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I'm joined today by doctor Everitt erlich he is a former so undersecretary
of commerce in the Bill Clinton administration also president esce
company doctor look it's great to have you back on you know we talked a little
bit
about this decision by three federal judges did commenting about the FCC's
authority to regulate internet service providers and what they can and cannot
do so let's start at the broadest possible place
what was the decision that was made by these three judges
in essence I think it's dish 1996 telecom act
shares that yes she she can't do stuff to promote broadband internet
to expand it make it better help it along but there's a long line
any can't cross that line and that is it can't treat the Internet the way
used to treat the phone system back in the year have the regulated monopoly
and that specifically means that it can't impose
that some people call net neutrality on broadband providers
what's the simplest way to understand what that means to the average
end-user I've been using what I guess is known as the Netflix example but maybe
there's a clear away
to explain what that actually means well under the old phone system
the only trick that the system could do
with close a shower kit it made a phone call for you
show every phone call travel the same way
shame term Shane conditions same speed
because the system was a one trick pony but now
in the broadband World this system is much more complex
it can handle very different kind should shake malls
and dad the point it the coach made
is the you can't horse broadband chip imitate the old phone system
and make everything more about the same way so prior to this ruling if we take
Comcast for example which owns NBC
Comcast had to legally treat
the access the band with the someone pulling up
video on their computer from MSNBC
in the exact same way that they treat someone pulling up video from Netflix
however it's possible now that if Comcast
wanted to slow down or reduce the band with
for someone accessing Netflix verses MSNBC
with day legally be able to do that no
that's chill against the antitrust laws that still a corrupt practiced
and it's been against the wall and for over a century
min dish though i think is what some people think about
under this new ruling comcast has the right
Touche to all up the website
all the content providers if you want a premium connection
one that's unbuffered one day isn't broken up into packets
you want the best connection this is what it's gonna cost yet
and this is what you get just like the second-best
to your room service will be defined this way
in this is what you have to pay and it DNA
obligated to take all comers show it can't make these
editorial or discriminatory kinds of decisions
it can shape or I like you I don't like you
so you're moving up and you're moving down that's illegal
no matter what the court *** Jr rather this week this last week
what they can do however is shady
that we're gonna have the best not as good
the little less the net an offer to here's our service
much the same way that she hears offers no shears good shooters better shears
best that's demeaning up the dissociation
it doesn't give Comcast Verizon or AT&T
the right to discriminate Inouye that we already know is against the wall
let's talk about what the term common carrier means I've been doing a little
better reading about some critiques
up how the FCC has handled this and a couple love
articles I read suggest that the issue here is that
if the FCC had allocated the term common carriers to Internet service providers
that they would actually have much broader authority to dictate what
internet service providers can and can't do so let's start with what is
what is a common carrier designation a common carrier means that for some
reason
regulation has decided that you
have to share your capacity with everybody
like if you're a pipeline right you gotta accept
all the natural gas or whatever District Judge Judy the pipeline
the old telephone system back when it was a regulated monopoly
was a common carrier means that it had to accept
anyone who wanted to hook up to it show on and if I recall correctly it was
AT&T who owned a lot of the lines but they had to allow other carriers to use
those lines to transact had a communication yeah
and they got that in exchange for being a regulated monopoly
right the government said you're gonna carry all the traffic that other people
bring to you but
week guarantee you a rate of return we guarantee your profit
and we guarantee you will monopoly the broadband internet
has been built by many different companies at their own risk
show the idea love making them common carriers after they've spent hundreds of
billions of dollars
is a little outlandish now could the argument not be made though that they
were able to build
that big business on the backs have so many shared resource is the government
infrastructure
employees educated by public schools and their truck driver around on the same
public roads that everybody else does that the government bonds
couldn't the argument be made that the Internet is going in the direction
really a utility Atwell I don't think any more or less than any other industry
Nisha mobile industry uses roads built by the government in
workers trained by the Public Schools I think that arguments kinda Shelly
the the 1990s Shake Shack draw a line through telecommunications
it shed that the old phone system had this common carrier status
that the clinton administration was Adam it from the beginning
that whatever dish broadband internet
information superhighway was going to be
did it with in some province and there are people out there after this court
ruling
who say that the FCC had a look at the Internet
and shape bank you now just like the own system
I declared it but in addition to the Frank Zappa test from his famous on you
are what you raise
caddell make him and the Internet is not the phone system
and it shouldn't be subject did the same regulations in the same expectations
as the phone system I do take issue though with you saying that the idea
that
bit private enterprise being built partly on the backs
love got social or or a common goods and services and resources is silly
because this at this can be applied to other industries and it's actually been
a pretty strong
argument in other words when we look at for example the bottled water industry
or when we look at research and development in pharmaceutical companies
and looking at the fact that in that case for example public water is being
used in the a.m I guess where I take issue with a doctor look is here
when private industry tries to say we are completely self sufficient and exist
independent government benefits at all and therefore
we should be able to run our business without regulation
thats were I take issue because hold on a second you're able to run your
business in the way you do
on the back some so many government provided resources
well look its tip for example the internet started out with darpa
right in right Department but you know and that's the case
and dad for example let it be
wireless broadband World relies on electromagnetic spectrum
ever remember that's being auction by the government to the highest bidder
show
not like they're getting anything I think that where the broadband internet
is today makes it less dependent
on the government than it has at any point in its history
given the incredible innovation it's gone on and really entirely in the
private sector
I it's not like dat dark annette was twenty and thirty years ago
may go a little further sure later I think we have to
come to grips with the fact that only these companies have the resources
to build extend and improve the broadband internet
I think that there's plenty of protection in their shift L
plenty let me beat back and carried away the system has protections
if we have the political will to use them against rapacious behavior
against discrimination against certain classes abusers
those are there right now but if we want to help
and internet that hearings rapidly moving up in the world rankings have
speed that's continually expanding
that Palin change many different competing technologies
wired wireless cable fiber telco and the like
then it's gonna have to be done by the private sector
and we're gonna have to change some kind of partnership
went them yeah I don't disagree with that my concern though is when we look
at the number South Korea
Canada the internet speeds that they have rolled out even over the last month
it's incredible that with the private sector leading the way here in the US we
still have such slow and overpriced Internet it is truly incredible compared
to other countries
I think you I think you're exactly wrong our first
the International Telecommunications Union all yet the UN body
she's US broadband is being among the world's cheapest
and if you look at South Korea for example
sixty-five percent Correa
lives in schol which means they live
in cramped little apartment buildings and
wiring up a local loop in in korea
really means run a wire up and down an apartment building
here it means run a wire through a suburban residential neighborhood
that is the Trident difference between
internet in the US in Internet in Korea in fact
David if you look at what's happening in korea
the averaged compare speed Crean internet hookups
is declining well ours is increasing at one of the fastest rates in the
sure but what we have to consider doctor like we can't ignore the fact that that
maybe
because in the US the average speed
is increasing because more people are getting any access it also when you
average in something instead of averaging in 0
that's going to help the average person's access better and I think we're
getting a little muddled up
well okay but look be had in the US showed
that ninety percent of the population has access to for providers who can make
her more
each in Korea it's Peter declining because now that they're done wiring up
the apartment buildings
they gotta go out into the countryside right those are expensive and those are
bad connections
it's a its almost an absurd comparison
I think there's been a lot of disinformation butt out
what may be the South Korea example maybe I stand corrected on that I have
to look into it more but certainly if we look at
Italy France there are countries that have a longer history of development and
do certainly at least
have cheaper internet access when we look at dollars per mag
over access but but I think maybe we've gotten away from our kind of main
discussion
alright Bayern up I wish we had more time doctor ever
ehrlich he is of course former Undersecretary of Commerce in the Bill
Clinton administration president ES C Company
we're going to continue falling in and of course you're welcome back anytime
always a pleasure to be with the day thank you take care