Over at TPMCafe, Art Brodsky (communications director for Public Knowledge, a D.C. group that works on intellectual property and telecom issues) tells us that FCC chair Kevin Martin has telegraphed his impending decision to reject the appeal by Skype which would allow any device to be connected to a wireless network.
Instead, innovators will need to cut deals with companies like Verizon and Sprint before they can develop new services. This is criminal.
So tell me, Kossacks, what can we do to put pressure on the FCC to change this outcome? According to Brodsky, "The decision in this instance will come in a couple of weeks,.... [and] hances are Commissioners Robert McDowell and Deborah Tate, the other two Republicans on the Commission, will vote with Martin."
There is a strong argument against this move based on recent history, as Brodsky points out:
40 years ago the FCC made just the opposite decision when it came to regular landline telephones.
Consider your basic cordless phone. Cordless phones have gone through a significant metamorphosis in recent years. They improved their technical capabilities by changing the part of the radio spectrum in which they operate. They went from having a big antenna to no visible antenna. Consumers once bought one phone. Now they can buy a set of three phones – a base and two others....
Now, here is the key question for Martin, McDowell and Tate: Who gave permission for those telephone manufacturers to bring those advances to market? Who gave the approvals to change the spectrum, or to redesign the antenna or to add extensions or speakerphones? Was it up to AT&T, because the company was feeling good about "openness" one day? Did Verizon give its blessing, perhaps so that it could see how the equipment was made, while taking eight weeks to make up its mind?
One answer will suffice for all of those questions: No....Let’s go further. What telephone company gave permission for the FCC to operate a Web site? Not one, just as no telephone company gave anyone permission to offer any online service.
The results from the "innovation without permission" explosion are undeniable....Do they think this all came about by the goodness of an industry’s heart? Apparently so, judging from Martin’s remarks at the cellular industry trade show in Las Vegas, in which he praised companies for their commitments and embraces of openness.