CableTelco Internet Monopolies, Walled Gardens and the "Seenoevil" FCC

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Cable-Telco Internet Monopolies, Walled Gardens
and the "See-no-evil" FCC

• Nicholas Miller

October 29, 2003 San Francisco, CA
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Overview

• Current Developments
• Future Prospects

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Current Events
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S. 150/Triennial Review/Cable Modem NPRM -- What
Public Interest?

• Free Corporate Use of Public Resources
• No regulatory requirements for pricing
• No obligation to serve local community interests
• No public interest set-asides
• Walled gardens

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Kennard/Powell FCC--the providers have rights,
not the speakers

• no resale obligation
• no open access obligation
• cable modem/DSL is interstate information
  service
• i.e. no local or state or federal regulation
• Commr Copps speaks out

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Brand X 9th Circuit

• FCC wrong
• Cable modem telecommunications service
  information service
• Information and conduit are separable
• Remand to FCC?

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Summary of the Problem

• only the money economy has status
• classic monopoly pricing policy
• resource available to highest payer,
• price unrelated to cost of resource
• dollar value of information controls content
• consumer locked into a Walled Garden

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Whats a Walled Garden?

• Telco or Cable Op chooses
• the user
• the content available
• the nature of the use
• DoCoMo/Fujitsu

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Whats at Stake?

• Remember 2003 and Howard Deans flash in the
  pan?
• right to interconnect at what price?
• Carrier chooses the service provider
• right to nondiscrimination and privacy
• Comcast spy-ware
• right to reuse without constraint

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The Problem Illustrated

• History of mass media--some speakers have more
  access than others
• 1 1 vote. i.e. Economic value of product
  rather than social value of product
• Political Campaign Costs Driven by TV Ads
• No Access to Broadband Distribution for
  Independent Producers
• Only economically powerful represented/heard

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Bandwidth should be a public good--a basic utility

• cable/telcos want to restrain bandwidth to
  protect pricing structure
• no voice for the voiceless today
• low incremental cost of bandwidth should be
  available for community issues

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The Forums for Advocacy

• UNE-P Implementation
• Cal PUC
• Cable Renewals
• Oakland
• San Jose
• Sacramento
• San Francisco

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Future Needs

• Empower local and state officials to speak to
  community interests
• Demonstrate the Need for community set-asides
• e.g. U of W in King County, WN

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Contact Information
Nicholas Miller nmiller_at_millervaneaton.com Miller
Van Eaton, P.L.L.C. 1155 Connecticut Avenue,
N.W. Suite 1000 Washington, D.C.
20036-4301 phone [phone] fax [phone] www
.millervaneaton.com