Thread Subject: Re: Background on what is covered by Sec. 255 Rules

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From: Peter Korn
Date: Wed, Dec 12 2007 11:25 PM

Hi Gregg,

> Here is my crack at it. Karen may have a more authoritative knowledge on
> this but here is my understanding.
>
>
> ...
>
>>> II. Covered Functions
>>>
>>> 1. Part 6.11 and 7.11 Information, documentation and training
>>>
>>> - "Manufacturers and service providers shall ensure access to
>>> information and documentation it provides to its customers,
>>>
>> if readily
>>
>>> achievable. Such information and documentation included
>>>
>> user guides,
>>
>>> bills, installation guides for end-user installable devices, and
>>> product support communications, regarding both the product
>>>
>> in general
>>
>>> and the accessibility features.."
>>>
>>> 2. "An entity that provides both
>>> telecommunications services and
>>> non-telecommunications services, however, is subject to section 255
>>> only to the extent that it provides a telecommunications service"
>>> (September 1999 255 Order, paragraph 80.)
>>>
>>> 3. "In connection with multipurpose equipment, we adopt our
>>> tentative conclusion that CPE is covered by section 255 only to the
>>> extent that it provides a telecommunications function." (September
>>> 1999 255 Order, paragraph 87)
>>>
>>>
>> OK, this seems to help in the Skype canonical case (assuming
>> that "telecommunications function" mirrors
>> "telecommunications service" and only kicks in when a fee to
>> the public is involved) - suggesting that
>> 255 only applies only at that point to CPE.
>>
>> I'm using Skype as the well-known example, but there are
>> plenty of other software voice products/offerings (e.g.
>> GoogleTalk, Windows Messenger, Apple's video conferencing,
>> Ekiga) - all of which are computer to computer and generally free.
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> I don't think it is the FREE part that triggers it. It is the
> 'interconnected to PSTN' part.

I appreciate that this must be viewed in terms of 'interconnected to
PSTN', and I also appreciate your point that interconnected VoIP is not
covered by the original law but rather by more recent FCC ruling.

The "free" bit comes from the first bit of text from Judy, which you
didn't include in your quote of my missive:

> I. Entities Covered by Section 255
>
> 1. Any provider of telecommunications Services (47 CFR 6.1)
>
> - Definition of Telecommunications Service
> is from the 1996 Telecom Act ­ essentially it is
> âoffering telecommunications for a fee to the publicâ

Thus if I am offering telecommunications NOT for a fee (i.e. free) to
the public, then what I am offering is not a "telecommunications
service". That would suggest that the FCC only regulates things relating
to commerce, which makes sense from a jurisdictional viewpoint of what
the Federal government can and cannot do from the point of view of the
commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Of course, that path can get us into an argument over
advertising-supported "free" services vs. those that can be obtained
with zero strings, fees, costs, etc. (e.g. a Linux CD containing the
Ekiga point-to-point video-chat software, working over a free [to the
user] Internet connection). And again, I recognize that something like
Ekiga is VoIP and thus not covered by this language anyway. But it is
the easiest example I can come up with of something that is as "free" as
one can get.

Maybe if I could come up with some theoretical new wire-based technology
that modulated audio over power lines - including going through
transformers, etc., such that they would carry over state lines - and
then offered it for free, I could come closer to non-VOIP
telecommunications that, if offered for free, would thereby walk the
particular path I had been thinking things like Ekiga might be walking.


Regards,

Peter Korn
Accessibility Architect,
Sun Microsystems, Inc.

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