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[ NNSquad ] Re: Report shows history of industry effortsto suppressbroadband data collection

The fact remains, Lauren, that disclosure requirements can be very onerous on capitalist firms, and for that reason there are various paperwork reduction laws that limit the amount of information the government can demand of them. The government bureaucrat loves forms and data, and often overlooks the fact that it takes time and money to comply with every fishing expedition that some member of the bureaucracy may want to engage in.

Consumers of course have a right to know what level of service an ISP will provide for the money the consumer pays; the means by which the ISP provides the service is nobody's business, however.

[ "The means by which the ISP provides the service is nobody's
business?" Fascinating. A most remarkable statement you make
there Richard, since it's impossible to imagine how any
regulatory authorities or independent observers could possibly
make educated assessments of the adequacy, suitability,
reliability, and other key aspects of such important resources
without knowing quite a bit indeed about "the means of
providing service" -- unless we're willing to just take ISPs'
word for it all on some sort of a "Mystery Date" basis. We're
talking about critical infrastructure that is -- or will be -- the underpinning of virtually our entire communications
instrumentality, not the means by which bowling pins are
untangled by automatic pin spotters!

        -- Lauren Weinstein
           NNSquad Moderator ]




RB

On 3/13/2010 10:39 AM, Michael Turk wrote: 
I fully agree that network management practices should be more
transparent.  Power companies carefully guard information about their
customers, too - especially in states like Virginia where you can
choose competing power companies.

But their infrastructure data is also provided to the Department of
Energy - which is a national security agency, unlike the FCC.
Classified data in such agencies gets a level of protection well above
what the FCC could/would afford it.  Even so, DOE and its assets have
a reputation for leaking classified intelligence like a sieve.

But either way, that I am aware of, nobody has asked power companies
to provide lists of customers, the amount of their monthly bill, and
how often power surges cause the lights to flicker.  What is aked of
ISPs is a level of granularity that should make everyone nervous.

The point about newspapers is they provide circulation numbers, and
that's it.  That's closer to the utility model that discloses where
lines and physical infrastructure are located, but leaves customer and
competitive intelligence alone.


     [ As much as I honor the newspaper industry and consider it to be
       a very important part of society, I can't help but consider its
       situation vis-a-vis that of ISPs, in terms of any "critical
       infrastructure" considerations, to be utterly orthogonal.

         -- Lauren Weinstein
            NNSquad Moderator ]



-----Original Message-----
From: "Michael Turk"<turk@kungfuquip.com>
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:30:27
To: Lauren Weinstein<lauren@vortex.com>;<nnsquad-bounces+turk=kungfuquip.com@nnsquad.org>;<nnsquad@nnsquad.org>
Subject: [ NNSquad ] Re: Report shows history of industry efforts
	to	suppressbroadband data collection

Delivering the news is a critical service in society.  Has anyone demanded that the Washington Post provide a detailed map of all of its customers and advertisers, along with specific information on what they pay, the length of their subscription, the terms of their ad contracts, and specific guarantees for what time the paper will be delivered.
The data represents competitive intelligence in a business that brings in billions of dollars a year.  It's being requested by a government that, as you just pointed out, has proven too inept to give away free money.
Is it any wonder they would fight handing it over to an agency ill-prepared to protect it? ------Original Message------From: Lauren WeinsteinSender: nnsquad-bounces+turk=kungfuquip.com@nnsquad.orgTo: nnsquad@nnsquad.orgSubject: [ NNSquad ] Report shows history of industry efforts to suppressbroadband data collectionSent: Mar 13, 2010 9:44 AM

    [ If we accept the premise (as I certainly do) that ISP access
      services are increasingly a critical infrastructure, it's hard to
      see how competitive concerns can be allowed to completely
      override the public interest in assuring that these access
      services are appropriately and fairly configured and managed.  We
      don't permit power utilities to keep their important
      configurations secret from regulators, nor do we allow nuclear
      plant builders to keep crucial aspects of their designs secret
      from government to protect their commercial interests.

        -- Lauren Weinstein
           NNSquad Moderator ]



----- Forwarded message from David Farber<dave@farber.net>  -----
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 09:56:36 -0500From: David Farber<dave@farber.net>Subject: [IP] Report shows history of industry efforts to suppress broadband	data collectionReply-To: dave@farber.netTo: ip<ip@v2.listbox.com>


Begin forwarded message:
From: dewayne@warpspeed.com (Dewayne Hendricks)Date: March 12, 2010 5:08:10 PM ESTTo: Dewayne-Net Technology List<xyzzy@warpspeed.com>Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Report shows history of industry efforts to suppress broadband data collection
Report shows history of industry efforts to suppress broadband data collectionBy Cecilia KangWashington Post
Days before the Federal Communications Commission presents proposals to bring broadband Internet connections to all U.S. homes, a report shows that major Internet service providers have worked to keep meaningful data on the subject suppressed.
In “Industry Lobby Keeps Public in the Dark About Broadband,” John Dunbar, director of American University’s Investigative Reporting Workshop, details a history of industry efforts to prevent regulators from getting information to map what homes are getting service, the prices they pay and the speeds that they are offered.
<http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2010/03/report_shows_history_of_indust.html>RSS Feed:<http://www.warpspeed.com/wordpress>



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--
Richard Bennett
Research Fellow
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Washington, DC