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Thursday, March 31, 2005

Taxation by Regulation: No Escape

Nebraska and Arkansas this week follow "taxation by regulation" to its logical ends by affirming the respective states' rights to tax Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). The Nebraska PSC, with a display of not inconsiderable regulatory will, concludes that is possesses the authority to tax VoIP for purposes of its state universal service fund. Meanwhile, the March 29 Communications Daily (subscription required) reports that the Arkansas legislature moved to "to ensure that VoIP and other types of non-traditional telecom services are subject to Ark.'s telecom gross receipts tax."

The Nebraska PSC action is the more interesting of the two, but both are of a piece. Both actions demonstrate the internal logic of the current universal service system that cannot abide any exit from the taxble "telecommunications" category. Thus, the Nebraska PSC endeavors -- in the face of the FCC's Vonage Order -- to conclude that VoIP services can be taxed for state universal service purposes. Surprise, surprise, the PSC concludes it gets to tax VoIP as telecommunications, based in part on the FCC's ducking of the matter in the Vonage Order. Universal service policy abhors a regulatory definitional vacuum -- and the states will fill in where the FCC gives room.

Continue reading Taxation by Regulation: No Escape . . .

posted by Ray Gifford @ 11:12 PM | Universal Service, VoIP

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Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Still More on Media Deconsolidation

It seems like each week brings another report of a major media breakup or divestiture. As I mentioned here and here in previous essays, various media firms have recently been considering, or are engaged in, major divorces or divestitures. In recent weeks or months, Viacom, Liberty Media, Sony, Time Warner, and Cablevision have all been pondering or carrying out major spin-offs or restructuring plans.

This week it's Disney's turn. After years of feuding with the Weinstein brothers over in their popular and critically acclaimed Miramax Films studio, the two are calling it quits and filing for divorce. (Can you blame the Weinstein brothers after Disney apparently told them to turn down the production rights for the "Lord of the Rings" movies?!?) Disney will be losing one of the most respected movie studios in the world once the divorce is finalized.

I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record on this issue, but I just have to ask once more: Where are all the media critics now? Whenever two media outlets propose a marriage, the critics lament the supposed coming death of diversity and democracy and all that jazz. But when we find ourselves in the midst of another wave of media DE-consolidation, these Chicken Littles are nowhere to be found.

posted by Adam Thierer @ 1:59 PM | Mass Media

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Voluntary Openness

More on Brand X -- along with the insightful posts of Randy and Kyle below, I'd like to direct you to an op-ed Kyle has on CNet News.com. There he champions the position of his old FCC boss and suggests that some voluntary steps by cable to both define and implement "openness" on the Internet might forestall mandates by policymakers that could be far worse.

posted by Patrick Ross @ 10:17 AM | Broadband

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Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Brand X: Whither FCC Deference?

Today's Supreme Court argument in the Brand X case raises an important question: why did the Justices downplay the idea that courts should defer to the FCC when it comes to interpreting the Communications Act? By all accounts, the Court said almost nothing about this issue. The answer may say less about the Court or the parties' arguments than about the conflicting policy goals surrounding the FCC's efforts to promote investment in broadband networks.

Continue reading Brand X: Whither FCC Deference? . . .

posted by Kyle Dixon @ 6:11 PM | Broadband, Cable, Communications, Supreme Court, The FCC

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Brand X

After listening to the Brand X argument this morning at the Supreme Court, this is my quick reaction:

"For the sake of sound communications policy in the digital broadband era, I hope the FCC and the cable industry prevail. Surprisingly, however, except for Justice Stephen Breyer's persistent questions, there was little discussion at the argument concerning the deference due the agency's interpretation regarding what, in my opinion, are inherently ambiguous statutory provisions - the definitions of "information" and "telecommunications" services. A key issue briefed in the case is whether the 9th Circuit erred in holding that the FCC's interpretation was entitled to no deference under the Supreme Court's Chevron decision that holds that agency's reasonable interpretations of ambiguous statutory provisions should normally be upheld. In light of the ambiguity in the statute, this is a pretty good case for the Court to show some deference to the agency."

posted by Randolph May @ 1:25 PM | Broadband

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Friday, March 25, 2005

Special K

Well, at week's end, it's back to the important stuff. Last weekend Coach K (you try to spell Kryzewski!) became the winningness coach in NCAA tournament history, passing Dean Smith, coach of that other school down Tobacco Road.

So, in their eighth straight Sweet 16 appearance, let's hope that the Devils can put together a couple more wins, maybe setting up another matchup with that other school down the road a piece.

posted by Randolph May @ 5:35 PM | Sports

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Great Hazlett Article on Microsoft and Antitrust

Gets to the Schumpeterian nature of competition, the error costs and futility of antitrust enforcers predicting the future, the benefits of tight-integration and non-modularity, and markets driving firms toward interoperability. A tour de force.

posted by Ray Gifford @ 12:52 PM | Antitrust & Competition Policy

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Social Security, Moral Right and Experimental Economics

Robert Samuelson has a typically insightful column on the language of social security. Samuelson notes that by not calling social security and medicare what they are, welfare programs that are transfers from the employed to the retired, we cannot proceed to discuss reforming them honestly. In part, this is because the recipients believe they have a moral right to the transfer payments premised on earlier payment of taxes, notwithstanding that those taxes do not even begin to cover the net benefits being received.
His conclusions are backed by experimental economists

Continue reading Social Security, Moral Right and Experimental Economics . . .

posted by Ray Gifford @ 12:17 PM | Economics, Universal Service

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Thursday, March 24, 2005

CableCards Revisited: The Good, the Bad on the Modular

It was with some regret that I read last week's FCC decision postponing (until 2007) the date when cable operators will be required to use "CableCards" in the set-tops they lease to subscribers. The cards -- which protect against theft of digital cable service -- currently are required only for digital TVs and other devices purchased from consumer electronics companies that enable viewers to surf their favorite channels. Although the FCC moved in the right direction, its decision includes bad news along with the good.

Continue reading CableCards Revisited: The Good, the Bad on the Modular . . .

posted by Kyle Dixon @ 9:44 PM | Cable, Digital TV, Economics, Interoperability

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Aspen Conference Kicks Off Federal Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics

While D.C. basked in the first convincing evidence that Spring will soon take hold, a group of Congressional staffers crunched through repeated dustings of snow on their way to classes in Aspen, Colorado. The staffers were few in number but decidedly well-placed and bipartisan, representing key committees and offices in both the House and Senate. They had agreed to devote part of their Easter recess to participate in the Federal Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics, hosted at the famed Aspen Institute. The Federal Institute was modeled after a similar program for state regulators that PFF launched successfully last year, in conjunction with our academic partners at the University of Colorado's Silicon Flatirons Telecommunications Program and George Mason University's Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science.

Continue reading Aspen Conference Kicks Off Federal Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics . . .

posted by Kyle Dixon @ 7:36 PM | Capitol Hill, Communications, Economics, Electricity, Events, General, IP, Think Tanks

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Thursday, March 24, 2005

Solutions (not lawsuits) for VoIP's 911 Problems

posted by @ 5:08 PM | IP

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Texas E-911

posted by Randolph May @ 11:49 AM | Wireless

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Wednesday, March 23, 2005

After the Level 3 Petition

posted by Ray Gifford @ 12:19 PM | Communications, The FCC, VoIP, Wireline

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Tuesday, March 22, 2005

More on Media (De)Consolidation

posted by Adam Thierer @ 2:13 PM | Mass Media

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Welch to Step Down

posted by Ray Gifford @ 1:48 PM | State Policy

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Nanny State in Texas--Hard Cases and Bad Law

posted by Ray Gifford @ 1:04 PM | VoIP

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Internet Censorship

posted by Patrick Ross @ 9:55 AM | Free Speech

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Friday, March 18, 2005

The Radio "Monopoly" Myth

posted by Adam Thierer @ 9:48 AM | Mass Media

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Thursday, March 17, 2005

Red Lion R.I.P.: FCC Declares the Scarcity Doctrine Dead

posted by Adam Thierer @ 6:05 PM | Free Speech, Mass Media, Wireless

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Stop This Insane Media De-Consolidation!

posted by Adam Thierer @ 11:05 AM | Mass Media

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"The Device That Ate Everything"

posted by Adam Thierer @ 10:50 AM | Communications

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Blocking Blockbuster

posted by Adam Thierer @ 10:40 AM | Antitrust & Competition Policy, Mass Media

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Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Telecom Reform in Illinois

posted by Ray Gifford @ 10:39 PM | State Policy, Wireline

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Open and Closed Platforms -- For Coffee

posted by Ray Gifford @ 9:40 PM | Interoperability

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More on Media Convergence and Censorship

posted by Adam Thierer @ 4:15 PM | Free Speech, Mass Media

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Martin as Chair

posted by Randolph May @ 2:22 PM | The FCC

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Reining in the Regulators

posted by Randolph May @ 10:34 AM | E-commerce, Events

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Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Tivo, Comcast, Modularity and Producer Surplus

posted by Ray Gifford @ 3:19 PM | Net Neutrality

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Value of Networks

posted by James DeLong @ 2:41 PM | General

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Ebbers's Guilt

posted by Ray Gifford @ 2:33 PM | Wireline

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Will 2005 Be the Year That Congress Censors Cable and Satellite TV?

posted by Adam Thierer @ 1:59 PM | Free Speech

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Monday, March 14, 2005

Unpublished Letter to USA Today

posted by Ray Gifford @ 3:10 PM | Antitrust & Competition Policy

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Busy Week on the Hill

posted by Patrick Ross @ 2:11 PM | Capitol Hill

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Sunday, March 13, 2005

The Devils' Playground

posted by Randolph May @ 9:07 PM | Sports

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Friday, March 11, 2005

On and Off Tobacco Roads

posted by Randolph May @ 2:23 PM | Sports

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Declaration of Very Few Principles

posted by @ 10:18 AM | Communications

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Thursday, March 10, 2005

Broadband and Internet Voice: Lessons from a Mad River

posted by Kyle Dixon @ 6:02 PM | Broadband, Communications, The FCC, VoIP

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The Burr electricity bill

posted by Tom Lenard @ 4:35 PM | Electricity

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Is Cell Phone Censorship Around the Corner?

posted by Adam Thierer @ 9:05 AM | Free Speech

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Wednesday, March 9, 2005

Hillary Clinton Wants a V-Chip in Your I-Pod

posted by Adam Thierer @ 11:18 PM | Free Speech, Mass Media

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The Thing-In-Itself: Kant on VoIP

posted by Ray Gifford @ 10:56 AM | VoIP

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The Saving Private Ryan Censorship "Precedent"?

posted by Adam Thierer @ 10:12 AM | Free Speech

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Tuesday, March 8, 2005

Something Old, Something New

posted by Randolph May @ 5:53 PM | VoIP

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Independent Pipes (or POPs Providers)

posted by Randolph May @ 4:46 PM | Communications

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Monday, March 7, 2005

The Hill This Week

posted by Patrick Ross @ 10:23 AM | Capitol Hill

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Vernon Smith Delivers Inaugural John W. Pope Lecture

posted by @ 10:00 AM | Economics, Events, General

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More on Phishing

posted by Mike Pickford @ 9:57 AM | E-commerce

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Sunday, March 6, 2005

The VoIP Blocking Consent Decree

posted by @ 6:24 PM | Net Neutrality, The FCC, VoIP

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Saturday, March 5, 2005

Introducing PFF's Center for Digital Media Freedom

posted by Adam Thierer @ 5:20 PM | Free Speech, Mass Media

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Friday, March 4, 2005

DACA Co-Chairs Testify

posted by Ray Gifford @ 7:05 PM | Capitol Hill

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Crandall on Mergers

posted by Ray Gifford @ 7:02 PM | Antitrust & Competition Policy

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D-Day for Level 3 Forbearance on VoIP

posted by Ray Gifford @ 1:30 PM | VoIP

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Clayton Christensen on the Communications Industry

posted by James DeLong @ 12:30 PM | Communications

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Markets and Phishing

posted by Patrick Ross @ 10:31 AM | E-commerce

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Thursday, March 3, 2005

Telco Video and Digital Must Carry: Making a "Problem" Worse

posted by Kyle Dixon @ 5:54 PM | Broadband, Cable, Communications

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FEC Meets the Blogosphere?

posted by @ 5:31 PM | General

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Something Funny Afoot in Florida

posted by @ 4:37 PM | Broadband, Municipal Ownership, State Policy

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No Phishing

posted by Mike Pickford @ 11:27 AM | E-commerce

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Tuesday, March 1, 2005

Digital Europe photos

posted by Patrick Ross @ 5:17 PM | Software

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