“Communications has broken out of its preordained, unleashing applications that can integrate communications across the enterprise,” says a new IDC white paper on Voice over Internet Protocol.
That one sentence pretty much explains the state of the telecom industry today: Communications are fluid. TV shows can be viewed on laptops and handsets, voice communication takes place on the Internet, etc. It also explains the struggles regulators must face as they try to figure out how to fairly and uniformly apply outdated rules in the digital age. In short, the nice line in the sand between communications services and information services is disappearing.
Should you regulate free broadcast TV delivered via the Internet? Today the Federal Communications Commission only enforces indecency and profanity prohibitions against conventional broadcast services-not subscription programming from cable and satellite. This is why Howard Stern moved to Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. But ABC is testing Internet programming with episodes of “Lost” available on the Web the day after the show appears on broadcast TV. So could ABC (perhaps the better question is would ABC) make the show a little more risque for its Internet audience since Internet connections are subscription-based? And would the network be able to charge a premium to advertisers for the uncensored version of the show? Could that business model transfer to TV delivered wirelessly?
Look at it from another angle: What if the Internet connection is free, which might happen as cities plan to offer free Wi-Fi access? How would the FCC assess a fine similar to the one assessed against Viacom Inc. when Janet Jackson overexposed herself a few years ago during the Super Bowl?
But the intermingling of different communications modes has more serious consequences than Howard Stern and the lame state of TV in general. The Department of Transportation is beginning to address next-generation 911 services because it realizes that people communicate in a variety of ways, not just over traditional wired telephony networks. The FCC already has demanded that VoIP providers be able to offer E-911 service.
The courts are now figuring out how to address digital wiretap laws for broadband Internet access. VoIP providers likely will have to comply with digital wiretap rules, but broadband access providers like Comcast Corp., which are considered information service vendors, may not. (Therefore, a smart criminal should communicate via broadband to lessen his chances of being watched by the CIA or FBI. But hey, the government doesn’t seem to be minding the fine print either!)
Regardless, Congress is going to have to address communications outside the distinct silos of telecom and information-because the line separating the two isn’t a solid one.
