Network Demarcation Points
In the US, there is a particular point where the
phone line becomes yours. You own the wiring from the phone to that point, the
phone company owns the rest. This was the inevitable consequences of the
AT&T network challenges. When AT&T couldn't win the right to declare
everything, end to end was its property and unmodifiable, it was inevitable that
every phone owner would end up with a portion of the network under his control
and AT&T ruling the roost past that point.
This concept has been a great boon for
competition but where the demarcation point (demarc point from here on out)
exists is, essentially variable. The point is generally right where the line
enters the house, just inside or just outside depending on various
circumstances. At the beginning, it was declared to be the switchover point
where the line stopped using outside wiring and started using the cheaper inside
variety. Nowadays there are special demarc boxes that are placed on the outside
of the building on most new residences.
Cable TV has the same sort of demarc system. You
may need to pay for additional TVs but if you cut the inside wiring and add a
splitter, you're not altering the cable company's wiring. You're altering your
own.
In the case of the Internet,
where is the demarc point? Here, there is no fixed definition in law. If you get
DSL is the modem you buy from the carrier yours or the carrier's? It varies, and
your rights on the internet vary right along with it. The Internet is unique in
that all computers have the capacity to be both consumers of information passed
on by producer computers and also be producer computers for other consumer
computers. With costs quickly dropping under the pressure of Moore's law, what
ends up happening is possibly the greatest haphazard capitalization of ordinary
people that the world has ever seen.
But being a producer means that you
are a competitor, even if only a potential competitor, to a variety of fat
bloated, entrenched interests. Add a permanently connected networked computer
with a digital video camera, you can be a competitor to TV stations, movies
studios, and movie theaters. With a SIP phone, you're a competitor to the phone
company. With a MIDI interface added you're a competitor to music production
studios, radio stations, concert halls, and juke box operators. The list goes on
and on.
Some of these markets don't
know or don't care you exist (concert halls and juke box operators are
examples). Some are accommodating and happy to integrate new entrants into the
mix (music production studios, for example). But then there are those who know,
understand, and find the potential of that many new entrants in the field deeply
frightening and unacceptably threatening. These are the ones that are pushing
back. And if they win, they will snatch defeat from the jaws of possibly the
most world enriching innovation to come down the pike since the industrial
revolution.
Posted: Fri - October 17, 2003 at 04:45 PM