Three stories on the wild, wild, world of telecommunications

From one day's Washington Post:

(1) this article about cable companies providing telephone service over the Internet, which asks: "So is an Internet phone the same as a phone? That's what regulators across the country are bickering over as they struggle to figure out what the emerging technology known as voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) might mean for consumers and the heavily regulated phone industry. Though Internet and traditional phones serve similar purposes, current regulations treat them differently."

(2) this article about rising cable subscriber rates, and how ESPN is fighting back against the accusations that it is responsible

(3) this article which says that Senator Lamar Alexander, of all people, favors an end to the ban on allowing states to tax access to the Internet. Bill Hobbs wants Tennesseans to tell the Senator this is nonsense.