In late 2006, following a decision by the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in American Council on Education v. FCC, broadband service providers nationwide were suddenly presented with a new and extensive federal mandate. Under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (CALEA), by May 14, 2007 facilities-based broadband and VoIP service providers were to ensure that their networks are technically capable of providing certain surveillance capabilities to law enforcement, potentially at great expense, or face the prospect of incurring a fine of up to $10,000 per day. Over the intervening months, those service providers who were aware of the new requirements have expended substantial resources simply to determine how and whether to comply, in addition to the direct expense of any technical solution they may be compelled to implement.
Category: Articles & Memoranda
A National Broadband Strategy: “Make No Small Plans”
In October 2006 and January 2007, Casey Lide and I wrote two articles arguing that the United States should promptly develop a national broadband strategy, as the other leading nations are doing.1 In the first article, we focused on America’s pressing need for rapid deployment of high-capacity next generation networks, and in the second article we proposed an ambitious 8-step plan to make national broadband planning a reality. Since then, a large and growing number of organizations and individuals have voiced support for a national broadband strategy, and a small but vocal opposition has emerged. This paper summarizes the main arguments on both sides and shows that the opponents are wrong on multiple levels.
American Public Power Association Interviews of Baller Herbst Attorneys
Adrian Herbst’s Analyses of FCC Cable Franchising Orders
Eight Bold Steps to a National Broadband Strategy
Recent developments underscore the need for a national broadband strategy
America Needs a Fiber-Based National Broadband Policy Now
By Jim Baller and Casey Lide, the Baller Herbst Law Group
In his latest album, Modern Times, Bob Dylan paints a troubling picture of what may lie ahead for the United States. In a track called “Workingman’s Blues #2,” Dylan sings of the diminishing buying power of American workers; of low wages becoming a reality in the face of brutal competition from abroad; of our inability to give away, let alone to sell, what we have to offer; of hunger creeping into our bellies; and of our fear of sinking into lives of continual crime.
“The place I love best is a sweet memory,” Dylan laments, “It’s a nude path, that we trod.” Dylan urges each of us to choose: “You can hang back or fight your best on the front lines, singin’ a little bit of these workingman blues.”
Are Dylan’s concerns overstated? Are they premature? We think not. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the details of President Bush’s broadband policies, most of us would surely agree with his observation in his most recent State of the Union address that America’s ability to remain competitive in the “dynamic world economy” is at risk. Noting the rapid emergence of competition from India, China, and other countries, he challenged America to take the dramatic steps necessary to ensure that we will continue to occupy the position of global leadership to which we have become accustomed.
In this paper, we discuss the critical importance of an aggressive national broadband policy that emphasizes the development of high-bandwidth communications systems, particularly FTTH systems. The stakes for America are huge. It is a fight from which we cannot hang back but must give our best on the front lines.
Jim Baller Interview by Glenn Fleishman, WiFi Networking News
“We talked today about a bit of history, starting with electrification 100 years ago, through the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia saga of 2004, finishing up with the Net Neutrality’s current drafts of laws in Congress that include provisions to level the playing fields for municipal broadband. Baller notes that the versions before Congress don’t tip the balance to towns and cities; rather, they require municipal entities to go through a reasonable process before building network.”
A Good Year for Birchrods and Yardsticks
In the decade since the enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, hundreds of localities, dissatisfied with the offerings of private cable and telephone companies, have deployed advanced telecommunications systems of their own.
Deceptive Myths About Municipal Broadband
By Jim Baller
In October and November of 1906, when electrification was the must-have new technology of the era, Moody’s Magazine invited the leading advocates and opponents of municipal electric utilities to write chapters for a special issue. The opponents contributed the following chapters: “Municipal Ownership Costly and Dangerous,” “Municipal Ownership a Delusion,” “Municipal Ownership Uneconomic,” “Why Municipal Service is Expensive,” and “Municipal Ownership Always a Failure.”
With the benefit of hindsight, we know that everyone on of these claims was wrong.
Jim Baller Etopia interviews
Jim Baller in Broadband Edge
The growing movement backing municipally owned fiber-to-the-home networks has many champions at the local, state and national levels. But none are as well versed in the history behind this movement as Washington attorney James Baller.
Anticompetitive Incumbent Practices
By Jim Baller & Casey Lide
Over the last two decades, Congress has enacted increasingly forceful federal legislation intended to foster and protect competition in the cable industry. The evidence bears out the wisdom of this policy — year in and year out, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has found that incumbents charge lower prices, offer more channels, provide better customer service and introduce more new products and services in markets in which they face meaningful competition from terrestrial competitors than in markets in which they do not.
Legal and Practical Issues for Website Managers
Accessible from virtually anywhere, creatable by virtually anyone, and able to provide virtually any kind of digital, infinitely copy-able content, Internet websites present a myriad of legal issues for all website owners to consider. Websites operated by a government entity — with which we are concerned here — implicate additional, important constitutional and statutory obligations that are not applicable to private entities. As a means for providing government information, communicating more directly with citizens, and for providing efficient government services, such websites obviously hold great promise. However, government entities that do so should be aware that this new tool for citizen interaction carries with it the potential for legal entanglement on several fronts.
A primer on bankruptcy law
Over the last year, Jim Baller, Sean Stokes and Casey Lide of the Baller Herbst Law Group, P.C., have represented the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors and dozens of municipalities, counties, public power utilities and rural cooperatives in the Adelphia bankruptcy, working with New York bankruptcy counsel Ronald Cohen of Seward & Kissel. The following is an overview of bankruptcy law and practice, with emphasis on the rights of local governments and consumer-owned electric utilities. It is offered merely for general informational purposes is not intended as legal advice.