In 1997, when it became clear that the U.S. was on the verge of creating a nationwide information system, the Congress of the United States through legislative action required the Federal Communications Committee (FCC) to oversee the final steps of the process.
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After months of negotiation, a bargain was struck:
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Information Carriers would act as common carriers. Parent companies might, through other subsidiaries, also supply content; but all the Information Carriers would be subject to the same terms, free to provide network access of all types (telephone, television, and data) to businesses and consumers.
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A usage-based fee logic was developed that compensated the Information Carriers by a combination of time charges and transaction fees.
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State Public Utilities Commissions were strong-armed into consenting to these same measures. In return, competition was allowed at every geographic level and incentives were provided for carriers to serve all parts of the world.
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Very important to the success of this new Information Carrier structure was the settling of intellectual property rights issues. A series of laws and regulations that employ encryption techniques and specialized access requirements has been put in place that meets the demands of content providers while providing reasonable costs to consumers.
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