCullagh" <declan+@CMU.EDU>
- Subject: File 6--Seoul battles Pyongyang in cyberspace
-
- SEOUL, June 6 (Reuter) - South Korea has warned its public
- against making contact with North Korea on the Internet, taking
- its battle with arch-foe Pyongyang into cyberspace.
- State radio on Thursday quoted prosecutors as saying stern
- measures would be taken against anybody trying to access North
- Korean homepages on the worldwide web.
- Prosecutors said Internet subscribers who distributed or
- transferred such information to local personal computer networks
- would be punished under the National Security Law, which bars
- all unauthorised contacts with the North.
- The radio gave no further details, and prosecutors were not
- immediately available for comment on a public holiday.
- North and South Korea have been technically at war since
- their 1950-53 conflict ended with a truce.
- Internet enthusiasts say they have detected no signs of
- North Korean activity in cyberspace. It is not clear whether the
- country can access the global network.
- There are a number of homepages carrying North Korean news
- and information, but these do not originate in Pyongyang.
- A South Korean newspaper this week created a stir by
- identifying one of these pages and suggesting it could have been
- backed by Pyongyang.
- Checks showed the homepage was created by a Canadian
- student, David Burgess, who travelled to North Korea in 1995. It
- consists partly of pamphlets he found on North Korea's national
- airline.
- Burgess said he has been bombarded with e-mail queries on
- whether he is a North Korean agent.
- It is a serious offence in South Korea to sell or possess
- any literature produced in North Korea.
- Seoul bars monitoring of North Korean media, including radio
- and the state news agency, within the country.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sun, 9 Jun 96 23:10 MET DST
- From: Ulf Moeller <um@c2.org>
- Subject: File 7--Re: Report from Germany on "backdoor" net-censorship
-
- [German institutions' cancelling pornography, violence and Nazi
- propaganda on Usenet will certainly have large international impact.
- Thus I strongly suggest that you ask <summa@eco.de> for an official
- translation. I cannot guarantee for this rough translation to be
- correct. -- Ulf]
-
- From: summa@eco.de ("Harald A. Summa")
-
- Press Release, June 5, 1996
-
- Internet Media Counsil presents fist measurements for Voluntary
- Self-Control
-
- [Voluntary Self-Control is the doublespeak term for censorship on
- pornography, violence, etc. It is, of course, not voluntary. um]
-
- The leading Internet Serive Providers, on whose initiave the Internet
- Medienrat, have deciced to found the Internet Content Task Force (ICTF)
- for the purposes of Voluntary Self-Control. The ICTF will introduce
- technical and organizational measurements to put up effective control
- against contents harmful to minors and national-socialist propaganda
- material. As a first step, the ICTF occupy itself with the News service,
- and later with other forms of content transport in the Internet as
- well.
-
- The Internet Content Task Force will supply a news server specificially
- configured for purposes of self-control at DE-CIX, the national data
- exchange point of the Internet Service Providers. Proof of origin of
- critical articles will be processed by the server, archived in a data
- base observing privacy laws, and stored at a central facility.
- Furthermore, sample news articles will be suject to detailed legal
- evaluation. Should this result in suspicion or proof of transportation
- of illegal contents, the ICTF can launch various steps to work against
- propagation of these contents. For example, it can arrange for
- blocking of complete newsgroups or retrospect "Cancel" of articles
- already transmitted. ICTF can direct possible criminal investigation
- with help of its data base.
-
- Criteria for the ICTF's proceed will be developed, evaluated and
- continuously updated by the Internet Medienrat. As an independant
- gremium, the Internet Medienrat tries to achieve a social consensus
- in the use of online media without government [sic! um] censorship.
- The formation of the Internet Medienrat, which is currently preparing
- its working basis, is being pushed ahead by Prof. Goetze, COE of
- Springer Verlag Heidelberg, and eco Electronic Commerce Forum e.V.
- It will present its members and organization to the public on
- September 19, 1996.
-
- >From govenment side, the Internet Medienrat is supported by the
-
- Federal Ministry of Economy. Min. of Economy Rexroth: "I appreciate
- the German online industry's initiative to found an Internet Media
- Counsil as a gremium of Voluntary Self-Control."
-
-
- Background Information on the Internet Content Task Force (ICTF)
-
- The problem of protection of minors and of spreading
- national-socialist ideas in the new media - especially on the Internet
- - is currently being discussed intensively and controversially.
- Meanwhile, politics and investigation authorities have begun to
- proceed against the distribution of illegal contents the the Internet.
- In the past weeks, the press has been reporting intensively about
- investigations against large service providers.
-
- However, the current legal situation gives few starting points for
- coordinated proceeding. Lawyers cannot even agree on who can and
- should be punished for distributing contents relevant to criminal
- law on the Internet. Depending on standpoint and interests, even
- noted criminal lawyers hold different views. Some do not consider
- distribution of pornography and national-socialist writings in
- electronic form punishable at all, others even want to hold service
- providers responsible for mere transportation of data. Mediating
- opionions imply that only the author of the message be punishable.
- The only strong fact in the complete discussion is that the matter
- -- as always in difficult dogmatic questions in penal law -- will
- finally be decided by courts. It is also a fact that the true
- authors of illegal messages -- especially those with an especially
- high criminal energy -- can be determined only with great difficulty,
- so that the threat of punishment insofar is void.
-
- The solution to this problem is being complicated by the continuing
- political discussion and superposed by other question complexes.
- For example, the states regard new media as an extension of their
- traditional radio regulation competence. They are trying to ensure
- future influence by an extensive interpretation of the constitutional
- regulation of competences and the laws and state treaties based on it.
- The draft State Treaty on Media Services that applies to the whole
- field of Internet and online services is one result of these
- reasonings. To create facts in this field, the state treaty shall
- be passed soon.
-
- Lead by the "Future" Ministry, the federation is also working on
- legal framework for new information and communication services to
- comprehensively cover the subject. The Ministry of Interior on its
- side is concerned with restricting Freedom of Communication with
- priority. This activity has already resulted in the novel Wiretap
- Law and the Telecommunication Surveillance Decree. Further laws,
- especially a ban on crytography, are planned. On the European level,
- a working group initiated on the last G7 conference, is trying to
- achive international consesus.
-
- Legal clarification, which is strictly needed but with still open
- result, is faced by fear of censorship and too wide-reaching
- government interference.
-
- Since a long time, the leading German Internet Service Providers have
- been trying to solve the now openly visible conflict betreen the
- "Information Police State" and the "Anarchy in the Net" as feared by
- politics. Thus they have propagated founding a Voluntary Self-Control
- and initiated the formation of an Internet Medienrat. As a further
- buiding stone, the Internet Content Task Force (ICTF) is now being
- put to existence.
-
- This shall also work against the impression that the main purpose of
- the Internet were distributiong extremist and pornographic contents.
- At least this was the result of numerous -- often badly researched --
- reports in the recent weeks. They did neither differenciate between
- the Internet services (Mail, News, WWW, Chat and others), nor present
- the relation of doubtlessly useful and the less desired contents.
- ICTF now turns towards the problem in a much more refined way. There,
- it first will occupy itself with the currently probably most critcal
- part of the Internet, the so-called News service.
-
- The special problem of the News service is that information can be
- distributed world-wide, yet anonymously. This is different of at least
- fundamentally more difficult in other parts of the Internet, so that
- the volume of critical content in the News is comparably high. The
- ICTF will register the information availible on the origin of news
- and store them in a data base as to make it possible to determine
- who has sent an article or disguised the real author's identity, in
- retrospect. The data base will be kept observing privavy laws and
- third parties' protection-deserving interests [the Privacy Law puts
- limits on databases with "protection-deserving" personal
- information, um]. To avoid abuse, the data will regularly be exported
- to hard storage and deposited with an attorney.
-
- Furthermore, the existing or newly created newsgroups will be
- classified, so that groups serving to distribute exclusively or
- predominantly illegal contents can be excluded from further
- distribution. Sample investigation of articles and analysis of
- articles as necessary will also make it possible to limit the
- transportation of individual articles.
-
- Founding the ICTF, the Internet Service Providers accept part of the
- responsibility in forming a modern information society. It is clear
- that preventive action on a national level cannot stop illegal action
- on a global level. Thus, the ICTF is a model for similar initiatives
- in other countries, and is to be seen as an appeal to politics to
- make their contribution to solving the problem. Currently, the ICTF
- is the only perceptible approach to respect the need for "Law and
- Order" and yet leaves the new medium Internet with the freedom needed
- for futher prosperation.
-
- On the other hand, national legislator's attempts to solve the problem
- on its own will hardly solve the problem, but put severe damage to
- the economic site Germany. For one thing is clear in the virtual
- worlds of communication networks: Borders lose their importance, and
- location is no longer an issue. There is nothing to prevent an
- enterprise from moving its online activities to a country with less
- bureaucrary and legal restrictions. First tendencies for migration
- are already percepted.
-
- The Internet Content Task Force is supported be the following Internet
- Service Providers:
-
- CERFnet GmbH, Heidenrod
- ECRC GmbH, Muenchen,
- EUnet Deutschland GmbH,=20
- GTN GmbH, Krefeld,
- ipf.net GmbH, Frankfurt,
- IS/Thyssen Internet Service GmbH, Hamburg,
- Point of Presence, Hamburg,=20
- nacamar GmbH, Dreieich,
- NTG-X/link GmbH, Karlsruhe,
- roka GmbH, Duisburg,
- seicom GmbH, Pfullingen,
- spacenet GmbH, Muenchen.
-
- Further information can be obtained from:
-
- eco Electronic Commerce Forum e. V.
- c/o Harald A. Summa
- Schaeferkampstr. 19
-
- 44287 Dortmund
- Tel:=09+49 (0) 231 44 79 49
- Fax:=09+49 (0) 231 44 81 35
- E-Mail: summa@eco.de
- http://www.eco.de/
-
- or
-
- attorney at law
- RA Michael Schneider
- Dickstr. 35
- 53773 Hennef / Sieg,=20
- Tel:=09+49 (0) 2242 9270-0=20
- Fax: =09+49 (0) 2242 9270-99 =20
- E-Mail: Michael.Schneider@Anwalt.DE
- http://www.anwalt.de/
-
-
- +++
- eco - Electronic Commerce Forum e. V.
-
- c/o Harald A. Summa
- Sch=E4ferkampstr. 19
- 44287 Dortmund
-
- Tel 0231 / 44 79 49
- Fax 0231 / 44 81 35
- Email info@eco.de
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Fri, 3 May 1996 14:01:02 +0100 (BST)
- From: Richard K. Moore <rkmoore@iol.ie>
- Subject: File 8--(fwd) THE REGULATORS MEET THE INTERNET
-
-
- I'm forwarding this excellent article by Craig Johnson to several
- lists. I hope you find it useful, and please accept my apologies if you
- consider it off topic or if someone else already forwarded it.
-
- My only nitpick with Craig is one of perspective... he describes
- Internet as being free of regulation currently, and being under threat of
- coming under the attention of the FCC, for the first time. I see this
- differently. I'd say that the Internet has always been conciously
- regulated by the FCC -- and in a very enlightened way.
-
- The decision was made (in the late sixties, I believe) to allow
- Tymshare, GE, GTE/Telenet, and others, to offer value-added communication
- services, and to pay only standard rates for the leased or dial-up
- communications facilities they required to provide their service (or their
- customers required to access them). Internet was one of the natural
- consequences of the existence of this open, value-added marketplace.
-
- Thus Internet has been the intentional beneficiary of the
- regulatory regime we've lived under prior to the so-called Reform bill.
- From this perspective, it is the Reform-bill's _deregulation_ that
- threatens Internet, in that it destabilizes existing arrangements, and
- gives more leeway to the big operators to determine pricing structures.
-
- Thus while Craig's interpretation seems to be that regulation -- of
- any kind -- is the enemy, I claim that appropriate regulation has been our
- safe-haven birthplace, and that appropriate regulation should be the
- positive goal we pursue -- with a healthy appreciation of the benefits
- we've derived from the previous regime.
-
- But these are only philosophical nitpicks -- many thanks to Craig
- for summarizing the situation and alerting us to the opportunity to
- influence the FCC. Brilliant work, as usual.
-
-
- Regards,
- rkm
- (please Cc: rkmoore@iol.ie if replying)
-
-
- _________________| forwarded message follows |__________________
- ________________________________________________________________
- Date--Tue, 30 Apr 1996
- From--"Craig A. Johnson" <caj@tdrs.com>
- Subject--cr> Regulating the Internet
-
- It is highly recommended that those who are concerned about the
- coming communications regulatory regime read the FCC's recent NPRMs
- on "universal service" and "interconnection."
-
- --caj
-
- @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
-
- ANALYSIS: FREE NET TELEPHONY
- +
- by Craig A. Johnson
- American Reporter Correspondent
- Washington
- 4/29/96
- net-regulation
- 1023/$10.23
-
- THE REGULATORS MEET THE INTERNET
- by Craig A. Johnson
- American Reporter Correspondent
-
- WASHINGTON -- Fears of Rambo-like regulation have spawned a sort
- of spring fever in the online world, with presumptive alarms and bulletins
- ricocheting all over the Net.
- Will the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) choke the
- Internet's wide-open pathways with regulatory underbrush? Will the
- petition filed by the Americas' Carriers Telecommunications Association
- (ACTA) on March 4 be granted, stopping Internet telephony or mandating
- access charges? (AR, No. 245 ) Or, even more catastrophically, will the
- Net somehow be swept under the FCC regime for telecommunications carriers?
- The answers, according to sources both inside and outside of the
- FCC, for the time being, are a qualified no. On April 19, the FCC gave
- its tentative response on the Net telephony problem, partially assuaging
- worries that new regulations will require access charges and tariffing for
- long distance voice over the Internet. Although the soft no from the FCC
- was reassuring, the wall protecting Internet voice as an "information
- service" has scores of cracks and may still crumble under the blows of a
- regulatory hammer.
- The issue was addressed in the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
- (NPRM) on "interconnection," or more formally, "implementation of
- the local competition provisions in the Telecommunications Act of
- 1996." The NPRM is as interesting for what it does not say as for
- what it does.
- Generally, it poses a lot of questions, on which parties will file
- comments, and on the basis of which the FCC will finalize rules in August.
- The agency sees the proceeding and the consequent rules as establishing
- "the 'new regulatory paradigm' that is essential to achieving Congress'
- policy goals."
- The visible fractures in the old regulatory regime stood out
- prominently in the interconnection notice. Two aspects of the proceeding,
- in particular, directly relate to Internet access and pricing regimes.
- First, the FCC made it clear that current access charges and
- interconnection regulations are "enforceable until they are superseded."
- The FCC said, in regulatory-ese, that it wanted comments on "any aspect of
- this Notice that may affect existing 'equal access and nondiscriminatory
- interconnection restrictions and obligations (including receipt of
- compensation).'"
- Translated, this means that Net telephone providers and users can
- breathe a little more easily for the time being. But, the call for
- comments on the existing "restrictions and guidelines" should not be taken
- for granted. It is precisely these regulations -- which exempt "enhanced
- service" providers, like Internet and online service providers from paying
- access charges for their usage of the facilities and network components of
- local exchange carriers (LECs) -- which are on the table in this
- proceeding and related ones.
- A second aspect of the interconnection proceeding relates directly
- to definitions. The Commission asks for comment "on which carriers are
- included under" the definition of "telecommunications carriers" offered in
- the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
- Critically, the agency asks: "How does the provision of an
- information service [as conventionally defined in the law and prior
- regulations], in addition to an unrelated telecommunications service,
- affect the status of a carrier as a 'telecommunications carrier?'"
- This is a call for commenters to address the issue of whether
- "information service providers," such as ISPs, who also provide
- "telecommunications services," should be treated as "telecommunications
- carriers" and therefore be subject to all, some, or none of the
- requirements of common carriers, including the payment of access charges
- and the filing of tariffs.
- In practical terms the FCC is asking the online community to
- persuade them that ISPs who permit Internet audio streaming applications,
- such as long distance voice, should not be considered under the same rules
- applying to "telecommunications providers."
- The FCC emphasizes that the interconnection rulemaking "is one of
- a number of interrelated proceedings," and explains that the answer to
- how, in which ways, and to what extent the Internet will be regulated will
- be a product of "the interrelationship between this proceeding, our
- recently initiated proceeding to implement the comprehensive universal
- service provisions of the 1996 Act and our upcoming proceeding to reform
- our Part 69 access charge rules."
- This should be seen as a warning flag that issues concerning
- access charges for the Internet have yet to be even taken up by the
- Commission, and will be one of the outcomes of several complex
- proceedings, with public comments invited from all consumer and business
- interests.
- The FCC NPRM and order establishing the joint federal-state
- universal service board, issued on March 8, for example, emphasizes the
- provision in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which stipulates that
- "[a]ccess to advanced telecommunications and information services should
- be provided in all regions of the country." The FCC says that "commenters
- may wish to discuss Internet access availability, data transmission
- capability, ... enhanced services, and broadband services."
- In both this and the interconnection notices, the agency
- emphasizes its statutory authority to regulate the Internet. The news so
- far is relatively positive. The FCC claims it doesn't want to prematurely
- slap regulations on the Net which may stunt its remarkable growth and
- vitality.
- But the handwriting is on the wall -- in several different hands
- and scrawled over cracks. Arguments for Internet volume-based or
- per-packet pricing will be surely surface in comments in the FCC
- proceedings. The old argument for the "modem tax," which says that data
- bits should be priced differently than voice bits, will likely rear its
- scarred head.
- Internet access is on the charts and in the dockets at the
- Commission. It should have the same pride of place for all Internet
- activists and user group communities. The FCC is asking the Internet and
- computer user and business communities to wake up to an emergent
- regulatory regime in which the old comfortable dualities such as
- "information services" and "telecommunications services" -- which in the
- past have insulated the Internet from regulation -- may not be easily
- parsed. In short, the agency is begging for help in drafting the
- cyber-roadmaps for the future.
- (Note: Both the universal service NPRM and order and the
- interconnection NPRM can be accessed via the FCC's Web page --
- http://www.fcc.gov. Many of the comments for the universal service
- proceedings are also now available at the site.)
-
- -30-
-
- (Craig Johnson writes on cyber rights issues for WIRED.)
-
-
-
-
-
- The American Reporter
- "The Internet Daily Newspaper"
- Copyright 1995 Joe Shea, The American Reporter
- All Rights Reserved
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