1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:17,400 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with iHeart Radio and 4 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:19,919 Speaker 1: a love of all things tech. It's time for a 5 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:25,599 Speaker 1: text Stuff classic episode. This episode originally published on February nine, 6 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: two thousand fifteen. It is titled what is a Common Carrier. 7 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:34,639 Speaker 1: When we did this episode, it was when there were 8 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: discussions among politicians and the Federal Communications Commission in the 9 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:43,919 Speaker 1: United States the FCC, about classifying internet service as a 10 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:48,080 Speaker 1: common carrier, and so we made this episode in order 11 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 1: to kind of talk about what that means and what 12 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:55,720 Speaker 1: would imply should internet service be classified that way. Things 13 00:00:55,800 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: changed dramatically in the following presidential administration after and now 14 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:07,000 Speaker 1: we're seeing them change again. So still relevant. So let's 15 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: listen to this classic episode What is a Common Carrier? 16 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,920 Speaker 1: So I thought I would explain what common carriers are 17 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: in general, how have they apply to the Internet or 18 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:21,840 Speaker 1: don't apply up till now anyway, and how this might 19 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:24,800 Speaker 1: change things in the future, and also just to clear 20 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:28,160 Speaker 1: up some misconceptions about the whole thing. So first, in 21 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:30,880 Speaker 1: the United States, the term common carrier is a legal 22 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:35,039 Speaker 1: definition that means an individual, a company, or a public 23 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: utility like municipal buses, which is in the regular business 24 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:43,600 Speaker 1: of transporting people and or freight. And that's distinguished from 25 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:47,360 Speaker 1: a private carrier, which only transports occasionally or as a 26 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: one time only event. So it originally referred to a 27 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: physical conveyance of carrying people or cargo from one place 28 00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: to another. In fact, in the United States, this was 29 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:02,160 Speaker 1: first put into law in the Inner State Commerce Act 30 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:06,720 Speaker 1: of eight seven, which regulated the railroads. Other countries have 31 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: had similar policies dating back hundreds of years. Some of 32 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 1: them are formally put down into law, some are just 33 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:16,200 Speaker 1: simple traditions that have held over over the course of time. 34 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:19,160 Speaker 1: But over time the definition here in the United States 35 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:22,880 Speaker 1: has expended to cover services that carry more than uh 36 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:26,639 Speaker 1: these physical things. They can carry intangible things like voice communication. 37 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:30,640 Speaker 1: Now one of the most important facets of common carriers 38 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 1: is that they are not allowed to discriminate against passengers 39 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:38,160 Speaker 1: or cargo. They're legally bound to carry all of them 40 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:41,520 Speaker 1: as long as there's enough capacity. Uh. They also have 41 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:44,160 Speaker 1: to have the fee to carry the passenger or freight 42 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:47,040 Speaker 1: to be paid. I mean that that has to happen too, 43 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:49,720 Speaker 1: so they don't do it for free. Uh and as 44 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 1: long as there are no reasonable grounds to deny entry. 45 00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:55,280 Speaker 1: So in other words, let's have an example. Let's say 46 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: there's a city bus with plenty of seats available. That 47 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:03,160 Speaker 1: bus would not be allowed under common carriage laws to 48 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:06,560 Speaker 1: refuse service to a person who has bus fair unless 49 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:09,560 Speaker 1: the bus driver had reasonable grounds to deny entry. So 50 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: let's say that the person who wants to get on 51 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:14,480 Speaker 1: the bus is waving around a huge club and singing 52 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 1: Beach Boys songs at the top of his lungs. That 53 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: you probably wouldn't think that guy is safe to let 54 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 1: onto your bus. You might be able to argue those 55 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:24,919 Speaker 1: are reasonable grounds to deny entry. However, assuming that that 56 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:29,400 Speaker 1: person waiting for the bus has shows no reason why 57 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:32,640 Speaker 1: you would deny him or her entry, you have to 58 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:35,840 Speaker 1: let that person on by the rules of common carriage. 59 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:39,640 Speaker 1: Another important element is that common carriers are expected to 60 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: charge what is called a reasonable price, sometimes a just 61 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: and reasonable price for their services. So this really means 62 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: a common carrier can't charge one person more than another 63 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:54,800 Speaker 1: person for no good reason. Now, there aren't good reasons 64 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 1: to charge different amounts in specific examples. So let's say 65 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:01,480 Speaker 1: you are a freight company, for example, and you're hired 66 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:06,560 Speaker 1: to transport hazardous materials. That could justify a higher transportation 67 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:10,080 Speaker 1: fee for that particular job because it comes with greater 68 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 1: risk than what it would normally be for you know, 69 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:17,400 Speaker 1: regular cargo. So there are exceptions. But otherwise you couldn't 70 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 1: say I'm going to charge everyone in this town one 71 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 1: price to ride on my train, but everyone in this 72 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:27,520 Speaker 1: other town has to pay this other price only because 73 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:30,400 Speaker 1: I hate that town, so that town has everyone there 74 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:32,280 Speaker 1: has to pay me more as I don't want them 75 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 1: on my train. Otherwise that would not be allowed, so 76 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:42,800 Speaker 1: let's move ahead. In nineteen ten, seven Act was modified 77 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:47,480 Speaker 1: so that it also covered telegraph and the burgeoning telephone companies. 78 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:50,360 Speaker 1: One of the issues customers faced in those early days 79 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 1: was a lack of assurance that their telegraph messages would 80 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:57,520 Speaker 1: actually get through to their intended destinations. So some companies 81 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: were charging extra fees to in sure that the message 82 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:03,600 Speaker 1: would be repeated all the way down to the end 83 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:06,560 Speaker 1: of the line. Now courts decided that that was an 84 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:11,320 Speaker 1: unfair practice. That a customer has a reasonable expectation that 85 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: a service provider will actually provide the service that was 86 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:18,520 Speaker 1: paid for and should the customers shouldn't be charged extra 87 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:21,359 Speaker 1: just to be certain of it. Moreover, it should be 88 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:24,760 Speaker 1: on service providers to prove they are doing their job, 89 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,840 Speaker 1: rather than the burden being on customers to prove that 90 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:32,840 Speaker 1: the providers are falling short. Because the providers are privy 91 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:34,839 Speaker 1: to all the information, so they should be the ones 92 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:37,160 Speaker 1: who had the responsibility to prove that they're doing what 93 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:40,600 Speaker 1: they say they're doing. And another issue was the fact 94 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:43,840 Speaker 1: that the telephone system in the United States was effectively 95 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:47,440 Speaker 1: a monopoly. Bell Telephone, which became a T and T 96 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 1: in eight five, got a headstart on other companies and 97 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:54,280 Speaker 1: laid on infrastructure that only worked with the phones made 98 00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:57,160 Speaker 1: by Western Electric. So you have this partnership between Bell 99 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:00,599 Speaker 1: Telephone and Western Electric, which effectively meant they were the 100 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:03,560 Speaker 1: only players in town. If you were an independent uh 101 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 1: telephone service company, your phones would not work on the 102 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 1: Bell Telephone infrastructure, so that edged out competitors, and in 103 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 1: nineteen thirteen, Bell Telephone in the US Justice Department worked 104 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:18,599 Speaker 1: out a deal to limit Bell from scooping up independent 105 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:22,560 Speaker 1: competing companies and from preventing other competitors from using Bell's 106 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:25,719 Speaker 1: long distance lines they were allowed to use Bells network. 107 00:06:26,279 --> 00:06:28,880 Speaker 1: This was in response to an antitrust lawsuit that was 108 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:31,240 Speaker 1: being brought against Bell Telephone, and in order to head 109 00:06:31,279 --> 00:06:33,760 Speaker 1: it off, Bell Telephone said, you know what, we're going 110 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:36,679 Speaker 1: to change these policies we've had so that you don't 111 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:39,960 Speaker 1: sue us. And it worked and the value of the 112 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:43,120 Speaker 1: service was considered to be too important to allow unregulated 113 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:45,920 Speaker 1: control of it. So that's where we started seeing some 114 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:49,800 Speaker 1: regulation enter into the telephone industry. Now, there's a series 115 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:52,840 Speaker 1: of tech Stuff podcasts about the history of A T 116 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:55,320 Speaker 1: and T in which Lauren Voege, Obama and I explored 117 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:56,960 Speaker 1: how A T and T came about and how it 118 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:59,839 Speaker 1: was split up more than once due to concerns like these. 119 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:02,839 Speaker 1: If you are interested in that, you should go check 120 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 1: out those episodes. Now, getting back to the telephone industry 121 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,880 Speaker 1: as a whole, in nineteen thirty four, Congress pass the 122 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:16,560 Speaker 1: Communications Act, which created the Federal Communications Commission, which oversaw 123 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:20,760 Speaker 1: radio transmissions as well as telecommunications. So this is what 124 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:25,440 Speaker 1: established the Title two that the FCC refers to today 125 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:27,320 Speaker 1: when it comes to I s p s. They talked 126 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 1: about reclassifying I s p s under Title two. This 127 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 1: is the Act that classified telephone systems as common carriers. 128 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:39,120 Speaker 1: It's been amended several times over the following decades, including 129 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:43,120 Speaker 1: extensive alterations that were made during the Telecommunications Act of 130 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:47,160 Speaker 1: nineteen nine six. So let's move on to transmitting computer 131 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:51,040 Speaker 1: data over networks. In nineteen seventies and nineteen eighties, before 132 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:54,360 Speaker 1: most people knew about a network of networks. You know, 133 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:56,880 Speaker 1: our bonnet was a thing. Internet was becoming a thing, 134 00:07:56,960 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: but most people didn't know about it. The common way 135 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:02,320 Speaker 1: to connect to a computer was to use a modem 136 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:05,760 Speaker 1: for direct machine to machine connection over the telephone system. 137 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:08,360 Speaker 1: So you would have a dial up modem and you 138 00:08:08,360 --> 00:08:11,360 Speaker 1: would use it to dial a phone number. The computer 139 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:13,960 Speaker 1: on the other end would essentially answer the phone, and 140 00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:16,920 Speaker 1: then you would have computer to computer communication. But it 141 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:19,880 Speaker 1: wasn't an Internet, right, It wasn't a network of networks. 142 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:24,080 Speaker 1: It was the machine to machine communication. Regular computer data 143 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 1: was considered a transmission service and fell under titled two, 144 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:34,719 Speaker 1: which meant that any any transmission service cannot be prioritized, 145 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:37,840 Speaker 1: it can't be discriminated against. It all has to be 146 00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:42,240 Speaker 1: treated equally. But there were specific services companies provided in 147 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:44,040 Speaker 1: which you could connect to a computer to get a 148 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:47,840 Speaker 1: get particular information like a weather report or stock information 149 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: or sports scores, things like that. These were considered to 150 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:55,559 Speaker 1: be enhanced services, so this was classified under Title one 151 00:08:55,640 --> 00:09:00,000 Speaker 1: of the Communications Act, which is unregulated. So the transmission 152 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:03,640 Speaker 1: was regulated, but these specific services were unregulated. The enhanced 153 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 1: services didn't fall under common carriage terms. Companies could charge 154 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:09,280 Speaker 1: a fee for customers to use them that would be 155 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:11,040 Speaker 1: on top of any phone bill for use of the 156 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:14,920 Speaker 1: transmission lines themselves. Okay, so let's say a phone company 157 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:18,880 Speaker 1: offers up its own enhanced service and some other company 158 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 1: offers a competing enhanced service. The transmission of data falls 159 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:26,640 Speaker 1: under common carriage, which means that phone company could not 160 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:30,840 Speaker 1: prevent customers from accessing the competitors enhanced service. That would 161 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:33,600 Speaker 1: be unfair. So this is the beginning of the concept 162 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:41,840 Speaker 1: of net neutrality. The Telecommunications Act redefined enhanced services as 163 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:46,680 Speaker 1: information services and also ratify the differences between transmission services 164 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:50,199 Speaker 1: information services, putting into policy what the FCC had sort 165 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:53,280 Speaker 1: of made up as it went along, so the transmission 166 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:56,800 Speaker 1: of services met the terms of common carriage. The telephone 167 00:09:56,800 --> 00:09:59,520 Speaker 1: company treated all dial up services the same, all had 168 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:04,000 Speaker 1: equal access under the system, the actual services, the apps 169 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:07,960 Speaker 1: that people were accessing, those were enhanced or information services. 170 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:11,800 Speaker 1: We'll be back with more about common carriers after these 171 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:27,080 Speaker 1: brief messages. That's not confusing enough, Let's move into the 172 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:29,920 Speaker 1: early era of broadband. This is when we start seeing 173 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:34,240 Speaker 1: dial up modems fade away and DSL began to arrive. Now, 174 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:37,200 Speaker 1: the FCC continued to apply that distinctions made during the 175 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:40,719 Speaker 1: telephone era. The phone companies would have to carry DSL 176 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:44,800 Speaker 1: signals as common carriage. They couldn't discriminate against them. The 177 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:49,359 Speaker 1: apps are services running on the DSL connections were unregulated 178 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:53,560 Speaker 1: information services. And then we get to two thousand two. Now, 179 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:57,599 Speaker 1: this is when cable TV companies began offering transmission services 180 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:00,960 Speaker 1: of Internet data at high speeds, at least relative to 181 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:03,480 Speaker 1: dial up speeds at any rate. And this is where 182 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:07,680 Speaker 1: things get muddy. See the FCC classified cable broadband service 183 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:12,439 Speaker 1: under Title one, not titled two. That means both the 184 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:16,800 Speaker 1: transmission of data over cable and the information services provided 185 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:21,480 Speaker 1: would be unregulated. There will be no reason for regulation 186 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:24,360 Speaker 1: there because it's all under Title one. So why not 187 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:27,440 Speaker 1: treat cable transmission of data the same way as the 188 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:32,480 Speaker 1: telephone system largely comes down to politics. At this time, 189 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:36,080 Speaker 1: Republicans had a majority in government and they favored deregulation. 190 00:11:36,559 --> 00:11:39,640 Speaker 1: And the reasons for favoring deregulation was that they thought 191 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:42,800 Speaker 1: it was going to promote risk taking and competition and innovation. 192 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:45,720 Speaker 1: The in reality, that's not necessarily the case. I mean, 193 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:48,600 Speaker 1: if you look at the Bell telephone system story, that 194 00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:53,439 Speaker 1: kind of shows what happens with deregulation, and it required 195 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:55,960 Speaker 1: the government to actually come in and intervene in order 196 00:11:55,960 --> 00:12:01,840 Speaker 1: to avoid a monopoly that could completely take advantage of customers. Well, 197 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:04,440 Speaker 1: in two thousand five, the f c C said that 198 00:12:04,559 --> 00:12:08,400 Speaker 1: DSL would also be reclassified under Title one, So this 199 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 1: makes the the whole situation even more complicated. Telephone systems 200 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:15,559 Speaker 1: are still titled too, but DSL and cable are now 201 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:18,199 Speaker 1: Title one and are unregulated. Now this meant that cable 202 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:21,400 Speaker 1: and DSL companies wouldn't have to ask permission to incorporate 203 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:24,640 Speaker 1: fast lanes for the Internet, so they could give preferential 204 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:28,920 Speaker 1: treatment to some customers over others for a fee. And 205 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:31,480 Speaker 1: because Title one is unregulated, there also was no fear 206 00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:34,280 Speaker 1: of the FCC butting in should a cable or DSL 207 00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:37,800 Speaker 1: company block data they didn't want to carry, such as 208 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:42,480 Speaker 1: data from a competitor or from torrent sites. So, you know, 209 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:45,320 Speaker 1: we talked earlier about the common carriers. You know, one 210 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:49,080 Speaker 1: of the defining factors is that they cannot refuse service 211 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:51,920 Speaker 1: as long as a person is able to pay the fee. 212 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:55,640 Speaker 1: If it's a Title one, it's not a common carrier, 213 00:12:55,720 --> 00:12:59,280 Speaker 1: and so it can deny service. So if you own 214 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:05,359 Speaker 1: the transmission lines and you have a content provider like YouTube, 215 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:10,000 Speaker 1: and you think, I've got my own content provider program 216 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:13,560 Speaker 1: where people users can upload video, and I don't want to. 217 00:13:13,640 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 1: I don't want to compete against YouTube because YouTube is 218 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:19,040 Speaker 1: gonna is gonna make my tool obsolete. I'm just not 219 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:22,599 Speaker 1: gonna allow YouTube to go across my transmission lines. Technically, 220 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:26,040 Speaker 1: you could do that under Title one, because there's no 221 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:29,199 Speaker 1: you're not a common carrier. You're not You're not obligated 222 00:13:29,240 --> 00:13:33,120 Speaker 1: to carry all legal information. Beyond that, there was no 223 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:36,360 Speaker 1: requirement for cable companies to provide services for a quote 224 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:39,920 Speaker 1: just and reasonable fee end quote. They could charge whatever 225 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:42,600 Speaker 1: they wanted. So in two thousand and eight things came 226 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:47,079 Speaker 1: to a head. The FCC find Comcast because Comcast had 227 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:50,839 Speaker 1: blocked peer to peer traffic through bit torrent. Now, first 228 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:54,280 Speaker 1: we have to keep in mind there's nothing inherently illegal 229 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:57,880 Speaker 1: or immoral or unethical about bit torrent. There's nothing wrong 230 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:01,400 Speaker 1: with the technology. It's a method of data transmission that 231 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:04,760 Speaker 1: works well for large files. Peer to peer is great 232 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:07,040 Speaker 1: if you're trying to move a huge amount of information 233 00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:10,280 Speaker 1: in a relatively short amount of time. Now, some of 234 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:14,080 Speaker 1: those files were pired in material. They were illegal files, 235 00:14:14,160 --> 00:14:16,760 Speaker 1: and there were plenty of huge files that were legal. 236 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:19,440 Speaker 1: They should have been able to transmit freely. But because 237 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:23,560 Speaker 1: bit torrent was being seen as the pirate tool, Comcast 238 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:27,080 Speaker 1: blocked it. So the FCC gets involved, and the FEC 239 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:29,480 Speaker 1: says to Comcast, hey, you can't do that. You can't 240 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:32,680 Speaker 1: just block this stuff just because you don't like some 241 00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:35,800 Speaker 1: of the activity that's going on over there. And Comcast 242 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:38,800 Speaker 1: responds with I'm sure we can. We're not common carriers 243 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:42,160 Speaker 1: were classified under Title one, not Title two. And the 244 00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:46,560 Speaker 1: FCC says uh, And it goes to court and the 245 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:51,240 Speaker 1: courts end up agreeing ultimately with Comcast. The FCC doesn't 246 00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:54,760 Speaker 1: have the authority to regulate cable companies because they're classified 247 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:58,920 Speaker 1: as Title one not Titled two. So that's why there's 248 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:01,080 Speaker 1: now this move to reclass VI I s p s 249 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:04,200 Speaker 1: under Title two instead of Title one. So the argument 250 00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:07,320 Speaker 1: for reclassification is that it will require I sps to 251 00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:11,040 Speaker 1: play fairly with content providers and with customers. The companies 252 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:13,200 Speaker 1: will have to adhere to the rules of Title two 253 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:15,520 Speaker 1: and will come under the regulation of the f c C. 254 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:19,280 Speaker 1: So a company like Comcast, which isn't just a transmission 255 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:22,920 Speaker 1: service provider but is also a content provider, can't favor 256 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:27,480 Speaker 1: its own services at the expense of others. However, even 257 00:15:27,560 --> 00:15:31,320 Speaker 1: in this proposal, FCC Chairman Wheeler has suggested that the 258 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 1: FCC would forbear or waive certain elements of Title Too 259 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:39,960 Speaker 1: not directly associated with net neutrality, which includes the requirement 260 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:43,840 Speaker 1: to share networks and on rate regulations. So while cable 261 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:47,200 Speaker 1: companies wouldn't be able to block legal content or prioritize 262 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:50,400 Speaker 1: traffic for sites for a price, they could totally continue 263 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:53,880 Speaker 1: to charge customers whatever they like for their services. So 264 00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:56,960 Speaker 1: some people object to reclassifying I s p s as 265 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:01,440 Speaker 1: Titled too. Like the cable companies, they really object to 266 00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:05,400 Speaker 1: it now. They say that if the cable companies are 267 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:08,080 Speaker 1: real or I s p s or reclassified as title 268 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:12,960 Speaker 1: to the Internet, will become heavily regulated uh and innovation 269 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:15,760 Speaker 1: will be stifled. But the flip side of this is 270 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:18,520 Speaker 1: that it will be a fair playing ground. So if 271 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:22,480 Speaker 1: we had access to lots of competitors in the I 272 00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:26,440 Speaker 1: s P space for service, I wouldn't be really concerned 273 00:16:26,440 --> 00:16:31,280 Speaker 1: about deregulation because we could always switch providers if we 274 00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:33,640 Speaker 1: didn't like the service, if we felt they were being unfair, 275 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:36,600 Speaker 1: we could look to a competitor, and in fact, that 276 00:16:36,680 --> 00:16:40,520 Speaker 1: competition could drive everyone to being as fair as possible 277 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:45,000 Speaker 1: so that they didn't run off their customers. But the 278 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:47,920 Speaker 1: truth of the matter is that many people, including myself, 279 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:50,600 Speaker 1: have very limited choices when it comes to I s 280 00:16:50,640 --> 00:16:53,000 Speaker 1: p s. In some cases, there's no choice at all. 281 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:56,120 Speaker 1: You have one option. You either go with this company 282 00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:59,120 Speaker 1: or you don't have internet. That's a problem with dealing 283 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:02,320 Speaker 1: with an effective and pie. The consumer loses out. And 284 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:04,879 Speaker 1: the cable industry claims that this regulation is going to 285 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:10,200 Speaker 1: discourage those companies from investing in infrastructure because it will 286 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:13,040 Speaker 1: hurt revenue to have regulation. They said that if the 287 00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:15,919 Speaker 1: government determines how much money we're able to make, then 288 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:19,320 Speaker 1: there's no reason for us to try and innovate and 289 00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:23,720 Speaker 1: build out our infrastructures. On the other hand, it encourages 290 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:27,040 Speaker 1: new players in the space like Google Fiber, which is 291 00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:30,720 Speaker 1: investing huge amounts to bring broadband speeds to households in 292 00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:34,320 Speaker 1: certain markets. So if the cable companies wish to keep 293 00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:38,000 Speaker 1: their customers, they'll have to compete with the newcomers, which 294 00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:41,800 Speaker 1: means that it does encourage investment in infrastructure, it just 295 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:45,840 Speaker 1: means lower profits. That's really what these big companies are 296 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:51,200 Speaker 1: afraid of. So they either continue to compete by building 297 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:54,760 Speaker 1: out this infrastructure or they get out of the game entirely, 298 00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:58,160 Speaker 1: which I don't think is a likely outcome now. As 299 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:01,600 Speaker 1: for excessive regulation, I don't diticipate that being a huge problem. 300 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:04,360 Speaker 1: I think we're more likely to see the FCC watching 301 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:06,760 Speaker 1: to make sure cable companies follow the rules under title 302 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:11,720 Speaker 1: two should that reclassification actually happen. That wraps up that 303 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:16,080 Speaker 1: classic episode about common carriers. Hope you found that informative 304 00:18:16,119 --> 00:18:19,119 Speaker 1: and interesting. If you have suggestions for topics that we 305 00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:22,359 Speaker 1: should cover on future episodes of Tech Stuff, please reach 306 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:24,520 Speaker 1: out to me on Twitter. The handle for the show 307 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:27,720 Speaker 1: is tech Stuff hs W and I'll talk to you 308 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:36,960 Speaker 1: again really soon. Text Stuff is an I heart Radio production. 309 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:40,000 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i 310 00:18:40,119 --> 00:18:43,359 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 311 00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:44,320 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.