40 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981
Copyright © 2021 E. William Horne. All Rights Reserved.

The Telecom Digest for Tue, 21 Sep 2021
Volume 40 : Issue 260 : "text" format

table of contents
Fwd: Re: The Telecom Digest is Forty Years Old!
FCC Commissioner proposes tax on Internet advertising

Message-ID: <97d4f70e-bddf-df04-ccad-e1845e300f5f@billhorne.com> Date: Sat, 4 Sep 2021 19:57:46 -0700 (PDT) From: Antenna Man <kenpda@gmail.com> Subject: Fwd: Re: The Telecom Digest is Forty Years Old! On Saturday, August 21, 2021 at 12:26:10 AM UTC-4, Bill Horne wrote: > HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TELECOM DIGEST! > > On this special day, let's hear from all the old hands about the > Digest's past, what you think the future holds, and thoughts about how > we'll get there. > I look forward to the years to come. I've been the Moderator here > since 2007, and with any luck, I'll make it to the Digest's 50th. > Bill Wow..... It seems like only yesterday. I have been in and out of the group, mostly out, but started popping in during the late 80s. Lots of interesting stuff, some things you can only find here. I have left several times because of the "Oh, poor me" rhetoric PAT would occasionally get into, but the list still holds a place in my heart. Congrats to everyone that reads these missives, thanks for the time and trouble over the years Bill, and keep the faith. Ken ***** Moderator's Note ***** During my hospital stay, John Levine recovered this post from a spam folder. I had to forward it back to Digest Central and edit the heders to make it usable. Any resulting problems are my fault. Bill Horne
Message-ID: <44d22094-3895-5239-44e1-4f3df1de3b94@ionary.com> Date: 19 Sep 2021 23:03:01 -0400 From: "Fred Goldstein" <fQRMgoldstein@ionary.com> Subject: FCC Commissioner proposes tax on Internet advertising Since 1996, the FCC's Universal Service Fund, which finances rural telephone companies and nowadays the Schools and Library Fund, the Connect America Fund and Rural Digital Opportunities Fund (and more), has been paid for by a "fee" (quacks like a tax but is administered off the Treasury books) assessed as a percentage of interstate telecommunications revenues. Basically it was designed to take a piece of long distance telephone call money to pay for local service, back when long distance was still being treated as an expensive luxury and never included with your monthly fee. The rate used to be well under 5%. But as LD revenues shrank and demand increased, the fund has been in a death spiral. The tax I mean fee rate, which is adjusted quarterly automatically as required (no vote need be taken), is now over 30%. Internet services are exempt from this. DSL was removed from USF fees in 2006. Cable modems were never covered. But obviously a new source of revenue is needed. One obvious answer is to apply it to Internet access. But that is politically difficult. FCC Commissioner Brandan Carr, a Republican (meaning he can ask for anything he wants and know that it won't get advanced without the Democratic chair's support), has put his support behind a study that calls for replacing that with a 7% tax on digital advertising -- mainly Google and Facebook. Of course he frames this as "Big Tech". https://www.fcc.gov/document/new-economic-analysis-bolsters-carrs-call-ending-big-techs-free Any such change, of course, would require an act of Congress. So it will be uh interesting to watch. ***** Moderator's Note ***** During my hospital stay, John Levine recovered this post from a spam folder. I had to forward it back to Digest Central and edit the heders to make it usable. Any resulting problems are my fault. Bill Horne Moderator

End of telecom Digest Tue, 21 Sep 2021

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