Computer Inquiry
termnetworkingISP & telecom
The FCC proceedings that drew a line between regulated communications and unregulated data processing.
The question sounds administrative and decided the shape of an industry: if a service both moves data and computes on it, is it a telephone service subject to tariffs, or a computer service that anybody may sell? Computer Inquiry I asked it; Computer Inquiry II answered it by separating basic transmission from enhanced services built on top. That separation is why value-added networks could exist as businesses, and why the carriers had to offer the underlying capacity to competitors who then sold against them.
Also known as: computer inquiry i, computer inquiry ii, computer i, computer ii