> In contrast, Internet service providers do not appear to offer “telecommunications,” i.e.,
“the transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user’s choosing,
without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received,” to their users. For one,
broadband Internet users do not typically specify the “points” between and among which information is
sent online. Instead, routing decisions are based on the architecture of the network, not on consumers’
instructions, and consumers are often unaware of where online content is stored. Domain names must be
translated into IP addresses (and there is no one-to-one correspondence between the two). Even IP
addresses may not specify where information is transmitted to or from because caching servers store and
serve popular information to reduce network loads.
This is absurd. Under this logic, telephones "do not offer 'telecommunications'":
* Telephone users never specify the 'specify the “points” between and among which information is
sent'. When I call a particular phone number, I can't choose which cell towers are used, or what internal routing is used to connect my call.
* Users are often unaware of 'where [content] is stored'. When I place a call, I don't know if I'm calling a SIP phone, landline, cell phone, or something else entirely.
* If the existence of DNS means that the ISPs don't provide 'telecommunications', then the existence of phone directory services (e.g. Version 411) should mean that telephone companies also don't provide 'telecommunications'.
* IP addresses are logical address, not physical addresses. Neither phone numbers nor IP dresses specify exactly where information will end up - a call could be handled by a phone company-provided voicemail service, or redirected to another phone entirely.
It gets worse. From the same page:
> For another, Internet service providers routinely change the form or content of the
information sent over their networks—for example, by using firewalls to block harmful content or using
protocol processing to interweave IPv4 networks with IPv6 networks
Again, all of those items are analagous (no pun intended) to similar parts of telephone networks. Phone companies can block calls by scammers (e.g. http://fortune.com/2017/03/24/how-t-mobile-plans-to-block-ph...), and can change the encoding and encapsulation of the call audio as many times as they want to.
These are good points; do you mind if I add them to the draft comment I am preparing (which I've posted--in two installments--in this discussion thread)?
Interesting wording in that paragraph too. The quoted extract says "the transmission, between OR among points" yet the following sentence refers to ""points" between AND among." That subtle change allows them to argue that the Internet isn't a telecommunications system because users don't explicitly specify ALL the points along a route. Gross.
> In contrast, Internet service providers do not appear to offer “telecommunications,” i.e., “the transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user’s choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received,” to their users. For one, broadband Internet users do not typically specify the “points” between and among which information is sent online. Instead, routing decisions are based on the architecture of the network, not on consumers’ instructions, and consumers are often unaware of where online content is stored. Domain names must be translated into IP addresses (and there is no one-to-one correspondence between the two). Even IP addresses may not specify where information is transmitted to or from because caching servers store and serve popular information to reduce network loads.
This is absurd. Under this logic, telephones "do not offer 'telecommunications'":
* Telephone users never specify the 'specify the “points” between and among which information is sent'. When I call a particular phone number, I can't choose which cell towers are used, or what internal routing is used to connect my call.
* Users are often unaware of 'where [content] is stored'. When I place a call, I don't know if I'm calling a SIP phone, landline, cell phone, or something else entirely.
* If the existence of DNS means that the ISPs don't provide 'telecommunications', then the existence of phone directory services (e.g. Version 411) should mean that telephone companies also don't provide 'telecommunications'.
* IP addresses are logical address, not physical addresses. Neither phone numbers nor IP dresses specify exactly where information will end up - a call could be handled by a phone company-provided voicemail service, or redirected to another phone entirely.
It gets worse. From the same page:
> For another, Internet service providers routinely change the form or content of the information sent over their networks—for example, by using firewalls to block harmful content or using protocol processing to interweave IPv4 networks with IPv6 networks
Again, all of those items are analagous (no pun intended) to similar parts of telephone networks. Phone companies can block calls by scammers (e.g. http://fortune.com/2017/03/24/how-t-mobile-plans-to-block-ph...), and can change the encoding and encapsulation of the call audio as many times as they want to.