Tate Asks VoIP Industry for Children’s Video Help

An audience member wondered privately if Tate was issuing a veiled order. Of that notion, VON founder Jeff Pulver said only that he thought it would be “a mistake to ignore” Tate’s comments. Earlier in the day, he warned participants “there’s always going to be a slippery slope” as VoIP providers enter the regulated video market. State and local officials will consider franchising requirements, and the FCC will begin talking about indecency rules, he said: “You need to be careful.”

In her comments, Tate departed from prepared text on the importance of communications in protecting the country. This was underlined by the conference’s opening 5 years to the day after terror attacks on N.Y.C. and Washington, she said. “We must learn from our experience” by making sure communications services react better in emergencies, Tate said. For example, the FCC is getting better prepared by creating the Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau, which she said will be “unveiled soon.”

Tate, a big hit at VON as the only FCC commissioner to attend, called organizers about 10 days ago, asking to make a last-minute appearance. She told us Pulver was very helpful 4 years ago when she organized a VoIP conference in Tenn., where she was a state regulator.

Robert Cresanti, under secy. of commerce for technology, urged VoIP providers to get more involved in public policy. It’s no longer enough to “engage merely in the development of new technologies,” he said. VoIP technology is very useful in emergencies but industry must keep policymakers from stymieing that utility, he said: “You must engage in the public arena as well. Help us guard against the law of unintended consequences -- and that means communicate, communicate, communicate.”

Cresanti praised VoIP technology’s “enormous potential” for saving consumers money and improving communications for disabled people. He said it offered a lifeline after Hurricane Katrina, when other communications services were down. He said VoIP’s “flexibility” has enabled the federal govt. to use it in telework. VON Coalition Exec. Dir. Jim Kohlenberger later told the audience that Cresanti is “one government official who gets it.”

Dana Lichtenberg, aide to Rep. Gordon (D-Tenn.), said she hopes Congress can pass a telecom revamp this year because it includes badly needed VoIP provisions. Gordon was a sponsor of a bill, since added to the telecom measure, that addressed VoIP service barriers “only Congress could address,” including “very important” liability protection for VoIP providers that offer E-911 service, she said. “This is the kind of thing for which Congress traditionally sets policy,” Lichtenberg said.

Nuvio CEO Jason Talley said the law would be useful to VoIP providers left in the financial lurch if sued by customers using E-911 service. In general, he likes “the ideas put forward by the FCC” in the E-911 order “but the time frames don’t make sense,” he said. Companies petitioned for waiver of the FCC deadline for complete E-911 coverage but the Commission hasn’t responded, he said. Nuvio’s court challenge to the E-911 rules is before the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., with oral argument set for today (Tues.).

Talk at VON often turned to 9/11. Internet applications “held up better than any other communications applications in both the 9/11 and Katrina situations, Kohlenberger said. A National Academy of Sciences study found VoIP “more resilient” than other communications services in 9/11, he said. During Katrina “it was VoIP that connected President Bush and the mayor of New Orleans,” he said. Pulver.com Gen. Counsel Jonathan Askin said the conference was booked more than 5 years ago, before the date had such significance.