Google Voice, AT&T, and the FCC: Fighting Over the Wrong Thing

[Commentary] What do Google Voice, AT&T, sex chat lines, and New Deal efforts to provide rural telephone service have to do with each other? Quite a bit, it turns out; the seemingly unrelated issues of sex chat and rural phone service lie at the heart of the dispute between Google and AT&T. The real problem is an antiquated system of telecom regulation that, alas, is not likely to get fixed anytime soon. Unfortunately, there appears to be no taste in Congress for a comprehensive overhaul of telecommunications law and even the fixing of obvious problems like universal service is proceeding at a glacial pace. Fortunately, there does seem to be at least a bit of progress on the state level. On Sept. 23, the Iowa Utilities Board ruled, in a case brought by Qwest Communications (with AT&T and Sprint as intervenors) that a group of rural exchange carriers had massively overcharged on termination fees. In a sense, AT&T and Google are both victims of a ridiculous anachronism, as is the FCC, which must enforce it. They should all be working together to bring telecom regulation into the 21st century.