more on AT&T/BellSouth may pass today with hollow Net Neutrality

Begin forwarded message:

From: Bob Frankston <[email protected]>
Date: December 29, 2006 1:17:59 PM EST
To: [email protected], [email protected]
Subject: RE: [IP] more on AT&T/BellSouth may pass today with hollow=20=20
Net Neutrality

There is a danger of falling into the trap of focusing on each=20=20
symptom =96 the fATT/BS thing is a consequence of system that doesn=92t=20=
=20
make any sense and if the premise doesn=92t make any sense that it is=20=20
difficult to argue about results.

I still don=92t understand how the whole telecommunication industry=20=20
makes any sense. I keep feeling like the kid looking at the emperor=20=20
passing by and wondering who=92s paying for all the pageantry. The=20=20
clothes themselves are pretty shabby but we=92re told that it=92s our=20=20
fault because we cheated the emperor out of his rightful due.

The basic funding model was established when had service providers=20=20
who built transports for their purposes and funded it as just another=20=20
cost of providing their services. If you used a phone wire by=20=20
definition you were making a phone call so there was a real=20=20
relationship and the more phone calls you made the more phone lines.

Now there no longer have any relationship between a particular=20=20
service and the transport. We also have abundant capacity. As with=20=20
milk, you can=92t maintain a price that is above cost unless you limit=20=
=20
the supply thus preventing us from realizing the capacity.

Without an intrinsic relationship between service and transport the=20=20
carriers have to peek at the bits to take determine the value so they=20=20
can get a cut of the action. They can be nice and tolerate some raw=20=20
bits, that Internet, but not if it threatens their service revenues.=20=20
Certainly not if it requires additional capacity =96 there is simply no=20=
=20
funding model for that if abundant bits can=92t be priced above cost.

If they do get a cut of the action we may get some transport but we=20=20
don=92t get the Edge-to-Edge Internet (End-to-End is often taken to=20=20
mean Womb-to-Tomb).

But then I get told that if we fund the transport as local=20=20
infrastructure no one will want to pay for it. They are used to get=20=20
it free and you can=92t rely on it anyway. Sponsorship is not the same=20=
=20
as free =96 it comes at a price. I don=92t understand how a common=20=20
transport could possibly be more expensive than today=92s shared=20=20
transports that has enough capacity to run HD VoD streams to each TV=20=20
while still having multiple broadcast transports. I don=92t see how=20=20
people would not want to assure that they can get their entertainment.

If the FCC is so befuddled by their Regulatorium it will take an=20=20
external factor. Can the FTC free itself from the idea broadbandit=20=20
competition and give us ownership of our transport? Especially when=20=20
the carriers are explicit in saying that 3G/IMS works only if they=20=20
prevent the users from creating their own services =96 IANAL but that=20=20
sounds like making restraint of trade a necessary part of their=20=20
strategy =96 as if violation of NN isn=92t in itself.

I=92m writing a longer essay explaining this but it=92s not quite ready=20=
=20
since I want to make sure it is able to explain these points to a=20=20
larger audience that believes there are voice bits and video bits and=20=20
even porn bits that can be identified.



-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2006 12:05
To: [email protected]
Subject: [IP] more on AT&T/BellSouth may pass today with hollow Net=20=20
Neutrality







Begin forwarded message:

From:   Lynn <[email protected]>

Date:    December 29, 2006 11:49:31 AM EST

To:       [email protected]

Cc:       [email protected]

Subject:            Re: [IP] AT&T/BellSouth may pass today with=20=20
hollow Net

             Neutrality



I made a =91quick=92 call to the FCC to asked a couple of questions based on

this post. After being transferred around, I spoke to Nicholas Alexander

(contact info on request). I was told Nick was the only one to answer

any

questions.

Nick advised two things: 1. he had no time to talk to me, nor did he=20=20=
=20
know when he could talk to me. He did take my contact info to call=20=20
back at an undetermined future time. 2. he claimed to not know when=20=20
this vote is taking place.

I feel like I just knocked my head against a brick wall.

Lynn



Begin forwarded message:



From:         Dave Burstein <[email protected]>

Date:          December 29, 2006 8:17:23 AM EST

To: [email protected]

Subject:      For IP please: AT&T/BellSouth may pass today with=20=20
hollow Net

Neutrality



Dave



I respect your opinion the government should not regulate Net

Neutrality, and I think your readers can make their own decision. But

I think neither you nor I want it to go through because AT&T claims

they promised Net Neutrality but sneaked in a sentence that makes it

meaningless so I hope you=92ll pick this up. The first is from Mike

Masnick at Techdirt, the second a draft from DSL Prime I would

release except they are hurrying to a vote less than 24 hours after

the final and deceptive AT&T proposal came out.



 From Mike



And By The Time Anyone Reads The Sneaky Fine Print On AT&T=92s

Concessions, The Merger Will Be Done





from the fooled-ya deptA few hours ago, we wrote about the

concessions AT&T agreed to in order to get their merger with

BellSouth approved=97possibly today. It was a little strange to see

the concession letter come out late Thursday night before New Years,

but the concessions seemed genuine enough, and many of the consumer

groups fighting the deal accepted the terms and agreed that it looked

like AT&T had agreed to live up to network neutrality rules. Of

course, the fine print may actually tell a different story.



Dave Burstein, who knows more about DSL than probably just about

anyone, lets us know that the fine print in the deal actually may

negate the network neutrality premise. The wording is a little

tricky, but while they agree not to remove network neutrality from

their standard network, hidden in the middle of a later paragraph is

this sentence: =93This commitment also does not apply to AT&T/

BellSouth=92s Internet Protocol television (IPTV) service.=94 At first

that might seem innocuous, but Burstein has pointed out that AT&T=92s

always planned on using the IPTV network as that high-speed toll lane

it wants Google, Vonage and others to pay extra for. Burstein notes

that AT&T isn=92t even set up to put quality of service on their

existing network=97so the agreement not to violate network

neutrality on that network is effectively meaningless. It is, he

claims, a sleight of hand that successfully fooled a bunch of people

into supporting the deal, and will probably help it get approval.

AT&T promises not to violate network neutrality on a network they

never intended to use that way, and carves out permission to use it

on their new network, where they had planned all along to set up

additional tollbooths.



and from me (draft)

=93I call them the black ninjas. They work by night and are very, very

good.=94 FCC Chairman Bill Kennard explaining telco lobbyists



=93Jim Cicconi and Bob Quinn are the best lobbyists in Washington,=94

President of SBC Bill Daley lamented after they beat him a while

back. They now work for AT&T, and have proven their brilliance by

convincing most of D.C. they accepted network Neutrality to get the

BellSouth merger approved, while burying on page 10 a sentence that

made their concession almost meaningless. Their proposal came out

Thursday night and I=92ve worked all night. Apologies to non-U.S.

readers for putting this first, but AP reports they plan to sneak it

through Friday before the holiday.



AT&T offer on Net Neutrality sounds good, and might be a model

to countries like Japan that are considering Net Neutrality rules.

AT&T agreed =93not to provide =85 any service that privileges, degrades

or prioritizes any packet transmitted over AT&T/BellSouth=92s wireline

broadband Internet access service based on its source, ownership or

destination.=94



A seemingly innocuous later sentence effectively makes that

almost meaningless. =93This commitment also does not apply to AT&T/

BellSouth=92s Internet Protocol television (IPTV) service.=94 AT&T has

always intended to give paying customers priority by routing them

over  the =93IPTV=94 part of their network, with Alcatel routers and

Microsoft software  designed for QOS. They don=92t even have the

equipment for that kind of QOS on what they call =93wireline broadband

Internet access service.=94 The lawyers fighting this in D.C. won=92t

even discover they=92ve been bamboozled until afterwards if the

commission goes ahead and rushes this through. The entire set of

=93concessions=94 remains so insignificant that Merrill Lynch=92s

=93immaterial=94 judgment still holds.



The other stuff in the 20 pages adds surprisingly little

substance.  For example, the 85% DSL promise happens to be the level

BellSouth has already reached. Most of the special access rates they

agreed to freeze are ones AT&T CEO, Rick Lindner, told Wall Street

=93have been declining as a result of competition.=94



Incredibly effective persuasion, which at least in early drafts

even bamboozled public interest advocates and Commission Democrats.

With luck, they=92ll analyze the final filing, released late Thursday,

before making up their mind. It would be scandalous if an $85B merger

goes through on terms revealed only 12 hours before.

Dave Burstein



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