[1871] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: interesting historical document
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (sean mclinden)
Sat Jan 4 10:28:38 1992
Date: Sat, 4 Jan 92 10:15:03 -0500
From: sean@dsl.pitt.edu (sean mclinden)
To: com-priv@uu.psi.com, geoff@fernwood.mpk.ca.us
Joel Maloff's historical paper, as posted by Geoff, is interesting but
it starts off at a point after the breakup of the Bell System and speaks
little to what I think is a key concern in this (and other histories)
which is the issue of regulation and if and when it should occur.
I echo Geoff (and others') concern that we maintain a historical perspective
(perhaps NSF would consider funding a Symposium for the presentation of
position papers; or maybe Congress will at some point). In particular, I
believe that we must not only look at the role of competition but also the
role of regulation and the "skillful application of force" as a means of
protecting user interests.
I would suggest that three domains which would bear fruit for a discussion
are:
1. Telecommunications (telephony), 2. The airline industry (sure it is
competitive, but is it good?), 3) Regulated (local telephone) versus
unregulated (cable TV) telecommunications industries (has anyone noticed
how the cable TV companies are misinforming the public about NJB's plan
to deploy fibre in New Jersey? Pretty gutsy if you ask me.)
In particular (and this is a strong break from my personal politics), I have
the feeling that in the event that the industry is unable to work out a true
and mutually enforced agreement on cooperativity, early application of Federal
regulation may be the most desirable way to guarantee ubiquity of service.
Certainly much has already been written on the issue of regulation in
telecommunications industry and I would not presume to know more than the
experts but I would welcome an open meeting where positions could be
aired and future scenarios presented.
Perhaps, like Scrooge, a peak into our future could be a motivating force
for progress.
Sean McLinden
