[2033] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: interesting historical document
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Einar Stefferud)
Sun Jan 19 04:35:51 1992
To: Com-Priv Mailing List <com-priv@psi.com>
Reply-To: com-priv@nma.com
From: Einar Stefferud <stef@nma.com>
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 92 01:13:43 PST
Hi All --
I forwarded the following messages (text omitted) to a former FCC
Bureau Chief, and I have included his response below.
> From: the terminal of Geoff Goodfellow <geoff@fernwood.mpk.ca.us>
> To: com-priv@uu.psi.com
> Subject: interesting historical document
> Date: Fri, 03 Jan 92 21:08:16 PST
> From: sean mclinden <sean@dsl.pitt.edu>
> To: com-priv@uu.psi.com, geoff@fernwood.mpk.ca.us
> Subject: Re: interesting historical document
> Date: Sat, 4 Jan 92 10:15:03 -0500
> From: "David J. Farber" <farber@central.cis.upenn.edu>
> To: sean mclinden <sean@dsl.pitt.edu>
> Cc: com-priv@uu.psi.com, geoff@fernwood.mpk.ca.us
> Subject: Re: interesting historical document
> Date: Sat, 4 Jan 92 10:50:07 EST
> From: "David J. Farber" <farber@central.cis.upenn.edu>
> To: sean mclinden <sean@dsl.pitt.edu>
> Cc: com-priv@uu.psi.com, geoff@fernwood.mpk.ca.us
> Subject: Re: interesting historical document
> Date: Sat, 4 Jan 92 12:13:03 EST
------- Forwarded Message
>From: "James C. McKinney" <0004524001@mcimail.com>
To: Stef <Stef@nma.com>
Subject: Re: An interesting question that you might want to comment on...
Date: Sat, 11 Jan 92 18:00 GMT
Hi Stef, good to hear from you. I tend to check MCI mail frequently
when I am involved in some debate with "whoever" and otherwise, I am
not very careful to do so. In any event, I ran into your message when
I returned from Christmas vacation.
I don't think I have much to offer in this debate except to say in
bold type;
FARBER IS RIGHT....MCLINDEN IS WRONG!
I do take some offense at the off-hand comment about "corruption" at
the FCC. It rings of the same conspiracy theories that Stone applied
so well in the holiday release, "JFK". But I know there are those out
there who assume that everything the government does is for some
nefarious purpose. De-regulation of the phone industry, and all that
followed, were carried forth by the FCC with the single purpose of
producing a better, more flexible telecommunications system for the
USA. In that, it was a success.
But more on point, eschew regulation whenever natural monopolies do
not exist, unless the regulations are in the form of technical
standards that are intended to encourage equipment or software
suppliers to invest to produce products where they would not do so
otherwise. An example...the all-channel reciever act. Remember when
you could hardle buy a TV set with a UHF tuner and thus UHF stations
would come on the air only to go dark for lack of an audience. The
consumer electronics industry would not put the tuners in because they
cost a little more and other (normally off-shore) companies would
undersell them. So, everyone was forced by regulation to put a UHF
tuner in, and as a result, the cost of the upgrade dropped to about
$2.00 per set and UHF stations began to succeed. Small regulatory
intervention with big payback.
You really don't want the government setting your standards. First,
it lacks expertise to do so. As you know, Stef, computer gurus are
few and far between at the FCC...especially in the Common Carrier
Bureau which would likely get the nod to handle such a rulemaking.
Secondly, the Commission will have to listen to all comers, not just
the computer-niks. And, they are more comfortable listening to the
Washington telephone lobby. That will not necessarily inure to your
benefit.
And, most importantly, don't dare go to the FCC until you have an
industry concensus. Once you all agree, the FCC might be the right
agency to "bless" your work and assure its preservation. Without
agreement, the FCC will hear only static and it will be impossible to
achieve what you want.
Well, I hope the above is close to "on point" with your discussion
although I have read only a few of the messages...not the whole
debate.
Give a call when you are next in the Washington area...always good to
hear from you.
Jim
------- End of Forwarded Message
