telecommunication

n.

1. The science and technology of communication at a distance by electronic transmission of impulses, as by telegraph, cable, telephone, radio, or television. Often used in the plural with a singular verb: Telecommunications is an important area of professional growth.
2. The electronic systems used in transmitting messages, as by telegraph, cable, telephone, radio, or television. Often used in the plural with a plural verb: Telecommunications were disrupted by the brownout.
3. A message so transmitted.

Transmission of data between computers at different locations. Data are typically sent over telephone lines, but radio waves and satellites are also used. A computer with a communications board (RS-232C Serial Port), telecommunications software, and modem are needed for communication; a terminal may also be used. Software is required to communicate between computers within the firm, for time-sharing situations, and for accessing commercial data bases. Software also aids in the manipulation of information coming over the modem. Communications packages usually reserve some of the computer memory as a buffer. Information is placed in the capture buffer, awaiting future disposition (saving to disk or printing the information). Alternatively, one can load data from a disk into the buffer for uploading to another computer in Ascii if a synchronous communication is used. Information handling functions are the core of the telecommunications program. Some communications programs do error checking of information received (i.e., XModem Protocol). Communications software permits CPAs in different geographic areas to communicate with each other by electronic mail or to transfer data files and documents between offices. Bulletin boards can be established by CPAs to share up-to-date accounting and auditing information with their clients.

Telecommunications is the transmission of data and information between computers using a communications link such as a standard telephone line. Typically, a basic telecommunications system would consist of a computer or terminal on each end, communication equipment for sending and receiving data, and a communication channel connecting the two users. Appropriate communications software is also necessary to manage the transmission of data between computers. Some applications that rely on this communications technology include the following:

1. Electronic mail (e-mail) is a message transmitted from one person to another through computerized channels. Both the sender and receiver must have access to on-line services if they are not connected to the same network. E-mail is now one of the most frequently used types of telecommunication.
2. Facsimile (fax) equipment transmits a digitized exact image of a document over telephone lines. At the receiving end, the fax machine converts the digitized data back into its original form.
3. Voice mail is similar to an answering machine in that it permits a caller to leave a voice message in a voice mailbox. Messages are digitized so the caller's message can be stored on a disk.
4. Videoconferencing involves the use of computers, television cameras, and communications software and equipment. This equipment makes it possible to conduct electronic meetings while the participants are at different locations.
5. The Internet is a continuously evolving global network of computer networks that facilitates access to information on thousands of topics. The Internet is utilized by millions of people daily.

Actually, telecommunications is not a new concept. It began in the mid-1800s with the telegraph, whereby sounds were translated manually into words; then the telephone, developed in 1876, transmitted voices; and then the teletypewriter, developed in the early 1900s, was able to transmit the written word.

Since the 1960s, telecommunications development has been rapid and wide reaching. The development of dial modem technology accelerated the rate during the 1980s. Facsimile transmission also enjoyed rapid growth during this time. The 1990s have seen the greatest advancement in telecommunications. It is predicted that computing performance will double every eighteen months. In addition, it has been estimated that the power of the computer has doubled thirty-two times since World War II (With row, 1997). The rate of advancement in computer technology shows no signs of slowing. To illustrate the computer's rapid growth, Ronald Brown, former U.S. secretary of commerce, reported that only fifty thousand computers existed in the world in 1975, whereas, by 1995, it was estimated that more than fifty thousand computers were sold every ten hours (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1995).

Deregulation and new technology have created increased competition and widened the range of network services available throughout the world. This increase in telecommunication capabilities allows businesses to benefit from the information revolution in numerous ways, such as streamlining their inventories, increasing productivity, and identifying new markets. In the following sections, the technology of modern telecommunications will be discussed.

Communications Networks

When computers were first invented, they were designed as stand-alone systems. As computers became more widespread, practical, useful, and indispensable, network systems were developed that allowed communication between computers. The term "network" describes computers that are connected for the purpose of sharing data, software, and hardware. The two types of networks include local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs). As the name suggests, LANs cover a limited geographic area, usually a square mile or less. This limited area can be confined to a room, a building, or a group of buildings. Although a LAN can include one central computer connected to terminals, more commonly it connects a group of personal computers. A WAN covers a much larger geographic area by means of telephone cables and/or other communications channels. WANs are often used to connect a company's branch offices in different cities. Some familiar public wide area networks include AT&T, Sprint, and MCI.

Internet, Intranet, and Extranet

"Internet work" is the term used to describe two or more networks that are joined together. The term "Internet" describes the collection of connected networks. The Internet has been made accessible by use of the World Wide Web. The Web allows users to navigate the millions of sites found on the Internet using software applications called Web browsers. People make use of the Internet in numerous ways for both personal and business applications. For instance, an investor is able to access a company directly and set up an investment account; a student is able to research an assigned topic for a class report; a shopper can obtain information on new and used cars.

The Internet concept of global access to information transferred to a private corporate network creates an intranet. In conjunction with corporate Internet access, many companies are finding that it is highly practical to have an internal intranet. Because of the increased need for fast and accurate information, an efficient and seamless communications line enabling all members to access a wealth of relevant information instantaneously is vital.

A company intranet in conjunction with the Internet can provide various types of information for internal and/or external use. Uses such as instantaneous transfer of information, reduced printing and reprinting, and elimination of outof-date information can provide great benefits to geographically dispersed groups. Some examples of information that an intranet might include are company and procedures manuals, a company phonebook and e-mail listings, insurance and benefits information, in-house publications, job postings, expense reports, bulletin boards for employee memoranda, training information, inventory lists, price lists, and inventory control information. Putting such applications on an intranet can serve a large group of users at a substantially reduced cost.

Some companies might want to make some company information accessible to preauthorized people outside the company or even to the general public. This can be done by using an extranet. An extranet is a collaborative network that uses Internet technology to link businesses with their suppliers, customers, or other businesses. An extranet can be viewed as part of a company's intranet. Access by customers would allow entering orders into a company's system. For example, a person may order airline tickets, check the plane schedule, and customize the trip to his or her preferences. In addition to time and labor savings, this type of order entry could also decrease errors made by employees when entering manually prepared orders.

Security and privacy can be an issue in using an extranet. One way to provide this security and privacy would be by using the Internet with access via password authorization. Computer dial in and Internet access to many financial institutions is now available. This is an example of limited access to information. While bank employees have access to many facets of institutional information, the bank customers are able to access only information that has to do with their own accounts. In addition to their banking account number, they would have to use their password to gain access to the information.

Transmission Media

The physical devices making up the communications channel are known as the transmission media. These devices include cabling media (such as twisted-pair cable, coaxial cable, and fiber-optic cable) and wireless media (such as microwaves and other radio waves as well as infrared light). Wireless transmission has the advantage of not having to install physical connections at every point. Microwave stations use radio waves to send both voice and digital signals. The principal drawback to this system is that microwave transmission is limited to line-of-sight applications. Relay antennas are usually placed twenty-five to seventy-five miles apart and can have no interfering buildings or mountains between them. Earth-based microwave transmissions, called terrestrial microwaves, send data from one microwave station to another, similar to the method by which cellular telephone signals are transmitted.

Earth stations receive microwave transmissions and transmit them to orbiting communication satellites, which then relay them over great distances to receiving earth stations. Usually, geosynchronous satellites are placed roughly twenty-two thousand miles above the earth. Being geosynchronous allows the satellites to remain in fixed positions above the earth and to be constantly available to a given group of earth stations.

Many businesses either lease or rent satellite and/or microwave communication services through the telephone company or other satellite communication companies. If a business has only a small amount of information to be transmitted each day, it may prefer to use a small satellite dish antenna instead.

Types of Signals and Their Conversion By Modem

Most telecommunications involving personal computers make use of standard telephone lines at some point in their data transmission. But since computers have been developed to work with digital signals, their transmission presents a noncompatible signal problem. Digital signals are on/off electrical pulses grouped in a manner to represent data. Originally, telephone equipment was designed to carry only voice transmission and operated with a continuous electrical wave called an analog signal. In order for telephone lines to carry digital signals, a special piece of equipment called a modem (MOdulator/DE Modulator) is used to convert between digital and analog signals. Modems can be either external to the computer, and thus to be moved from one computer to another, or they can be internally mounted inside the computer. Modems are always used in pairs.

Both the receiving and transmitting modems must operate at the same speed. Multiple transmission speeds allow faster modems to reduce their speed to match that of a slower modem. The transmission rate and direction are determining factors that influence the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of telecommunications systems.

Conclusion

Telecommunications is one of the fastest-growing areas of technology in the world. Because of its rapid growth, businesses and individuals can access information at electronic speed from almost anywhere in the world. By including telecommunications in their operations, businesses can provide better services and products to their customers. For individuals, telecommunications provides access to worldwide information and services.

Bibliography

"A Brief History of Data Communication." http://www.telecom.tbi.net/history1.html. 1999.

"Connecting the Nation: Classrooms, Libraries, and Health Care Organizations in the Information Age." Report prepared by National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Office of Telecommunications and Information Applications, U.S. Department of Commerce. http://www.ntia.doc.gov/connect.html.1995.

"Extranet and Intranet." http://www.whatis.com/extranet.htm. 1999.

"Geosychronous," "Modem," and "Cabling." (1995). The Volume Library, vol. 1. Nashville, TN: Southwestern.

Shelly, Gary B., Cashman, Thomas J., Waggoner, Gloria A., and Waggoner, William C. (1998). Discovering Computers 98, brief ed. Cambridge, MA: Course Technology.

Withrow, F. B. (1997). "Technology in Education and the Next Twenty-Five Years." Technological Horizons in Education Journal. (T.H.E.), 24(11):59-61.

[Article by: MARY ALICE GRIFFIN; SUSAN EVANA JENNINGS]

often as telecommunications

Any transmission, emission, or reception of signs, signals, writings, images, sounds, or information of any nature by wire, radio, visual, or other electromagnetic systems.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

For more information on telecommunication, visit Britannica.com.

The transmission and reception of signals (such as electrical or optical) by wire, optical fiber, or electromagnetic means.

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The history of telecommunications is a story of networks. Alexander Graham Bell on his honeymoon wrote of a "grand system" that would provide "direct communication between any two places in [a] city" and, by connecting cities, provide a true network throughout the country and eventually the world (Winston, Media Technology, p. 244). From the telegraph to the telephone to e-mail, electronic communication has extended farther and reached more people with increasing speed. The advent of the Internet in combination with a satellite system that covers the entire surface of the earth has brought us closer to the "global village" envisioned by Marshall McLuhan in the 1960s.

The variety of media included under the umbrella of "telecommunications" has expanded since the early twentieth century. The term was adopted in 1932 by the Convention Internationale des Telecommunications held in Madrid (OED). At this point, the telegraph, the telephone, and the radio were the only widely used telecommunications media. The United States, the point of origin for only one of these three (Bell's telephone), soon came to dominate the telecommunications industries. The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was created in 1919, three years before Britain's British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). By 1950, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) provided the best telephone service in the world. American television led the way after World War II (1939–1945). Then, in the early 1980s, a new device was introduced: the personal computer. Although not intended as a tool for telecommunications, the personal computer became in the 1990s the most powerful means of two-way individual electronic communication, thanks to a network that goes far beyond any "grand system" dreamed of by Bell. The network we now call the Internet gives a person with a computer and an Internet connection the ability to send not only words, but graphs, charts, audio signals, and pictures, both still and moving, throughout the world.

Most telecommunications networks were created for specific purposes by groups with vested interests. The telegraph network was created to make scheduling trains possible. Telephones were first primarily for business use. The grandfather of the Internet, ARPANET, was commissioned by the Department of Defense in 1969 to develop a military communication network that could withstand a nuclear attack.

In general, the U.S. Congress has chosen to allow these networks to remain under private control with a modicum of regulation, in contrast to governments in Europe and Britain, which have turned these networks into public utilities. In the case of the Internet, we see the control moving from the military to the private sector, and Congress grappling with how to regulate "objectionable" communications such as pornography.

The Telegraph

The first practical means of electronic communication was the Telegraph. The science on which it is based was over a century old when the sudden development of the railway system in the 1830s, first in England, then in America, made it necessary to communicate the movement of trains rapidly. The interconnection of the various technologies, one breeding the need for another, is well illustrated.

But while the telegraph was developed with this one purpose in mind, the potential uses of the new device were soon recognized, and information other than that dealing with train schedules began to flow across the wires. In 1844, the Democratic National Convention's nominee for vice president declined via telegraph, though the Convention, not trusting the new device, had to send a group from Baltimore to Washington, D.C., for face-to-face confirmation. Here we see an early example of the evolution of trust in these new networks.

While battles were waged over ownership, the technology continued to expand its influence as the stock market and the newspaper business, both in need of rapid transmission of information, began using the everexpanding network. As with later technologies, there was debate in Congress over governmental control. Congress' decision was to let the private sector compete to exploit this new technology. That competition ended with the adoption of one specific "code," and Samuel Morse emerged as the Bill Gates of the telegraph.

The Telephone and the Fax

Telegraphy required training in Morse code on the part of both sender and receiver, so this form of telecommunication remained primarily a means of communication for business and for urgent personal messages sent from a public place to another public place. Bell's Telephone, invented in 1876, brought telecommunication into the home, although the telephone remained primarily a business tool until after World War II, when telephones become common in American homes.

AT&T, formed in 1885, held a virtual monopoly on U.S. telephonic communication until 1982. The Justice Department forced the separation of Western Union from the company in 1913. At this point an AT&T vice president, Nathan Kingsbury, wrote a letter to the U.S. Attorney General, which came to be called the "Kingsbury Commitment." It formed the basis of AT&T's dominance of telephone service until 1982, when the Justice Department insisted that AT&T be severed into seven "Baby Bells" who each provided local service to a region.

The control that AT&T maintained probably contributed to the quality of phone service in the United States, but it also squelched some developments. For example, until 1968, only equipment leased from AT&T could be hooked to their network. Thus the facsimile machine (the fax), originally developed in the nineteenth century as an extension of telegraphy, did not come into use until after the 1968 FCC order forcing Bell to allow users to hook non-Bell equipment to the AT&T network. Factors other than technology often determine the evolution of telecommunications.

Radio and Television

Radio and Television are quite different from the telegraph and telephone: they communicate in one direction and "broadcast" to many listeners simultaneously. The Italian Guglielmo Marconi, working in England in 1896, patented his wireless system and transmitted signals across the Atlantic in 1901. By 1919 RCA was formed, and in 1926, it created the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). The radio was a common household appliance by the time of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's fireside chats in 1933, and its effect on the public was demonstrated inadvertently by Orson Welles in his radio drama based on H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds. Many people accepted the fictional tale of an invasion from Mars as fact and panicked.

In 1939, NBC began broadcasting television signals, but television broadcasting was halted until after World War II ended in 1945. Both radio and television altered many aspects of American society: home life, advertising, politics, leisure time, and sports. Debates raged over television's impact on society. Television was celebrated as an educational panacea and condemned as a sad replacement for human interaction.

The Internet

Like the Interstate Highway System, which carries a different kind of traffic, the Internet began as a Cold War postapocalypse military project in 1969. ARPANET was created to develop a means of effective communication in the case of a nuclear war. The Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA), created in 1957 in response to the launch of Sputnik, advanced the case that such a network was necessary, illustrating again that necessity (or at least perceived necessity) is the mother of invention. Paul Baran, a RAND researcher studying military communications for the Air Force, wrote in 1964, "Is it time now to start thinking about a new and possibly non-existent public utility, a common user digital data communication plant designed specifically for the transmission of digital data among a large set of subscribers?"

As the ARPANET expanded, users developed software for sending electronic mail, soon dubbed e-mail, then just plain email. By 1973, about three-fourths of the traffic on this network connecting many research universities consisted of email. The network expanded to include other universities and then other local area networks (LANs). Once these local area networks became connected to one another, this new form of communication spread rapidly. In 1982, a protocol was developed that would allow all the smaller networks to link together using the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP). Once these were adopted on various smaller "internets," which connected various LANs, "the Internet" came into being. Just as railroad companies had to adopt a common gauge of track to make it possible to run a train across the country, so the various networks had to adopt a common protocol so that messages could travel throughout the network. Once this happened, the Internet expanded even more rapidly. This electronic network, often dubbed "the information superhighway," continued to expand, and in the early 1990s, a new interface was developed that allowed even unsophisticated users of personal computers to "surf the Internet": the World Wide Web. With this more friendly access tool came the commercialization of this new medium.

The Access Issue

Access has been a key issue throughout the history of telecommunications. The term "universal service," coined in 1907 by Bell Chief Executive Officer Theodore Vail, came to mean, by mid-century, providing all Americans affordable access to the telephone network. There were still rural areas without electrical and telephone service in the mid-twentieth century (the two networks often sharing the same poles for stringing wires overhead), but by the end of the century, about 94 percent of all homes had phones (notable exceptions being homes in poverty zones such as tribal lands and inner-city neighborhoods). In the final decade of the twentieth century, cell phones became widely available, though they were not adopted as quickly in the United States as elsewhere. This new and alternative network for telephonic communication makes possible wireless access from remote sites, so that villages in central Africa, for example, can have telephone access to the world via satellite systems. In the United States, subscribers to cell phone services increased from about 5,000 in 1990 to over 100,000 in 2000, while average monthly bills were cut in half.

Despite the fact that access to the Internet expanded much faster than did access to earlier networks, there was heated political debate about the "digital divide" separating those who have such access from the have-nots. This points to the importance of this new form of telecommunication, which combines personal communication technology with information access. Thus, federal programs in the 1990s promoted Internet access to public schools and libraries. While 65 percent of public high schools had Internet access in 1995, the figure reached 100 percent by 2000. Once connected to this vast network, the computer becomes not only an educational tool but also a means of communication that can change the world. In 1989 news from Tiananmen Square protesters came out of China via email.

The Merging of the Media

By the mid-1990s, the impact of the Internet, the new digital technologies, the satellite systems, and fiber-optic cables was felt throughout the world of telecommunications. Radio stations began "web casting," sending their signals out over the Internet so listeners around the world could tune in. By the turn of the twenty-first century, not only pictures but also entire movies could be downloaded from the Internet. As use of computers increased, the digital format became increasingly important, and by the end of the century digital television was a reality, though not widely in use. A variety of mergers by telecommunications companies increased the need for government oversight. Congress grappled with regulation of this ever-expanding field that knows no borders or nationality. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 extended the quest for "universal service" to "advanced telecommunications services," but other attempts to regulate content on the Internet tended to be rejected by the courts as unconstitutional.

Effect of Medium on the Message

If television produced a generation that was more comfortable with the image than with the word, computers turned a later generation back to the word, and to new symbols as well. Marshal McLuhan in the 1960s said that "the medium is the message." The phenomenon of the medium affecting the communication process is well illustrated by the development of the "emoticon" in email chat room and instant messenger communications. Emoticons came about when email and Internet users discovered that the tone of their messages was often missed by receivers, who sometimes became offended when a joking tone was not inferred. Thus, the emoticon was proposed in 1979, first as a simple -) and then the more elaborate :-) to suggest tone, and soon this and other tone indicators came into widespread use.

Too often we limit ourselves to "just the facts" when considering technology, but its impact on the social sphere is important. Just as the automobile changed employment patterns (with rural residents commuting into the city) and architecture (creating the garage as a standard part of homes), so the telephone ended the drop-in visit and created telemarketing. It draws us closer electronically while distancing us physically. We are still debating the impact of the television, which seems to alter some family patterns extensively, and already we are discussing "Internet addiction." Telecommunications remains an expanding and changing field that alters us in ways we might fail to recognize.

Bibliography

Baran, P. "On Distributed Communication Networks." IEEE Transactions on Communications Systems (1 March 1964).

"Digital Divide, The." CQ Researcher 10, no. 3 (Jan 28,2000): 41–64.

Jensen, Peter. From the Wireless to the Web: The Evolution of Telecommunications, 1901–2001. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2000.

Lebow, Irwin. Information Highways and Byways: From the Telegraph to the 21st Century. New York: IEEE Press, 1995.

Lubar, Steven D. Info Culture: The Smithsonian Book of Information Age Inventions. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993.

McCarroll, Thomas. "How AT&T Plans to Reach Out and Touch Everyone." Time 142 (July 5,1993): 44–46.

Mitchell, William J. City of Bits: Space, Place, and the Infobahn. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1995. Available at http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-books/City_of_Bits/

Winston, Brian. Media Technology and Society: A History: From the Telegraph to the Internet. New York: Routledge, 1998.

This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

The transmission of words, sounds, images, or data in the form of electronic or electromagnetic signals or impulses.

From the introduction of the telegraph in the United States in the 1840s to the present-day Internet computer network, telecommunication has been a central part of American culture and society. With each new telecommunication technology, more and higher-quality types of information have been transmitted into and out of businesses, government, and homes. Telephone, radio, broadcast television, cable television, satellite television, facsimile (fax machines), cellular telephones, and computer networks have become integral parts of modern life. Federal and state governments have regulated the pricing of telecommunication systems and the content of transmitted material. However, the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Pub. L. No. 104-104) deregulated much of the telecommunication business, allowing competition in markets previously reserved for government-regulated monopolies.

Telegraph

The first telegraph system in the United States was completed in 1844. Originally used as a way of managing railroad traffic, the telegraph soon became an essential means of transmitting news around the United States. The Associated Press was formed in 1848 to pool telegraph expenses, and other "wire services" soon followed.

Many telegraph companies were formed in the early years of the business, but by 1856 Western Union Telegraph Company had become the first dominant national telegraph system. In 1861 it completed the first transcontinental line, connecting San Francisco first to the Midwest and then on to the East Coast. As worldwide interest increased in applications of the telegraph, the International Telegraph Union was formed in 1865 to establish standards for use in international communication. In 1866 the first transatlantic cables were completed.

The telegraph era came to an end after World War II, with the advent of high-speed transmission technologies that did not use telegraph and telephone wires. By 1988 Western Union was reorganized to handle money transfers and related services.

Telephone Systems

The invention of the telephone in the late nineteenth century led to the creation of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T). The company owned virtually all telephones, equipment, and long-distance and local wires for personal and business service in the national telephone system. Smaller companies seeking a part of the long-distance telephone market challenged AT&T's monopoly in the 1970s.

In 1982 the U.S. Department of Justice allowed AT&T to settle a lawsuit alleging antitrust violations because of its monopolistic holdings. AT&T agreed to divest itself of its local operating companies by January 1, 1984, while retaining control of its long-distance, research, and manufacturing activities. Seven regional telephone companies (known as the Baby Bells) were given responsibility for local telephone service. Other companies now compete with AT&T to provide long-distance service to telephone customers.

However, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, in an effort to spur competition, allowed the seven regional phone companies to compete in the long-distance telephone market. The act also permitted AT&T and other long-distance carriers, as well as cable companies, to sell local telephone service.

Local telephone rates are regulated by state commissions, which also work to see that the regional telephone companies provide good maintenance and services. In addition, the use of a telephone for an unlawful purpose is a crime under state and federal laws, as is the wiretapping of telephone conversations.

Radio

In the early twentieth century, radio was regarded primarily as a device to make maritime operations safer and a potential advancement of military technology. However, during World War I entrepreneurs began to recognize the commercial possibilities of radio. By the mid-1920s, commercial radio stations were operating in many parts of the United States, as owners began selling air time for advertisements. The Federal Radio Commission was created in 1927 to assign applicants designated frequencies under specific engineering rules and to create and enforce standards for the broadcasters' privilege of using the public's airwaves.

The commission later became the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which was established by the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.A. § 151 et seq.). The FCC issues licenses to radio and television stations, which permit the stations to use specific frequencies to transmit programming. Licenses are issued only on a showing that public convenience, interest, and necessity will be served and that an applicant satisfies certain requirements, such as citizenship, good character, financial capability, and technical expertise.

Before 1996 the FCC restricted persons or entities from acquiring excessive power through ownership of a number of radio and television facilities. The rule was based on the assumption that if one person or company owned most or all of the media outlets in an area, the diversity of information and programming on these stations would be restricted.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 eliminated the limit on the number of radio stations that one entity may own nationally. The FCC was also directed to reduce the restrictions on locally owned radio stations. Congress determined that less regulation was in the public interest.

The FCC has sought to prohibit the broadcast of obscene and indecent material. The Supreme Court has upheld regulations banning obscene material, because obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment. It has also permitted the FCC to prohibit material that is "patently offensive," and either "sexual" or "excretory," from being broadcast during times when children are presumed to be in the audience (FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726, 98 S. Ct. 3026, 57 L. Ed. 2d 1073 [1978]).

Television

The commercial exploitation of television did not begin in the United States until the late 1940s. The FCC followed its example from radio and established licensing procedures for stations seeking permission to transmit television signals. It became the oversight body for the U.S. television industry.

The FCC has applied to television a prohibition similar to that imposed on radio against the broadcast of obscene and indecent material. For purposes of parental control, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 also mandated the establishment of an advisory committee to rate video programming that contains indecent material. The act also stated that by 1998 new television sets had to be equipped with a so-called V-chip to allow parents to block programs with a predesignated rating for sex and violence.

Cable television became a viable commercial form of telecommunication in the 1980s. Both the FCC and local governments had an interest in regulating cable systems, with municipalities awarding a cable system franchise to one vendor. Cable operators negotiated system requirements and pricing with local governments, but federal law imposed some restrictions on rates to consumers. Concerns about rate regulation led Congress to enact the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 (Pub. L. No. 102-385). The act gave the FCC greater control of the cable television industry and set rate structures to control the price of cable subscriptions. However, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 reversed the 1992 act by ending all rate regulation. The act also allowed the seven regional telephone companies to compete in the cable television market to end the monopoly that cable systems had enjoyed under the previous regulatory scheme.

The transmission of television signals by satellite has been a practical solution for customers who cannot obtain cable television because they live in remote or rural areas. Since their introduction in the 1990s, direct broadcast satellite systems have competed with cable television systems, offering higher-quality video and audio signals.

Transmission of Digital Data

In the 1980s and 1990s, the use of digital data transmission revolutionized the communication of words, images, sounds, and data. Computer-driven means of telecommunication have made possible electronic mail ( E-mail), the sharing of computer files, and, most importantly, the Internet.

The Internet is a network of computers linking the United States with the rest of the world. Originally developed as a way for U.S. research scientists to communicate with each other, by the mid-1990s the Internet had become a popular form of telecommunication for personal computer users. Written text represents a significant portion of the Net's content, in the form of both E-mail and articles posted to electronic discussion forums known as Usenet news groups. In the mid-1990s, the appearance of the World Wide Web made the Internet even more popular. The Web is a multimedia interface that allows for the transmission of what are known as Web pages, which resemble pages in a magazine. In addition to combining text and pictures or graphics, the multimedia interface makes it possible to add audio and video components. Together these various elements have made the Internet a medium for communication and for the retrieval of information on virtually any topic.

The federal government has sought to regulate this form of telecommunication. Congress passed the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) (18 U.S.C.A. § 2701 et seq. [1994]), also known as the Wiretap Act, which made it illegal to read private E-mail. The ECPA extended to electronic mail most of the protection already granted to conventional mail. However, this protection has not been extended to all E-mail that is transmitted in the workplace.

A controversial issue in the workplace is whether an employer should be able to monitor the E-mail messages of its employees. An employer has a strong legal and financial motive to prohibit unauthorized and inappropriate use of its E-mail system. Under the Wiretap Act, a company is not restricted in its ability to review messages stored on its own internal E-mail system. In addition, interception of electronic communications is permitted when it is done in the ordinary course of business or to protect the employer's rights or property. This exception would apply when, for example, an employer has reasons to suspect that an employee is using the E-mail system to disclose information to a competitor or to send harassing messages to a coworker. Finally, the prohibitions of the Wiretap Act do not apply if the employee whose messages are monitored has explicitly or implicitly consented to such monitoring.

Congress sought to curb the transmission of indecent content on the Internet and other computer network telecommunications systems by enacting the Communications Decency Act (CDA) (47 U.S.C.A. § 223(a)-(h)) as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The CDA made it a federal crime to use telecommunications to transmit "any comment, request, suggestion, proposal, image, or other communication which is obscene or indecent, knowing that the recipient of the communication is under 18 years of age, regardless of whether the maker of such communication placed the call or initiated the communication." It includes penalties for violations of up to five years imprisonment and fines of up to $250,000.

In Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, ___ U.S. ___, 117 S. Ct. 2329, 138 L. Ed. 2d 874 (1997), the Supreme Court struck down the "indecent" provision as a violation of the First Amendment right of free speech.

Standards in Telecommunication

Certain telecommunication methods have become standards in the telecommunication industry because devices with different standards cannot communicate with each other. Standards are developed either through the widespread use of a particular method or by a standard-setting organization. The International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency, which sits in Geneva, Switzerland, and one of its operational bodies, the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee, play a key role in standardizing telecommunication methods. For example, the committee's standards for the fax machine that were adopted in the 1980s facilitated the dramatic increase in use of this form of telecommunication.

See: Broadcasting; Electronic Surveillance; Employment Law; Entertainment Law; Fairness Doctrine; Privacy; Pornography.

(DOD, NATO) Any transmission, emission, or reception of signs, signals, writings, images, sounds, or information of any nature by wire, radio, visual, or other electromagnetic systems.

IN BRIEF: Transmission of data or facts electronically or at a distance.

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - telekommunikation

Nederlands (Dutch)
telecommunicatie

Français (French)
n. - télécommunication

Deutsch (German)
n. - Fernverbindung, Nachrichtentechnik

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - τηλεπικοινωνία

Italiano (Italian)
telecomunicazione

Português (Portuguese)
n. - telecomunicação (f)

Русский (Russian)
телесвязь, дистанционная связь

Español (Spanish)
n. - telecomunicaciones

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - telekommunikation, teleförbindelse

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
电传视讯, 电磁通信, 远距离通信

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 電傳視訊, 電磁通信, 遠距離通信

한국어 (Korean)
n. - (원거리) 전기 통신, 전기 통신 공학

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 遠距離通信, 電気通信学

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الأتصال عن بعد بالتلغراف او التلفون, المواصله البعيدة‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮בזק, טלקומוניקציה, תקשורת-רחק באמצעים טכנולוגיים שונים‬

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