Digital Crossroads: American Telecommunications Policy in the Internet Age (Paperback)

by Jonathan E. Nuechterlein (Author), Philip J. Weiser (Author) "The word "telecommunications," a twentieth century amalgam of Greek and Latin roots, literally means the art of conveying information "from a distance..." (more)
Key Phrases: video distribution platforms, intercarrier compensation rules, leveraging concerns, United States, Communications Act, Supreme Court (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Digital Crossroads brings fresh clarity to a complex subject. It is thorough, comprehensive, and insightful, and will prove invaluable to anyone trying to navigate the tumultuous changes of the digital age."
—The Honorable Michael K. Powell

"Digital Crossroads is an essential read for anyone interested in the history-making changes occurring in communications, an industry at the heart of the American economy. It lucidly explains how and why public policy must change to accommodate the Internet's revolutionary impact on the way people communicate. This book is a long-overdue voice of insight and reason in a field too often marked by simplistic, self-serving rhetoric."
—Jim Crowe, CEO, Level 3 Communications, Inc.

"A magnificent achievement. As someone who has been involved over the last four decades in what was once known as the 'telephone' business, I found Digital Crossroads an extraordinarily lucid description and explanation of the revolutionary significance of its transformation into 'telecommunications.' The new proliferation of services that are available from an array of vendors shoots all sorts of holes in a system of government regulation designed both to protect captive consumers from local telephone franchisees and to force those one-time monopolists to share facilities with their rivals in order to stimulate local competition. Digital Crossroads is not exactly light bedtime reading, but for anyone attempting to grasp these changes in our digital age, it is full of clear explanations and fair-minded assessments of the continuing regulatory issues they raise. This is a marvelous book, and well worth working through from cover to cover, as I have done."
—Alfred E. Kahn, former Chairman of the New York Public Service Commission and Civil Aeronautics Board, and Advisor to President Carter on Inflation

"An amazingly good book, written by two lawyers who really know what is (and was) going on. Everything in this extremely complex industry is covered, thoroughly and lucidly. This book makes the murky subject of telecommunications as the base technology for the Internet crystal clear, and the authors get it right."
—Gerald R. Faulhaber, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and former Chief Economist, Federal Communications Commission

"Jon Nuechterlein and Phil Weiser have written *the* book on domestic telecommunications policy. First, this timely book is very readable from the perspective of any interested layperson trying to understand today's intense and often complex debates on crucial issues in the field. At the same time, the authors' comprehensive and studious analysis—not only of the legal aspects of the issues, but also of the technological, business, and economic developments surrounding those issues—makes the book indispensable for serious scholars and professionals involved in telecommunications policymaking."
—Dale Hatfield, former Chief Technologist and former Chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology, Federal Communications Commission

Product Description
With a new preface for the paperback edition

Telecommunications policy profoundly affects the economy and our everyday lives. Yet accounts of important telecommunications issues tend to be either superficial (and inaccurate) or mired in jargon and technical esoterica. In Digital Crossroads, Jonathan Nuechterlein and Philip Weiser offer a clear, balanced, and accessible analysis of competition policy issues in the telecommunications industry. After giving a big picture overview of the field, they present sharply reasoned analyses of the major technological, economic, and legal developments confronting communications policymakers in the twenty-first century.

Since the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, when Congress fundamentally reoriented the existing regulatory scheme, no book has cogently explained the intricacies of telecommunications competition policy in the Internet age for general readers, students, and practitioners alike. Digital Crossroads meets this need, focusing on the regulatory dimensions of competition in wireline and wireless telephone service; competition among rival platforms for broadband Internet service and video distribution; and the Internet's transformation of every aspect of the telecommunications industry, particularly through the emergence of "voice over Internet protocol" (VoIP). The authors explain not just the complicated legal issues governing the industry, but also the rapidly changing technological and economic context in which these issues arise. The book includes extensive endnotes and tables that cover relevant court decisions, FCC orders, and academic commentaries; a glossary of acronyms; a statutory addendum containing the most important provisions of federal telecommunications law; and two appendixes with information on more specialized topics. Supplementary materials for students are available at http://spot.colorado.edu/~weiserpj.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 702 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (March 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 026264066X
• ISBN-13: 978-0262640664
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #254,868 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #59 in

  Books > Computers & Internet > Business & Culture > Government

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Telecommunications for non-specialists, August 30, 2005

By	Adele Fasick (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Digital Crossroads: American Telecommunications Policy in the Internet Age (Hardcover)

In Digital Crossroads, the authors, both lawyers with experience in telecommunications, offer a readable guide to the complex regulatory policies shaping electronic communication. Starting with the economic principles that have guided government agencies through the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, they give a basic history of the development of wireline communication, primarily through telephone, and explain how the advent of wireless technology via radio, television, cell phones, and the Internet have affected policies and practices. Although it is not easy reading, both the technical and legal aspects of communication are made clear even to a reader who is neither a lawyer nor an engineer. The policies discussed in this book will affect every citizen who cares about obtaining and communicating information to individuals and groups. Understanding the background given here, will help individuals follow the current legislative news as Congress revises the 1996 Telecommunications Act. This is a book many community groups and activists should read and discuss.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars That rare combination: comprehensive and accessible, May 23, 2005

By	Eleanor Stein "Visiting Professor, Albany Law... (Albany, New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Digital Crossroads: American Telecommunications Policy in the Internet Age (Hardcover)

Digital Crossroads is that rare combination, a comprehensive and accurate -- but well-written and accessible -- presentation of the state of the technology, economics, and law driving today's complex telecommunications industry. I used it in my Albany Law School seminar on Telecommunications Law for the 21st Century, and students found it highly accessible--especially the technology chapters. The book is a real accomplishment: comprehensive, thoughtful, and forward-looking, without being swept away by the latest gimmick off the shelf. It is also an extremely well written and organized book, clear and authoritative. In addition, for either the practitioner or academic, the inclusion of relevant sections of the 1996 Telecommunications Act adds value and convenience. Making coherent sense of this industry, its history and trajectory, is a daunting challenge and one the authors met, apparently without flinching.

5.0 out of 5 stars Telecom Law for the Layman, Clearly Explained, March 25, 2005

By	S. Barnes (Stillwater, OK United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Digital Crossroads: American Telecommunications Policy in the Internet Age (Hardcover)

If you need a current understanding of the law and politics around telecommunications today, this is THE book you need. While long, it is clearly written, concise, lucid, and technically excellent. Even with extensive experience in this domain, I found this book to be the most cogent and readable summary of the issues today, and I learned a lot in the process.

Jonathan Nuechterlein and Philip Weiser are practicing lawyers that have taken the time to learn enough of the engineering and technology of the telecommunications world to be able to explain the intersection of law, politics, and technology to anyone with an interest in the topic. Their goal with this book is to lay a foundation for revisions to US (and global) laws as they apply to voice, data, and video communications distribution networks. While they do not have the answers yet (no one does), they lucidly and often humorously explain why today's laws and regulations are increasingly obsolete. In the process, the authors describe how technology and software are interacting to force the government to abolish the regulatory divisions between the voice and video worlds.

Nuechterlein and Weiser outline a four layer model for communications policies of the future, dividing the domain into 1) the physical infrastructure layer, 2) a logical connectivity layer, 3) an applications layer delivering voice, video, and data services to end users, and 4) a content layer that addresses publicly visible content in any format. They illustrate how this model can be used to devise laws that can effectively achieve the goals of government, and, more importantly, how the model can demonstrate the weaknesses of existing and proposed laws and rules. As they do this, they outline the thinking from the best minds in this domain as to the direction that Congress and the FCC should take in the process of revising our laws on the Internet, traditional voice telephony, VoIP, satellite communications systems, cable TV and the broadcast TV industry.

For this reason and others, I highly recommend this to anyone needing to understand the current regulatory environment surrounding the Internet and telecommunications generally. You will not go wrong with this volume.