Barry Shein wrote:
On April 27, 2014 at 21:56 larryshel...@cox.net (Larry Sheldon) wrote:
> On 4/27/2014 8:59 PM, goe...@anime.net wrote:
> > If the carriers now get to play packet favoritism and pay-for-play, they
> > should lose common carrier protections.
>
> I didn't think the Internet providers were common carriers.
Here we go again!
There is more than one commonly used meaning for "common carriers".
There is a Communications Common Carrier as defined in the US
Communications Act of 1934 regulated under the FCC and as subsequently
amended by...blah blah blah.
And there is the much older common law usage which can apply to
trains, planes, taxis, delivery services, stagecoaches, etc which
basically recognizes that in general many services engaged in "COMMON
CARRIAGE".
Common AND civil law, and the context within which the 1934 act defines
telecommunications carriers.
Another requirement of a common law common carrier is that they
provide their service to the public without discrimination other than
ability to pay and whatever reasonable rules apply to everyone --
e.g., package can't be dripping liquid or weigh more than someone's
"before" picture in a nutrisystem ad. The details of that of course
have been beaten to a fine powder in court cases and subsequent law
and regulation.
SOOOOO...an ISP (et al) can be considered a common law Common Carrier
without being a Common Carrier as defined in the Comm Act 1934 (and
subsequent, Telecom Act 1996, etc.)
And that is the key to all this bunkum about "network neutrality" - it's
an issue only because the FCC has made the choice not to treat ISPs (or
more precisely IP transport providers) as common carriers, but as
"information service providers."
The recent Supreme Court decisions seems to have implied that the FCC
has the power to, under current law, to define IP carriers as common
carriers, and impose the obligations of common carriage on them. (Note
that this does NOT immediately imply that the FCC would have to apply
all the regulations and procedures typically associates with, say,
telephone carriers.)
All the FCC really has to do is promulgate a rule saying "IP transport
is common carriage" - and network neutrality would become a non-issue.
Miles Fidelman
--
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is. .... Yogi Berra
