A WSJ article today stated that FCC Chairman Michael Powell foreshadowed what may be an enormously important decision about internet telephony:

"The FCC is expected to rule that Free World Dialup, a computer-based Internet phone service, isn't a telecommunications service under federal rules. That will free it from the fees that AT&T is fighting to have lifted. Free World Dialup allows consumers to download software from the Internet that enables them to make free phone calls from their personal computers to other Free World users anywhere in the world.

In a speech this month, FCC Chairman Michael Powell tipped his hand on the coming rulings. In likening Internet voice applications to e-mail and instant messaging, he hinted it would be defined as an information service, free from the labyrinth of regulations and fees related to telecom services.

"Plain old telephone service ... sets up a telephone call from point A to point B," Mr. Powell said. "A voice application [over the Internet] can do that, but it can do so very much more.""