Title II of the Communications Act of 19341 (the Communic Act) codified a number of requirements and duties applicable t organizations that provide communication services and created t eral Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) to e those duties. Title II2 has become the foundation for a vast network of regulations imposed on common carriers in the communications industry. 3 The definition of" common carrier" is therefore integral to the workings of the Communications Act. The language of the Communica-tions Act itself sheds little light on the definition, as the term" common carrier" is defined at section 3 (h) simply as" any person engaged as a common carrier for hire." 4 From this statutory language, the Commis-sion derives an equally unilluminating regulatory definition of a commu-nication common carrier:" Any person engaged in rendering communication service for hire to the public." 5 The terse and somewhat circular definition of common carrier satis-fied Congress. While debating how to regulate communication common carriers, Senator La Follette declared" telegraph and telephone companies... have a defined meaning in the law, and I do not believe it would include anything else." 6 Unfortunately, Senator La Follette's forecast has not been sustained by time: the FCC claims that the supplied definitions are no longer useful. 7