FC: Computer industry shouldn't ask for IM regulation, from J.Gattuso

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Jamie Love, who works for Ralph Nader, sends along this link to the
WCPO proposal: http://www.cptech.org/ecom/cpt-wcpo.html

----- Forwarded message from James Gattuso <jgattuso () cei org> -----

From: James Gattuso <jgattuso () cei org>
Subject: An Instant Message on Instant Regulation: A CEI Cspin
To: 
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2001 15:14:55 -0500

CEI C:\SPIN
 
An occasional commentary on the regulation of high technology 
  

This issue: An Instant Message on Instant Regulation

By  <http://www.cei.org/staff/jgattusobio.html> James Gattuso, Vice
President for Policy and Management,  <http://www.cei.org/> CEI, January 10,
2001 

    At one time, not very long ago, the computer industry was conspicuous in
Washington D.C. only for its absence.  While serving at the FCC in the early
1990s, I was only infrequently visited by representatives from the digital
world - and even on those rare occasions the "lobbyists" tended to be
pocket-protected engineers who wanted to debate technology rather than the
D.C.-wise lawyers fielded by other firms with business before the
commission.  

    My, how far we've come.  Nowhere has the change been better evidenced
than in the on-going battle at the FCC over whether to regulate the emerging
instant messaging business.  Hordes of lobbyists seem engaged on both sides.
Most notably, Bill Gates himself - once a charter member of the
pocket-protector crowd -- has become a high-profile lobbyist - reportedly
making calls personally to FCC Chairman Bill Kennard.  And, in a bizarre
twist, his purpose has been to urge more - not less - interference in the
industry he helped create. 

    The FCC's decision -- expected as early as tomorrow - will be a
significant one.  It would mark the FCC's first foray into regulating  a
purely software-based communications system.   The specific issue is whether
AOL - as a condition of its merger with Time-Warner - should be required to
make its instant messaging service interoperable with other such services.
Supporters of such regulation see FCC action as a natural step - after all,
don't we require telephone companies to connect to each other?   But
policymakers should be wary of anything that looks so easy.  As a first
matter, the FCC's telephone policies have been far from unspotted.  Even
such seemingly simple things as interconnection have caused years of
turmoil.  One look at the current morass over telco "reciprocal
compensation," shows how ugly these things can become.  

    Moreover, unlike the telephone system with its legacy of monopoly,
instant messaging is a service still in its infancy - it's been just three
years since AOL first introduced the service to the public.  IM could evolve
into a voice service, a text service with embellishments like e-mail, or
develop video capability.  We know little about what the service will
ultimately look like, and how it will provided, never mind what the relative
market power among the players will be-"Instant regulation" hardly seems
called for in such as situation.

    It would be tempting to see this week's decision to regulate AOL - if
that is indeed the decision - as a last act of the outgoing FCC - one of
many "midnight" regulations imposed by departing Clinton administration
appointees.  If only that were so.  Regulation in this case will have come
from the digital industry itself.  The days of political naivete for this
industry are over, it has learned the ways of Washington, D.C.  But has it
learned them too well?

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----- End forwarded message -----



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