Computer underground Digest Thu Jun 13, 1996 Volume 8 : Issue 45 ISSN 1004-042X Editor: Jim Thomas (cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu) News Editor: Gordon Meyer (gmeyer@sun.soci.niu.edu) Archivist: Brendan Kehoe Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala Ian Dickinson Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest CONTENTS, #8.45 (Thu, Jun 13, 1996) File 1--"Silencing the Net" -- Human Rights Watch File 2--Burmese businessman sentenced for unauthorized telephones, faxes File 3--European Commission "looking actively" at net-regulation File 4--Singapore providers may block access File 5--Vietnam announces strict Internet controls File 6--Seoul battles Pyongyang in cyberspace File 7--Re: Report from Germany on "backdoor" net-censorship File 8--(fwd) THE REGULATORS MEET THE INTERNET File 9--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 Apr, 1996) CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION ApPEARS IN THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 10 May 1996 21:19:32 -0700 (PDT) From: Declan McCullagh Subject: File 1--"Silencing the Net" -- Human Rights Watch I can't emphasize enough the importance of this report from Human Rights Watch. Read it! "Silencing the Net" talks about the very topics we've been discussing here -- movements towards greater controls of the Net in France, Germany, Zambia, China, Singapore, and many other countries. Much of the information in the report is new and not available anywhere else online. "Silencing the Net" marks a turning point in the Net-censorship fight -- the involvement of major NGOs. It comes not a moment too soon, for the G7 Ministerial Conference on the Information Society and Development starts Monday. Next month, according to a report: Lacking the power to police the Internet, France will invite its G7 partners (at Lyons in June) to consider the co-ordinated introduction of a "code of good conduct". [Archived at http://fight-censorship.dementia.org/dl?num=2449] Longtime fight-censorship reader Karen Sorensen wrote much of this report, based on a letter for the GII conference prepared by 1995 Bradford Wiley Fellow Ann Beeson. I picked up a hardcopy of "Silencing the Net" at the CDA hearing today -- go get yours now! I have "Silencing the Net" archived at: http://fight-censorship.dementia.org/dl?num=2423 My international net-censorship roundup is at: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~declan/international/ -Declan // declan@eff.org // I do not represent the EFF // declan@well.com // FOR RELEASE MAY 10, 1996 For Further Information: Karen Sorensen (212) 972-8400, x 233 Robert Kimzey (212) 972-8400, x 297 Susan Osnos (212) 972-8400, x 216 EFFORTS TO CENSOR THE INTERNET EXPAND U.S. a Miserable Role Model with Passage of Communications Decency Act May 10, 1996 (New York) Governments around the world, claiming they want to protect children, thwart terrorists or silence racists and hate mongers, are rushing to eradicate freedom of expression on the Internet. "The U.S. Congress and the Clinton administration, reacting to recent hysteria over cyberporn,' led the way by passing the Communications Decency Act," says Karen Sorensen, Human Rights Watch on-line research associate. "It is particularly crucial now, in the early stages of vast technological change, that all governments reaffirm their commitment to respect the rights of citizens to communicate freely, and for the United States as the birthplace of the Internet, to be a model for free speech, not censorship," she adds. Human Rights Watch is a plaintiff in the lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union challenging the CDA on constitutional grounds. The hearings in the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. Federal District Court on February 8 (the day it was signed into law) end today in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The judges are expected to rule shortly thereafter. In addition, Human Rights Watch is calling on the nations participating in the G7 Ministerial Conference on the Information Society and Development to be held in South Africa from May 13-15, 1996, to repudiate the international trend toward censorship and to express unequivocal support for free expression guarantees on-line. Among the G7 countries Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States only the U.S. has actually passed legislation curtailing freedom of expression on-line. The trend toward restricting on-line communication is growing, according to Silencing the Net: The Threat to Freedom of Expression On-line, which documents restrictions that have been put in place in at least twenty countries, including the following: -- China, which requires users and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to register with authorities; -- Vietnam and Saudi Arabia, which permit only a single, government-controlled gateway for Internet service; -- United States, which has enacted new Internet-specific legislation that imposes more restrictive regulations on electronic expression than those currently applied to printed expression; -- India, which charges exorbitant rates for international access through the state-owned phone company; -- Germany, which has cut off access to particular host computers or Internet sites; -- Singapore, which has chosen to regulate the Internet as if it were a broadcast medium, and requires political and religious content providers to register with the state; and -- New Zealand, which classifies computer disks as publications and has seized and restricted them accordingly. Human Rights Watch recommends principles for international and regional bodies and nations to follow when formulating public policy and laws affecting the Internet, sets forth the international legal principles governing on-line expression, and, examines some of the current attempts around the globe to censor on-line communication. The 24-page report is available via e-mail at sorensk@hrw.org or from the Human Rights Gopher: URL: gopher://gopher.humanrights.org:5000/11/int/hrw/general Paper copies of Silencing the Net are available from the Publications Department, Human Rights Watch, 485 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10017-6104 for $3.60 (domestic), $4.50 (international). Visa/MasterCard accepted. Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch is a nongovernmental organization established in 1978 to monitor and promote the observance of internationally recognized human rights in Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East and among the signatories of the Helsinki accords. It is supported by contributions from private individuals and foundations worldwide. It accepts no government funds, directly or indirectly. The staff includes Kenneth Roth, executive director; Cynthia Brown, program director; Holly J. Burkhalter, advocacy director; Barbara Guglielmo, finance and administration director; Robert Kimzey, publications director; Jeri Laber, special advisor; Gara LaMarche, associate director; Lotte Leicht, Brussels office director; Juan Mendez, general counsel; Susan Osnos, communications director; Jemera Rone, counsel; and Joanna Weschler, United Nations representative. Robert L. Bernstein is the chair of the board and Adrian W. DeWind is vice chair. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 May 1996 12:52:00 -0400 (EDT) From: Declan B. McCullagh Subject: File 2--Burmese businessman sentenced for unauthorized telephones, faxes [If Burma's government won't allow unauthorized telephones, I suspect they won't be too keen on the Internet. *sigh* Something else to add to . --Declan] ---------- Forwarded message begins here ---------- From--camcc@abraxis.com Date--Sun, 19 May 1996 11:40:11 -0400 Subject--News from Burma ASIA 'Excommunication' An anglo-Burmese businessman friendly with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been sentenced to thre years in jail for owning unauthorized telephones and fax machines. James Leander Nichols, also known as Leo Nicholas, was punished for having two fax machines and a telephone switchboard with nine lines in his home, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's political party said. In an effort to discourage contact between Burmese citizens and the outside world, Burma's military government requires people to get permission to own a fax machine, satellite dish, or sophisticated phone system. News Services The Atlanta Constitution/The Atlanta Journal Alec ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 4 May 1996 14:30:27 -0400 (EDT) From: "Declan B. McCullagh" Subject: File 3--European Commission "looking actively" at net-regulation [I just updated my international net-censorship page, which is now at . This "informal meeting" by the EC comes just in time for the G-7 summit next month... --Declan] ---------- Forwarded message begins here ---------- BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1996 MAY 3 (NB) -- The European Commission (EC) has confirmed it is now looking actively at methods by which its official agencies can police the Internet. Speaking earlier this week in Italy, where an informal IT (information technology) meeting took place between various EC agencies, Agostino Gambino, the Italian Minister for Telecommunications, told journalists that the main focus of the regulatory changes will be to protect the interests of children, and outlaw criminal activity on the Internet. Gambino said that an informal meeting between himself and his EC member country counterparts in Bologna, Italy, had been successful, and had established a framework for a full report from the EC. Once the report was prepared, he said, a decision on how best to proceed would be taken by Brussels. "Many member states perceive the need now for some discipline, some kind of regulatory framework, codes of ethics," he told journalists, adding the French government has proposed that EC member states draw up a draft global convention on ethics, legislation and the Internet. [...] According to EC officials, the first task of the Consultative Commission on Racism and Xenophobia (CRAX), as it is called, will be to investigate and, using legal means, stamp out the current wave of racism on the Internet. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 23:42:43 -0400 (EDT) From: "Declan B. McCullagh" Subject: File 4--Singapore providers may block access ---------- Forwarded message begins here ---------- May 1, 1996 CENTRAL, HONG KONG, 1996 MAY 1 (NB) -- Singapore's Internet operators could block their sites to non-subscribers. According to the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore, which regulates Internet provisions, there are no regulations to stop operators from restricting access to their services. A report in the Singapore Straits Times said that two of the country's three Internet providers were looking at the option of blocking access to their sites from non-subscribers. Pacific Internet said: "With regards to new services, we are always on the lookout for new opportunities. However, we will cross the bridge when we come to it." A CyberWay spokesman indicated that the company was looking at introducing "special services which may be exclusive to CyberWay subscribers." [...] However, it seems the issue is little more than a storm in tea-cup, since the "blocking" to be discussed is only on specific services the ISPs provide for their own subscribers -- services similar to those being planned both by Hong Kong's Netvigator ISP and Asia Online. In both cases the value-added services must be paid for, either by having an account with the ISP, or by giving credit card details. ------------------------------ Subject-- email repression in Belarus Date-- Thu, 30 May 1996 13:38:21 +0300 Dear friends, I received the following disturbing message from friends in Minsk today and translated it. Feel free to forward it further. Please excuse cross-postings. Alyson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ May 23, 1996 New Rules for Working on the Internet in Belarus The President's Administration has made a special decree obligating all users of the Internet in the country to register with the police. Everyone who has an electronic mail address in a state-run or independent network must report to the local regional station. According to the official version, this is linked with the battle against anti-governmental information and with the suppression of enemy-of-the-people provocation. The deadline for registration is 30 days. Serious punishments, which are not outlined in the text of the decree, await those who do not register. According to the opinion of a highly-placed Administration official, the new decree will assist "the healthy development of the information industry of the country." PC World Belarus magazine #2, 1996 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright © "RM", 1996. All right reserved. WWW: designed & provided by Mediacom information company Server: Relis of "Relcom" corp. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Jun 1996 23:22:55 -0400 (EDT) From: "Declan B. McCullagh" Subject: File 5--Vietnam announces strict Internet controls ((My international net-censorship roundup is at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~declan/international/ --Declan)) HANOI, June 6 (Reuter) - Vietnam has imposed strict rules on use of the Internet including a ban on direct access by private individuals. Under the rules, which came into effect in late May but were released to journalists this week, the Vietnamese government would monitor information and subscribers. Vietnam has limited access to the Internet at present but has yet to establish a full commercial node. Under the directive, issued by the General Directorate of Posts and Telecommunications, subscribers will only be allowed access via companies which restrict information in accordance with state regulations. The rules make Internet users legally responsible for any information they provide or receive. Companies which provide commercial access are also bound to give Vietnam's Interior (Police) Ministry monitoring powers. Despite nearly a decade of reforms and a growing news media industry, Vietnam still maintains tight control over the flow of information. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Jun 1996 23:21:22 -0400 (EDT) From: "Declan B. McCullagh" Subject: File 6--Seoul battles Pyongyang in cyberspace SEOUL, June 6 (Reuter) - South Korea has warned its public against making contact with North Korea on the Internet, taking its battle with arch-foe Pyongyang into cyberspace. State radio on Thursday quoted prosecutors as saying stern measures would be taken against anybody trying to access North Korean homepages on the worldwide web. Prosecutors said Internet subscribers who distributed or transferred such information to local personal computer networks would be punished under the National Security Law, which bars all unauthorised contacts with the North. The radio gave no further details, and prosecutors were not immediately available for comment on a public holiday. North and South Korea have been technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict ended with a truce. Internet enthusiasts say they have detected no signs of North Korean activity in cyberspace. It is not clear whether the country can access the global network. There are a number of homepages carrying North Korean news and information, but these do not originate in Pyongyang. A South Korean newspaper this week created a stir by identifying one of these pages and suggesting it could have been backed by Pyongyang. Checks showed the homepage was created by a Canadian student, David Burgess, who travelled to North Korea in 1995. It consists partly of pamphlets he found on North Korea's national airline. Burgess said he has been bombarded with e-mail queries on whether he is a North Korean agent. It is a serious offence in South Korea to sell or possess any literature produced in North Korea. Seoul bars monitoring of North Korean media, including radio and the state news agency, within the country. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 9 Jun 96 23:10 MET DST From: Ulf Moeller Subject: File 7--Re: Report from Germany on "backdoor" net-censorship [German institutions' cancelling pornography, violence and Nazi propaganda on Usenet will certainly have large international impact. Thus I strongly suggest that you ask for an official translation. I cannot guarantee for this rough translation to be correct. -- Ulf] From: summa@eco.de ("Harald A. Summa") Press Release, June 5, 1996 Internet Media Counsil presents fist measurements for Voluntary Self-Control [Voluntary Self-Control is the doublespeak term for censorship on pornography, violence, etc. It is, of course, not voluntary. um] The leading Internet Serive Providers, on whose initiave the Internet Medienrat, have deciced to found the Internet Content Task Force (ICTF) for the purposes of Voluntary Self-Control. The ICTF will introduce technical and organizational measurements to put up effective control against contents harmful to minors and national-socialist propaganda material. As a first step, the ICTF occupy itself with the News service, and later with other forms of content transport in the Internet as well. The Internet Content Task Force will supply a news server specificially configured for purposes of self-control at DE-CIX, the national data exchange point of the Internet Service Providers. Proof of origin of critical articles will be processed by the server, archived in a data base observing privacy laws, and stored at a central facility. Furthermore, sample news articles will be suject to detailed legal evaluation. Should this result in suspicion or proof of transportation of illegal contents, the ICTF can launch various steps to work against propagation of these contents. For example, it can arrange for blocking of complete newsgroups or retrospect "Cancel" of articles already transmitted. ICTF can direct possible criminal investigation with help of its data base. Criteria for the ICTF's proceed will be developed, evaluated and continuously updated by the Internet Medienrat. As an independant gremium, the Internet Medienrat tries to achieve a social consensus in the use of online media without government [sic! um] censorship. The formation of the Internet Medienrat, which is currently preparing its working basis, is being pushed ahead by Prof. Goetze, COE of Springer Verlag Heidelberg, and eco Electronic Commerce Forum e.V. It will present its members and organization to the public on September 19, 1996. >From govenment side, the Internet Medienrat is supported by the Federal Ministry of Economy. Min. of Economy Rexroth: "I appreciate the German online industry's initiative to found an Internet Media Counsil as a gremium of Voluntary Self-Control." Background Information on the Internet Content Task Force (ICTF) The problem of protection of minors and of spreading national-socialist ideas in the new media - especially on the Internet - is currently being discussed intensively and controversially. Meanwhile, politics and investigation authorities have begun to proceed against the distribution of illegal contents the the Internet. In the past weeks, the press has been reporting intensively about investigations against large service providers. However, the current legal situation gives few starting points for coordinated proceeding. Lawyers cannot even agree on who can and should be punished for distributing contents relevant to criminal law on the Internet. Depending on standpoint and interests, even noted criminal lawyers hold different views. Some do not consider distribution of pornography and national-socialist writings in electronic form punishable at all, others even want to hold service providers responsible for mere transportation of data. Mediating opionions imply that only the author of the message be punishable. The only strong fact in the complete discussion is that the matter -- as always in difficult dogmatic questions in penal law -- will finally be decided by courts. It is also a fact that the true authors of illegal messages -- especially those with an especially high criminal energy -- can be determined only with great difficulty, so that the threat of punishment insofar is void. The solution to this problem is being complicated by the continuing political discussion and superposed by other question complexes. For example, the states regard new media as an extension of their traditional radio regulation competence. They are trying to ensure future influence by an extensive interpretation of the constitutional regulation of competences and the laws and state treaties based on it. The draft State Treaty on Media Services that applies to the whole field of Internet and online services is one result of these reasonings. To create facts in this field, the state treaty shall be passed soon. Lead by the "Future" Ministry, the federation is also working on legal framework for new information and communication services to comprehensively cover the subject. The Ministry of Interior on its side is concerned with restricting Freedom of Communication with priority. This activity has already resulted in the novel Wiretap Law and the Telecommunication Surveillance Decree. Further laws, especially a ban on crytography, are planned. On the European level, a working group initiated on the last G7 conference, is trying to achive international consesus. Legal clarification, which is strictly needed but with still open result, is faced by fear of censorship and too wide-reaching government interference. Since a long time, the leading German Internet Service Providers have been trying to solve the now openly visible conflict betreen the "Information Police State" and the "Anarchy in the Net" as feared by politics. Thus they have propagated founding a Voluntary Self-Control and initiated the formation of an Internet Medienrat. As a further buiding stone, the Internet Content Task Force (ICTF) is now being put to existence. This shall also work against the impression that the main purpose of the Internet were distributiong extremist and pornographic contents. At least this was the result of numerous -- often badly researched -- reports in the recent weeks. They did neither differenciate between the Internet services (Mail, News, WWW, Chat and others), nor present the relation of doubtlessly useful and the less desired contents. ICTF now turns towards the problem in a much more refined way. There, it first will occupy itself with the currently probably most critcal part of the Internet, the so-called News service. The special problem of the News service is that information can be distributed world-wide, yet anonymously. This is different of at least fundamentally more difficult in other parts of the Internet, so that the volume of critical content in the News is comparably high. The ICTF will register the information availible on the origin of news and store them in a data base as to make it possible to determine who has sent an article or disguised the real author's identity, in retrospect. The data base will be kept observing privavy laws and third parties' protection-deserving interests [the Privacy Law puts limits on databases with "protection-deserving" personal information, um]. To avoid abuse, the data will regularly be exported to hard storage and deposited with an attorney. Furthermore, the existing or newly created newsgroups will be classified, so that groups serving to distribute exclusively or predominantly illegal contents can be excluded from further distribution. Sample investigation of articles and analysis of articles as necessary will also make it possible to limit the transportation of individual articles. Founding the ICTF, the Internet Service Providers accept part of the responsibility in forming a modern information society. It is clear that preventive action on a national level cannot stop illegal action on a global level. Thus, the ICTF is a model for similar initiatives in other countries, and is to be seen as an appeal to politics to make their contribution to solving the problem. Currently, the ICTF is the only perceptible approach to respect the need for "Law and Order" and yet leaves the new medium Internet with the freedom needed for futher prosperation. On the other hand, national legislator's attempts to solve the problem on its own will hardly solve the problem, but put severe damage to the economic site Germany. For one thing is clear in the virtual worlds of communication networks: Borders lose their importance, and location is no longer an issue. There is nothing to prevent an enterprise from moving its online activities to a country with less bureaucrary and legal restrictions. First tendencies for migration are already percepted. The Internet Content Task Force is supported be the following Internet Service Providers: CERFnet GmbH, Heidenrod ECRC GmbH, Muenchen, EUnet Deutschland GmbH,=20 GTN GmbH, Krefeld, ipf.net GmbH, Frankfurt, IS/Thyssen Internet Service GmbH, Hamburg, Point of Presence, Hamburg,=20 nacamar GmbH, Dreieich, NTG-X/link GmbH, Karlsruhe, roka GmbH, Duisburg, seicom GmbH, Pfullingen, spacenet GmbH, Muenchen. Further information can be obtained from: eco Electronic Commerce Forum e. V. c/o Harald A. Summa Schaeferkampstr. 19 44287 Dortmund Tel:=09+49 (0) 231 44 79 49 Fax:=09+49 (0) 231 44 81 35 E-Mail: summa@eco.de http://www.eco.de/ or attorney at law RA Michael Schneider Dickstr. 35 53773 Hennef / Sieg,=20 Tel:=09+49 (0) 2242 9270-0=20 Fax: =09+49 (0) 2242 9270-99 =20 E-Mail: Michael.Schneider@Anwalt.DE http://www.anwalt.de/ +++ eco - Electronic Commerce Forum e. V. c/o Harald A. Summa Sch=E4ferkampstr. 19 44287 Dortmund Tel 0231 / 44 79 49 Fax 0231 / 44 81 35 Email info@eco.de ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 May 1996 14:01:02 +0100 (BST) From: Richard K. Moore Subject: File 8--(fwd) THE REGULATORS MEET THE INTERNET I'm forwarding this excellent article by Craig Johnson to several lists. I hope you find it useful, and please accept my apologies if you consider it off topic or if someone else already forwarded it. My only nitpick with Craig is one of perspective... he describes Internet as being free of regulation currently, and being under threat of coming under the attention of the FCC, for the first time. I see this differently. I'd say that the Internet has always been conciously regulated by the FCC -- and in a very enlightened way. The decision was made (in the late sixties, I believe) to allow Tymshare, GE, GTE/Telenet, and others, to offer value-added communication services, and to pay only standard rates for the leased or dial-up communications facilities they required to provide their service (or their customers required to access them). Internet was one of the natural consequences of the existence of this open, value-added marketplace. Thus Internet has been the intentional beneficiary of the regulatory regime we've lived under prior to the so-called Reform bill. From this perspective, it is the Reform-bill's _deregulation_ that threatens Internet, in that it destabilizes existing arrangements, and gives more leeway to the big operators to determine pricing structures. Thus while Craig's interpretation seems to be that regulation -- of any kind -- is the enemy, I claim that appropriate regulation has been our safe-haven birthplace, and that appropriate regulation should be the positive goal we pursue -- with a healthy appreciation of the benefits we've derived from the previous regime. But these are only philosophical nitpicks -- many thanks to Craig for summarizing the situation and alerting us to the opportunity to influence the FCC. Brilliant work, as usual. Regards, rkm (please Cc: rkmoore@iol.ie if replying) _________________| forwarded message follows |__________________ ________________________________________________________________ Date--Tue, 30 Apr 1996 From--"Craig A. Johnson" Subject--cr> Regulating the Internet It is highly recommended that those who are concerned about the coming communications regulatory regime read the FCC's recent NPRMs on "universal service" and "interconnection." --caj @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ANALYSIS: FREE NET TELEPHONY + by Craig A. Johnson American Reporter Correspondent Washington 4/29/96 net-regulation 1023/$10.23 THE REGULATORS MEET THE INTERNET by Craig A. Johnson American Reporter Correspondent WASHINGTON -- Fears of Rambo-like regulation have spawned a sort of spring fever in the online world, with presumptive alarms and bulletins ricocheting all over the Net. Will the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) choke the Internet's wide-open pathways with regulatory underbrush? Will the petition filed by the Americas' Carriers Telecommunications Association (ACTA) on March 4 be granted, stopping Internet telephony or mandating access charges? (AR, No. 245 ) Or, even more catastrophically, will the Net somehow be swept under the FCC regime for telecommunications carriers? The answers, according to sources both inside and outside of the FCC, for the time being, are a qualified no. On April 19, the FCC gave its tentative response on the Net telephony problem, partially assuaging worries that new regulations will require access charges and tariffing for long distance voice over the Internet. Although the soft no from the FCC was reassuring, the wall protecting Internet voice as an "information service" has scores of cracks and may still crumble under the blows of a regulatory hammer. The issue was addressed in the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on "interconnection," or more formally, "implementation of the local competition provisions in the Telecommunications Act of 1996." The NPRM is as interesting for what it does not say as for what it does. Generally, it poses a lot of questions, on which parties will file comments, and on the basis of which the FCC will finalize rules in August. The agency sees the proceeding and the consequent rules as establishing "the 'new regulatory paradigm' that is essential to achieving Congress' policy goals." The visible fractures in the old regulatory regime stood out prominently in the interconnection notice. Two aspects of the proceeding, in particular, directly relate to Internet access and pricing regimes. First, the FCC made it clear that current access charges and interconnection regulations are "enforceable until they are superseded." The FCC said, in regulatory-ese, that it wanted comments on "any aspect of this Notice that may affect existing 'equal access and nondiscriminatory interconnection restrictions and obligations (including receipt of compensation).'" Translated, this means that Net telephone providers and users can breathe a little more easily for the time being. But, the call for comments on the existing "restrictions and guidelines" should not be taken for granted. It is precisely these regulations -- which exempt "enhanced service" providers, like Internet and online service providers from paying access charges for their usage of the facilities and network components of local exchange carriers (LECs) -- which are on the table in this proceeding and related ones. A second aspect of the interconnection proceeding relates directly to definitions. The Commission asks for comment "on which carriers are included under" the definition of "telecommunications carriers" offered in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Critically, the agency asks: "How does the provision of an information service [as conventionally defined in the law and prior regulations], in addition to an unrelated telecommunications service, affect the status of a carrier as a 'telecommunications carrier?'" This is a call for commenters to address the issue of whether "information service providers," such as ISPs, who also provide "telecommunications services," should be treated as "telecommunications carriers" and therefore be subject to all, some, or none of the requirements of common carriers, including the payment of access charges and the filing of tariffs. In practical terms the FCC is asking the online community to persuade them that ISPs who permit Internet audio streaming applications, such as long distance voice, should not be considered under the same rules applying to "telecommunications providers." The FCC emphasizes that the interconnection rulemaking "is one of a number of interrelated proceedings," and explains that the answer to how, in which ways, and to what extent the Internet will be regulated will be a product of "the interrelationship between this proceeding, our recently initiated proceeding to implement the comprehensive universal service provisions of the 1996 Act and our upcoming proceeding to reform our Part 69 access charge rules." This should be seen as a warning flag that issues concerning access charges for the Internet have yet to be even taken up by the Commission, and will be one of the outcomes of several complex proceedings, with public comments invited from all consumer and business interests. The FCC NPRM and order establishing the joint federal-state universal service board, issued on March 8, for example, emphasizes the provision in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which stipulates that "[a]ccess to advanced telecommunications and information services should be provided in all regions of the country." The FCC says that "commenters may wish to discuss Internet access availability, data transmission capability, ... enhanced services, and broadband services." In both this and the interconnection notices, the agency emphasizes its statutory authority to regulate the Internet. The news so far is relatively positive. The FCC claims it doesn't want to prematurely slap regulations on the Net which may stunt its remarkable growth and vitality. But the handwriting is on the wall -- in several different hands and scrawled over cracks. Arguments for Internet volume-based or per-packet pricing will be surely surface in comments in the FCC proceedings. The old argument for the "modem tax," which says that data bits should be priced differently than voice bits, will likely rear its scarred head. Internet access is on the charts and in the dockets at the Commission. It should have the same pride of place for all Internet activists and user group communities. The FCC is asking the Internet and computer user and business communities to wake up to an emergent regulatory regime in which the old comfortable dualities such as "information services" and "telecommunications services" -- which in the past have insulated the Internet from regulation -- may not be easily parsed. In short, the agency is begging for help in drafting the cyber-roadmaps for the future. (Note: Both the universal service NPRM and order and the interconnection NPRM can be accessed via the FCC's Web page -- http://www.fcc.gov. Many of the comments for the universal service proceedings are also now available at the site.) -30- (Craig Johnson writes on cyber rights issues for WIRED.) The American Reporter "The Internet Daily Newspaper" Copyright 1995 Joe Shea, The American Reporter All Rights Reserved The American Reporter is published daily at 1812 Ivar Ave., No. 5, Hollywood, CA 90028 Tel. (213)467-0616, by members of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Internet discussion list. It has no affiliation with the SPJ. Articles may be submitted by email to joeshea@netcom.com. Subscriptions: Reader: $10.00 per month ($100 per year) and $.01 per word to republish stories, or Professional: $125.00 per week for the re-use of all American Reporter stories. We are reporter-owned. URL: http://www.newshare.com/Reporter/today.html Archives: http://www.newshare.com/Reporter/archives/ For more info on AR: http://oz.net/~susanh/arbook.html @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ~ CYBER-RIGHTS ~ ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Visit The Cyber-Rights Library, accessible via FTP or WWW at: ftp://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/Library/ http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/Library/ You are encouraged to forward and cross-post list traffic, pursuant to any contained copyright & redistribution restrictions. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Mar 1996 22:51:01 CST From: CuD Moderators Subject: File 9--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 Apr, 1996) Cu-Digest is a weekly electronic journal/newsletter. Subscriptions are available at no cost electronically. 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