Marketing fodder for Neo: FCC presentation

Wolfgang S. Rupprecht wolfgang.rupprecht+gnus200702 at gmail.com
Thu Feb 22 18:21:51 CET 2007


> "Wu claims "wireless carriers [are] aggressively controlling product
> design and innovation in the equipment and application markets, to the
> detriment of consumers."" -EE Times

For those that haven't seen it yet, Skype is getting in on the action
and petitioning the FCC to apply the 1968 "Carterfone" decision to
cell phones too and let consumers buy phones and software of their
choosing.

     http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070221-8895.html

     "Skype yesterday petitioned the FCC to lay the smack down on
     wireless phone carriers who "limit subscribers' right to run
     software communications applications of their choosing" (read:
     Skype software). Skype wants the agency to more stringently apply
     the famous 1968 Carterfone decision that allowed consumers to
     hook any device up to the phone network, so long as it did not
     harm the network. In Skype's eyes, that means allowing any
     software or applications to run on any devices that access the
     network.  ..."

Now, while I'm not fan of Skype with their anti-open standards stance
(with their proprietary and secret signaling), I do see this action as
a good thing for the open source community.  Skype is the 800
lb. gorilla of voice over the Internet.  With Ebays billions available
to them, perhaps they will be able to convince the FCC to change the
current stranglehold carriers have over phones and software.

-wolfgang





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