Policy Blog Entries by Jef Pearlman

If you’ve never seen the intro (original/new) to the TV show “The Outer Limits” then perhaps now is the time. Be sure to have the sound up:

There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission…

Perhaps if the intro was written today, it would say, “There is nothing wrong with your television set. But do not attempt to view our movies. The MPAA is controlling transmission.”

For months, Comcast spokespeople have been deny, deny, denying that the FCC has the power to do anything about Comcast’s throttling of BitTorrent traffic. Now, in papers filed as part of a class action lawsuit against Comcast, Comcast has gone the opposite direction, asserting that because “these issues are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the FCC, and because the FCC is actively investigating them,” the judge should put the suit on hold until the FCC renders a decision. The court has agreed, staying the case until the FCC acts.

Susan Crawford recently explained how Google has petitioned the FCC to ensure that Verizon Wireless doesn’t wiggle out of its obligation to make the network they build in the recently-auctioned 700mhz spectrum open to all devices and applications. I just want to add a few points about why a “two door” policy is bad for competitors, bad for the public, and, of course, against the terms of the license. If Verizon implements a two door policy (and the FCC lets them), they’ll have pulled off a phenomenal scam, hurting customers, other carriers, the FCC, and the public at large in the process.

What Is Two Door?

If you haven’t heard yet, a beta of Adobe’s Flash Player Version 10 is available for download. It offers a host of new features, but one has implications that blow the others out of the water: built-in peer-to-peer. That’s right, all the tools necessary to build a p2p client will be built into the Flash plug-in.

Following the lead taken in Alex’s blog post yesterday, I’m going to address some FUD which is making the rounds about text messaging and spam. This weekend, the New York Times ran an article talking about cell phone spam. Spam – or rather, the threat of spam – is a key argument used by the carriers who oppose our petition asking the FCC to clarify that carriers may not discriminate in providing text messaging services. But don’t be fooled – the FUD thrown around in this article is irrelevant to the issues raised in the petition.

I just got back from a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing on the future of the Internet. Much was said on both sides of the panelist table, so I’ll just take a moment to hit some highlights: competition and innovation, media consolidation and content, and FCC authority. One disclaimer: this summary represents (of course) how I interpreted the statements at the hearing. Where I can, I’ve included timestamps into the video; if you want more detail, watch the hearing direct from the Senate’s web site. Also, check out our press release.

You may recall that last month we filed comments in the FCC’s proceeding on our text messaging petition. We were joined by numerous other parties, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Rebtel, Congressmen, and over 200 concerned individuals. On the other side of the debate, a number of the carriers weighed in as well. The carriers’ main arguments? That the problem is solved, and that consumers are actually better off when the carriers get to decide who speaks and who doesn’t over text messages. Yesterday, we filed reply comments addressing these arguments, and making it clear to the FCC that the problem has not been solved, and that it is unacceptable to have mobile carriers act as editors passing judgment on the content of text messages.

Comcast has sent a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin clarifying last week’s announcement that they were in discussions with BitTorrent, Inc. about how to improve Comcast’s network management. In short: Comcast has “admitted” nothing, they do not “block” applications or “discriminate,” and the old system they say they will be replacing is still completely legitimate. It seems that Comcast thinks that the FCC needs to keep on investigating the petition as much as we do.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Comcast and BitTorrent, Inc. are now working together to “collaborate on ways to run BitTorrent’s technology more smoothly on Comcast’s broadband network, and allow Comcast to transport video files more effectively over its own network.” While we applaud application developers and network operators getting together to figure out how to improve the efficiency of the Internet, this changes nothing about the issues raised in the petitions on network management; the FCC must still act quickly to ensure that its four principles for broadband service have real meaning and that consumers are protected.

The fight to keep speech free in text messaging continued last week, when Public Knowledge and all of the original parties filed comments with the FCC, repeating our message to the Commission that text messaging must be protected. In those comments, we drove home the point that because text messaging and short codes are offered to the public at large, they are common carrier services subject to nondiscrimination, and further developed the policy reasons that text messaging needs to remain a free communications medium.