Judge Greene Speaks Again -- Info Services Part 2
by Bob Jacobson

HAROLD H. GREENE
JUDGE, U.S. DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

OPINION
[Outlined and Annotated]

I. Need for Retention of the Restriction on the
Provision of Information Content (pp. 3-9)

-- The BOCs arguments for greater regulatory freedom
to engage in new business are self-serving and
speculative, and their promises of good behavior
if totally freed from antitrust constraints are
belied by their past transgressions.



II. Removal of the Restriction on Information Transmission
(pp. 10-17)

-- Broad public policy outweighs narrow antitrust
considerations: for Americans to have the benefit
of a vital information industry, the BOCs must be
able to provide transmission of information, on the
model of the French Teletel.

III. The Teletel System (pp. 17-21)

-- A description of Teletel and how it functions after
a decade of refinement and modifications. The
American version may evolve differently from
its French predecessor.

IV. Other Alternatives (pp. 21-25)

-- The Court has decided for specific prohibitions on
BOC activities, rather than sweeping prohibitions
or no prohibitions at all. The general arguments
regarding "content generation" and "electronic
publishing" are rejected and the Court refuses to
engage in micromanagement of the BOCs and the
information industry. The following suggested
broad doctrines are rejected:

A. Prohibition of Content Generation (pp. 25-27)
B. Electronic Publishing [, Prohibition Against]
(pp. 27-30)
C. Detailed Approvals [for Each New Service]
(p. 30)

V. Permitted and Prohibited Transmission Services
(pp. 31-34)

-- "The Regional Companies are ... granted flexibility
... to develop applications of [the] five components
[data transmission, address translation, protocol
conversion, billing management, and introductory
information content] that differ in technology or
detail from the Teletel system or the Court's
September 10, 1987, description. However, such
latitude is only permitted to the extent that
(1) all specific restrictions and conditions laid
down in the September 10, 1987, Opinion and this
Opinion as to the scope of the particular categories
are observed; (2) no application of these categories
involves entry into content-based functions; and
(3) the services provided via these five categories
of gateway functions are restricted to the informa-
tion generated by others."

-- Footnote 39: The definition of prohibited
electronic publishing services is changed to:
"...the provision by a Regional Company of any
information which that Regional Company or its
affiliates has, or has caused to be, originated,
authored, compiled, collected, or edited, or in
which it has a direct or indirect financial or
proprietary interest, and which is disseminated to
an unaffiliated person through telecommunications.

-- Footnote 40: "Among other services that are also
clearly outside the transmission function are the
maintenance of user profiles and their sale or
release to others."

-- The Court will look sympathetically on new means of
transmitting information which employ components
and technologies other than the five below, if
the BOCs can show they are effective and economic.

VI. Components of the Transmission System
(p. 35)

A. Audiotex and Videotex (pp. 35-37)

-- The Court recognizes that, for the purposes of
the Order, there is no practical distinction
between audiotex and videotex. Both will be
permitted to the BOCs, particularly as they may
be complementary.

B. Electronic Directory Service (pp. 38-43)

-- The Court will not permit the BOCs to provide
an "electronic Yellow Pages." Only an
"electronic White Pages" is permitted ("names,
addresses, service and business categories,
and other informaiton which would assist the
user in identifying a service provider, as
long as such information is not offered in a
way so as to discriminate among providers.")

-- "To the extent that use of the gateway can be
made user friendly, the Regional Companies
should be encouraged to assist novice and
veteran users alike. Therefore, in addition to
these items previously identified as appropriate
introductory information content, the Regional
Companies may provide a "help" capability and
directions for navigating within their gateway.
Information as to how to locate different
providers, how to use the listing of providers,
how to select an information service, how to
exit the network, and the like would be
appropriate subjects of a gateway "help"
function. Once again, however, this capability
will be limited to information about using the
gateway -- it will not extent to information
about an individual service provider's own
system. The information service provider may
of course make such assistance to navigation
available to its subscribers as part of its
menu, but that would be a function under its
control, not that of the Regional Company."

C. Kiosk and Revenue Sharing (pp. 43-46)

-- Kiosk billing is essential to the success of
Teletel. The Court "will allow the Regional
Companies to bill on any basis, provided, of
course, that the billing method is not
discriminatory in any way."

D. Protocol Conversion (pp. 46-47)

-- All forms of protocol conversion are permitted,
ones that will be developed as well as currently
available systems.

E. Procedural Requirements (pp. 47-51)

-- It is unwise for the Court to require new
petitions and appeals each time a new service
is contemplated, so long as the basic
prohibitions and intent of the Order are not
transgressed.

VII. Voice Storage and Retrieval (pp. 51-65)

-- The judge on review considers the threat to possible
competition in the voice mail and storage business
to be less real than the opportunities lost to the
public welfare by these services not being broadly
available. Hence, the BOCs should be able to
provide voice mail. [This argument is quite long
because audiotex was not dealt with in the September
tenth, 1987, Opinion.

VIII. ORDER

1. The separated BOCs shall be permitted to engage in
the transmission of information as part of a gateway
to an information service, but not in the generation
or manipulation of the content of information.
"Transmission" shall mean the performance of the
following functions: data transmission, address
translation, protocol conversion, billing
management, and introductory information content.

2. The separated BOCs shall be permitted to engage in
voice storage and retrieval services, including
voice messaging and electronic mail services.

3. In the performance of the services authorized
herein, no BOC shall discriminate between and
among providers of information or against other
providers of information services or of voice
storage and retrieval services.