A common carrier is an organization that transports persons or goods, and offers its services to the general public. In contrast, private carriers do not offer a service to the public, and provide transport on an irregular or ad-hoc basis. Common carriers typically transport persons or goods according to defined routes and schedules. Airlines, railroads, bus lines, cruise ships and trucking companies may be common carriers. A private carrier provides transportation or delivery of goods or services for a single entity, often a corporation; usually that entitys primary business is not transportation but rather something else. ... A Boeing 747-400 of Virgin Atlantic Airways, one of the UKs largest airlines. ... This is the top-level page of WikiProject trains Rail tracks Rail transport refers to the land transport of passengers and goods along railways or railroads. ... TheBus, established by Mayor Frank Fasi, is Honolulus only public transit system. ... Pacific Sky sails under Sydney Harbour Bridge A cruise ship, or less commonly cruise liner or luxury liner, is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the amenities of the ship are considered an essential part of the experience. ...

Although common carriers generally transports people or goods, in the United States the term may also refer to telecommunications providers and public utilities. Copy of the original phone of Graham Bell at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris Telecommunication is the transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. ... A public utility is a company that maintains the infrastructure for a public service. ...

Legal implications

Common carriers are subject to special laws and regulations. In common law jurisdictions, a common carrier is absolutely liable for goods carried by it, with four exceptions:^[1]

• An act of God
• An act of the public enemies
• Fault or fraud by the shipper
• An inherent defect in the goods

Carriers typically incorporate further exceptions into a Contract of Carriage, often specifically claiming not to be a common carrier.

Telecommunications

In the telecommunications regulation context in the United States, telecommunications carriers are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission under title II of the Communications Act of 1934. Telecommunication involves the transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. ... The FCCs official seal. ... The Communications Act of 1934 was a United States federal law enacted as Public Law Number 416, Act of June 19, 1934, ch. ...

Computer networks (for example, the Internet) that are built on top of telecommunications networks are Information Services or Enhanced Services,^{[citation needed]} and are generally regulated under title I of the Communications Act (other networks, such as cable video networks or wireless taxi dispatch networks, are neither telecommunications carrier networks nor information services).

Internet Service Providers have argued against being classified as a "common carrier" and, so far, have managed to do so. The argument of ISPs against common carrier classification has largely conflated "telecommunications carriers" with "common carriers," assuming that if they were labeled as "common carriers," they would be regulated under Title II of the Communications Act by the FCC. This is incorrect; as noted above, you can be a common carrier without being a telecommunications carrier. The FCC proceeding that established that Internet networks are not telecommunications carriers is the Computer Inquiries. A later FCC report, IN RE FEDERAL-STATE JOINT BOARD ON UNIVERSAL SERVICE, Report to Congress, 13 FCC Rcd. 11501 (1998), reviewed this policy (this report was not an order and did not have the effect of regulatory law - it is however, an excellent capture of FCC policy at that time). An Internet service provider (abbr. ...

The policy of the FCC has evolved. Traditionally, an Internet network information service would acquire its telecommunications needs from a telecommunications carrier. It was an Internet network layered on top of a telecommunications network. Pursuant to recent FCC decisions, however, Internet DSL and Internet Cable services are now considered combined as one "information service." There is no telecommunications carrier service underneath for other ISPs to use. This has resulted in a transformation of the ISP market. Previously, thousands of ISPs had access to the telephone network. Now, with no broadband telecommunications carrier service available, there are generally only two Internet broadband providers in a residential market: the cable Internet provider and the DSL Internet provider. Cable ISPs and the DSL ISPs have market power and have both the incentive and opportunity to discriminate with regard to content and applications used over their networks. The AT&T CEO has declared that Google should no longer get a free ride, and should pay AT&T in order to be delivered to AT&T's customers. This is a dramatic departure from 100 years of telecommunications carrier history.^{[neutrality disputed]} This has led to the argument in favor of network neutrality and a return to the common carrier principles that networks should not be able to discriminate with regard to content nor be liable for content. The phrase Network Neutrality describes networks that dont favor some destinations over others, or classes of application (for example the World Wide Web) over others (such as online gaming or Voice over IP). ...

Internet networks are in many respects already treated like common carriers. ISPs are largely immune from liability for third party content. The Good Samaritan provision of the Communications Decency Act established immunity from liability for third party content on grounds of libel or slander. The DMCA established that ISPs which comply with DMCA would not be liable for the copyright violations of third parties on their network. The Communications Decency Act (CDA) was Title V of the United States Telecommunications Act of 1996. ... The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a controversial United States copyright law which criminalizes production and dissemination of technology that can circumvent measures taken to protect copyright, not merely infringement of copyright itself, and heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet. ...

References

1. ^ Gregory v Commonwealth Railways Cmr (1941) 66 CLR 50 at 74

• Cybertelecom :: Notes :: Common Carrier
• FCC Wireline Competition Bureau, formerly the Common Carrier Bureau
• Freight & Shipping, Inc. :: Notes :: Common Carrier
• Less Than A Truckload  :: Notes :: USA Common Carrier