These regulations were eventually organized into the Communications Act of 1934 - a set of laws that dictated American communications policy virtually unchanged for over 60 years. The concept was simple enough: in exchange for an effective monopoly over a medium that was quickly becoming vitally important, AT&T was subject to a unique level of government oversight. It’s a mess - and, by all appearances, it’s completely legal.Ĭommunication regulation is a century-old notion, spurred by the early 20th century’s dominance of AT&T in telephony (and RCA in radio). The chicanery has allowed Verizon to raise telephone rates, all the while missing commitments for high-speed internet deployment.
It demonstrates how Verizon deliberately moves back and forth between regulatory regimes, classifying its infrastructure either like a heavily regulated telephone network or a deregulated information service depending on its needs. Today New York’s Public Utility Law Project (PULP) published a report, authored by New Networks, which contains previously unseen documents. In fact, strict FCC rules have helped Verizon build a largely unregulated network - a network that’s valued in the tens of billions of dollars. And while Verizon, Comcast, AT&T, and others have been clamoring to prevent heavy regulation from being considered this week, it turns out that communications providers have actually been working the system for years, using exactly this kind of regulation to their advantage.
It’s an emotional, controversial, drawn-out battle that has been building for years, pitting some of the biggest internet providers in the world against the government, American citizens, and virtually every denizen of the web.Īt issue is how (or if) the FCC will protect the internet’s openness, free of special treatment and data “fast lanes” offered to the highest bidders. Tomorrow, the FCC starts deciding the future of the internet.
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