FCC To Hold First VoIP Hearings; Rules in 2004

securitas writes "The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold its first hearings on Internet telephony and VoIP regulation on Dec. 1 and plans to regulate VoIP by late 2004. A public comment period will follow the Dec. 1 meeting. Some say that it is overly ambitious to regulate VoIP by 2004, especially since FCC Commissioner Michael Powell does not have a strong reputation for clarifying complex issues - instead he has a reputation for confounding them. More at Internet.com and InternetWeek . FCC press release (PDF1|DOC1) and attached letter (PDF2|DOC2) to VoIP proponent Senator Ron Wyden, who sits on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee."

Comments

Regulation not a universal evil

[KD7JZ]

While I am generally in favor of free enterprise, I also do not mind a certain level of regulation. Regulation in the telephone industry is what allows you to pick up any phone, dial 10 digits and reach any other phone in the US. How would it be if you wanted to IM or VOIP your doctor and you are a Yahoo user and the doc is a AIM user??

Re:Regulation not a universal evil

[BoogleBoo]

A small amount of regulation can definitely be a good thing. If we didn't have car crash regulations, rest assure the big 3 would make cars even shittier than they do today. Same applies to any industry. You can't rely on a corporate entity to do anything in the buyer's interests.

Problem with regulations is the standards tend to lack in quality and never seem to be upgraded/reviewed. Back to the car example... bumpers once had a 5 mph impact standard. It's often 2.5 mph today. With today's knowledge of metals and plastics along with detailed crash data, we should be able to make cars low weight that have 50 mph impact standards. Will companies do this out of the kindness of their heart? Hell no. Don't expect the regulators to improve the standard in the next 10 years either.

can they regulate?

[larry bagina]

I question whether they can regulate. Not the timeframe (don't you just love the sound of deadlines as they go whooshing by?), but constitutionally. Particularly recently since the Senate refused to block states from imposing net-access fees, and the Supreme Court has lately scoffed at "interstate commerce" as a justification for laws.

Everyone here would laugh if the US Gov't tried to regulate ftp, http, tcp, udp, ip, etc. They have no authority over VoIP either.