Subject: [midcom] Fw: I-D ACTION:draft-carpenter-midtax-01.txt

From: "Melinda Shore" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 2 May 2001 16:05:28 -0400

For those who may not have seen the announcent ...

The mailing list has been quiet for the past month or so,
so may we assume that those who have read Christian's
draft find it both correct and complete?  The revised
framework and requirements drafts should be available soon,
and I hope that interested individuals will read those 
documents and make their views known on the mailing list.  
We are scheduled to deliver the documents to the IESG in 
August, which means that they must survive working group 
last call by then.  I'd especially like to avoid sandbagging our
document editors at the August IETF meeting, as has happened
at the previous two.  If you have serious objections to
the contents of either of the documents it's good for us
to know that well in advance of the meetings and/or document
last call.

Melinda

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <[email-masked]>
To: <IETF-Announce: ;>
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2001 7:37 AM
Subject: I-D ACTION:draft-carpenter-midtax-01.txt

> A New Internet-Draft is available from the on-line Internet-Drafts directories.
> 
> 
> Title : Middle boxes: taxonomy and issues
> Author(s) : B. Carpenter, S. Brim
> Filename : draft-carpenter-midtax-01.txt
> Pages : 22
> Date : 30-Apr-01
> 
> This document is intended as part of an IETF discussion about
> 'middleboxes' - defined as any intermediary box performing functions
> apart from normal, standard functions of an IP router on the data
> path between a source host and destination host.  This document
> establishes a catalogue or taxonomy of middleboxes, cites previous
> and current IETF work concerning middleboxes, and attempts to
> identify some preliminary conclusions.
> 
> A URL for this Internet-Draft is:
> http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-carpenter-midtax-01.txt
> 
> Internet-Drafts are also available by anonymous FTP. Login with the username
> "anonymous" and a password of your e-mail address. After logging in,
> type "cd internet-drafts" and then
> "get draft-carpenter-midtax-01.txt".
> 
> A list of Internet-Drafts directories can be found in
> http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html 
> or ftp://ftp.ietf.org/ietf/1shadow-sites.txt
> 
> 
> Internet-Drafts can also be obtained by e-mail.
> 
> Send a message to:
> [email-masked].
> In the body type:
> "FILE /internet-drafts/draft-carpenter-midtax-01.txt".
> 
> NOTE: The mail server at ietf.org can return the document in
> MIME-encoded form by using the "mpack" utility.  To use this
> feature, insert the command "ENCODING mime" before the "FILE"
> command.  To decode the response(s), you will need "munpack" or
> a MIME-compliant mail reader.  Different MIME-compliant mail readers
> exhibit different behavior, especially when dealing with
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> how to manipulate these messages.
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> 
> Below is the data which will enable a MIME compliant mail reader
> implementation to automatically retrieve the ASCII version of the
> Internet-Draft.
>

---

From: "Stephen Fischer" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 2 May 2001 16:17:00 -0500

URGENT: HELP STOP HR 1542!
May 2, 2001 - Update - Does HR 1542 Make VoIP Illegal?"

April 30, 2001 - The Republican leadership of the U.S. House of
Representatives is preparing to push through a bill that caves in to the
Bell Companies and opens the door for the FCC to regulate IP voice over data
networks.

The "Tauzin-Dingell Broadband Bill" incorporates for the first time Internet
applications and broadband in the legacy telecom regulatory framework. The
bill will make it illegal to offer IP based voice services over the Internet
and give the Bells hooks to kill off remaining broadband competitors.

The US House of Representatives Telecommunications Subcommitte approved "HR
1542" on Thursday, April 26th. The bill will get voted on by the Commerce
Committee and the full House of Representatives soon.

The Internet has prospered precisely because applications remained beyond
the reach of regulators. The Bell companies have used regulatory means to
build monopoly advantage in virtually all areas of telecommunications. The
Bells have so far failed to monopolize Internet applications, such as;
email, world wide web, VoIP, ecommerce, streaming, peer-to-peer networking,
and others as yet unknown.

The entire bill starting with its title "Internet Freedom and Broadband
Deployment Act" is remarkably disingenuous. The bill ends Internet freedom
and removes any hope for broadband deployment. Existing telecom regulations
make no mention of the "Internet". Tauzin's bill which takes the form of
amending existing regulations specifically uses the word "Internet" 50
times. The Bell companies have served and continue to serve as the dominant
obstacle to broadband deployment. The Bells have longstanding efforts to
protect their lucrative business selling 1970's T1 technology from
competition. Bell efforts to deploy DSL appear only in areas where a
competitor exists. Their deployments slow, customer service degrades, and
prices rise as soon as they weaken or kill off competition.

Provisions of the bill:

Incorporates Internet applications in framework established by Telecom Act
of 1934
Defines for the first time meaning of term "Internet"
Defines for the first time meaning of term "Internet Access"
Defines for the first time meaning of broadband "High Speed Data
Service"
Makes voice applications of Internet illegal
Eliminates limitations on Bell entry into long distance data service
business
Eliminates requirements on Bells to resell broadband related services
In other words, it removes all regulatory restraint on the Bell monopolies
leaving no prospects for competition. No matter how the Bells might want to
spin the story, actions speak clearly that monopolies produce high prices
for substandard services. Long distance, wireless, and Internet access
services have improved in quality with declining prices only to extent
competition existed. The Bell monopoly controlled local service has not
improved even given increasing prices since the break up of AT&T in 1984.
A year ago we rallied and as an industry and helped stop HR 1291. We can do
it again. WE MUST STOP HR 1542!

Applications of the Internet should remain unregulated, with no exceptions
for voice applications and services.

Contact your representative in Congress via the switchboard at
1.202.224.3121

I urge you to call and email your Representative and the House Leadership
with the message that HR 1542 is a mistake. The Internet should remain
unregulated, without no exceptions for voice applications and services.
http://www.house.gov and http://www.house.gov/writerep will help you locate
the address of your Representative.

Let them know that: "The Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act" does
neither!

If they open the door to regulating any Internet service, it will set a
terrible precedent
Using the Internet for voice communications is a good thing and should not
be regulated or taxed. Consumers will be hurt and only the old monopoly
telephone companies will benefit.
Internet voice services are used mostly by low income people for
international communications, as a substitute for vastly inflated
international long-distance calls.
This is a new source of privacy concerns, as companies pry apart traffic
streams to determine what's "voice"
To learn more about HR 1542, you can get info on status and text of bills
at:

http://thomas.loc.gov/ Just type HR1542 into search window.  Read section 6
(b) k

Send [email-masked] a bcc if you'd like and I'll keep you posted.

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---

From: Brian E Carpenter <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 02 May 2001 16:58:00 -0500

Actually, it only prohibits Bell Operating Companies from evading the
current restrictions on them by use of VoIP. And I don't see
what it has to do with this WG.

   Brian

-- 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Brian E Carpenter 
Distinguished Engineer, Internet Standards & Technology, IBM 
On assignment for IBM at http://www.iCAIR.org 
Board Chairman, Internet Society http://www.isoc.org