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RRE: Fear and Loathing at the FCC
From: IN%"[email protected]" 14-FEB-1997 07:16:51.99
To: IN%"[email protected]"
CC:
Subj: Fear and Loathing at the FCC
[Forwarded with permission. This is the closest thing I've found to real
research on the FCC-access-charges-for-ISP's action alert you have no doubt
seen recently. Right or wrong, this was an incredibly badly designed alert.
Please let me recommend that you *never* forward any kind of alert message
unless it is signed, includes detailed background information or at least
a URL that points to background information, and includes a time-out date.
For more information on the proper construction of Internet action alerts,
see http://communication.ucsd.edu/pagre/tno/january-1994.html#action ]
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Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 20:18:54 -0600
From: Patrick Douglas Crispen <[email protected]>
Subject: TOURBUS -- 13 FEBRUARY 1997 -- EDUPAGE / FEAR AND LOATHING AT THE FCC
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\___/ \___/ T h e I n t e r n e t T o u r B u s \___/
TODAY'S STOP: EDUPAGE / FEAR AND LOATHING AT THE FCC
TODAY'S ADDRESSES:
http://www.worldvillage.com/wv/hotel/tourbus/archives.htm
http://www.educom.edu/web/edupage.html
http://www.eff.org/papers/eegtti/eeg_83.html#SEC84
http://www.fcc.gov/isp.html
Hi, kids!
Put your seat belts on, because our latest adventure is about to get under
way! Before we pull out of the terminal, though, can I interest anyone in
a magazine or two? :)
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By the way, I have a sinking feeling that a few of you may want to forward
part of today's post to some of your friends. I would be happy if you did
this -- just make sure that you give credit where credit is due. :)
EDUPAGE
-------
I think I am losing my mind. I distinctly remember pulling our little bus
of Internet happiness into Edupage before, but for the life of me I can't
find a copy of that post anywhere in the TOURBUS archives (which, by the
way, can be found on the World Wide Web at
http://www.worldvillage.com/wv/hotel/tourbus/archives.htm).
Anyway, Edupage is an absolutely wonderful, free, e-mail-based "summary of
news items on information technology, and is provided three times each week
as a service by Educom -- a consortium of leading colleges and universities
seeking to transform education through the use of information technology."
Edupage is actually a misnomer, because Edupage doesn't really talk about
education. Rather, Edupage send you one paragraph summaries of technology
stories printed in leading newspapers and magazines (like Business Week,
Information Week, Forbes, etc.). Each issue of Edupage usually contains
between 6 and 10 of these summaries.
If you want to subscribe to Edupage (remember, it's FREE), just send an
e-mail letter to
[email protected]
with the command
SUBSCRIBE EDUPAGE YOURFIRSTNAME YOURLASTNAME
in the body of your e-mail letter, replacing YOURFIRSTNAME and YOURLASTNAME
with your first and last names.
You can also find Edupage on the Web at
http://www.educom.edu/web/edupage.html
Edupage is clearly one of my favorite resources on the Net. It provides
cutting-edge technology information in a size that is easy to digest, and
as a professional college student I *often* find myself quoting and
applying the information that I have found in Edupage.
FEAR AND LOATHING AT THE FCC
----------------------------
Over the past couple of weeks, you may have received e-mail letters telling
you that
Many local telephone companies have filed a proposal with the FCC
[The United States' Federal Communications Commission] to impose
per minute charges for Internet service. They contend that use
of Internet has or will hinder the operation of the telephone
network.
At first, I thought that this was simply a new version of the old "modem
tax" hoax (http://www.eff.org/papers/eegtti/eeg_83.html#SEC84) that has
been floating around the Net since *1987*. After all, the current FCC
story has all of the markings of a classic urban legend:
1. It uses official-looking language;
2. It mentions a government agency or an organization with
which everyone is familiar;
3. It contains a plea for you to take some sort of immediate
action; and
4. It requests that you forward the warning letter to as many
people as possible.
Besides, according to an article that appeared in this morning's Edupage,
ONLINE COMPANIES ASK TELCOS, "WHERE'S THE BEEF?"
Tired of telephone companies' complaints that Internet usage is
overwhelming their network capacity, the Internet Access
Coalition has released findings contending that Net usage is, in
reality, a bonanza for the Bells. The study found that local
carriers received a total of $1.4 billion in 1995 in revenues
resulting from the installation of second lines in homes, while
spending only $245 million to beef up their networks for the
additional usage. A Bell Atlantic spokesman says the real
problem is that the telcos have no idea when a line will be used
for data rather than voice, and thus tied up longer. Both sides
agree that the ultimate solution is higher capacity networks.
(Business Week 17 Feb 97)
Well, out of curiosity -- and out of a deep-felt desire to avoid studying
for the two major economics tests that I have next week -- your fearless
bus driver decided to call the FCC in Washington to see if anyone there was
willing to talk about this rather explosive issue. Unfortunately, I soon
discovered that the FCC only has one employee, she is a secretary, and her
job is to transfer all incoming telephone calls into voice mail hell. :)
Actually, I talked to some nice people at the FCC who faxed me a 10 page
explanation of what's *really* going on. Unfortunately, the 10 page
explanation was written in "FCC-ese," so I am going to have to translate
their explanation into English for you (and I can assure you that, since I
know *NOTHING* about telephony, my translation will probably contain a few
inaccuracies; if it does, please let me know).
First, some local telephone companies have indeed asked the FCC to allow
them to assess a per minute access charge on the telephone lines used by
Internet Service Providers. Local telephone companies currently charge
long-distance carriers (like AT&T and MCI) an interstate access charge for
the long-distance traffic that travels over their local lines, and the
local telephone companies would like to see this charge extended to include
the high-speed lines that your local Internet Service Provider uses to
access the Internet.
In December, the FCC rejected the telephone companies' request and
tentatively concluded "that the existing pricing structure for information
services should remain in place." In other words, the FCC has tentatively
concluded that Internet service providers should *NOT* be subject to the
interstate access charges that local telephone companies currently assess
on long-distance carriers.
The FCC now seeks the public's comments on this conclusion.
Unfortunately, the "warning" letter that is currently circulating around
the Internet gives the impression that some sort of sinister operation is
afoot here, that the FCC and the telephone companies are trying to sneak
this proposal through without anyone noticing, and that it is up to each
and every one of us to stop the evil FCC.
What garbage. In fact, the FCC has, at least tentatively, REJECTED the
telephone companies' proposal. The FCC is now simply asking you if you
agree or disagree with their decision.
The most disappointing aspect of this whole situation is that because of
the misinformation that has been distributed across the Internet over the
past couple of weeks, the FCC has received 100,000+ e-mail letters, most of
which flame them for making a decision that EVERYONE AGREES WITH! Hands
down, the flaming of the FCC is one of the Internet's most shameful acts
ever.
I also discovered another thing about the FCC that increased my respect for
their organization one-hundred-fold. Part of the 10 page explanation that
the FCC sent me states that their "existing rules have been designed for
traditional circuit-switched voice networks, and thus may hinder the
development of emerging packet-switched data networks." Because of this,
the FCC is also seeking the public's comments on the implications of the
Internet and its usage through the public switched telephone network.
Folks, *ANY* government agency that stops and says 'hey, we can ALWAYS use
some more information so that we are better prepared for whatever happens
in the future' has earned my respect and admiration.
By the way, most of the information that I have shared with you today can
be found on the FCC's "ISP" homepage at
http://www.fcc.gov/isp.html
If you would like to send your comments to the folks at the FCC (the
deadline for comments about their decision not to impose interstate access
changes on Internet service providers is Friday, February 14th), make sure
that you check the FCC's ISP Web page first. At the bottom of this page
are some pretty specific instructions on what you need to put in the
subject line of you e-mail letter before you submit it to the FCC.
Personally, I'm going to leave the poor folks at the FCC alone for a while.
They seem to be doing a great job in the face of unnecessary (and
misinformed) opposition.
TODAY'S ADDRESSES
-----------------
http://www.worldvillage.com/wv/hotel/tourbus/archives.htm
http://www.educom.edu/web/edupage.html
http://www.eff.org/papers/eegtti/eeg_83.html#SEC84
http://www.fcc.gov/isp.html
That's it for this week. Have a safe and happy weekend, and make sure that
you visit all 3 sponsors who made today's TOURBUS post possible: Mediadome,
Magazines.Com, and ...
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--------------------------------
TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORD OF THE DAY
--------------------------------
LAYMAN (noun). A tart fruit.
Usage: "Hunny, git me some more of that layman aid!"
(Special thanks goes to Tom Bates for today's word)
YOU CAN FIND ALL OF THE OLD SOUTHERN WORDS OF THE DAY ON THE SOUTHERN WORD
HOMEPAGE AT http://ua1vm.ua.edu/~crispen/word.html
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TOURBUS - (c) Copyright 1997, Patrick Crispen and Bob Rankin
All rights reserved. Redistribution is allowed only with permission.
Send this copy to 3 friends and tell them to get on the Bus!
(\__/) .~ ~. ))
/O O ./ .' Patrick Douglas Crispen
{O__, \ { The University of Alabama
/ . . ) \ [email protected]
|-| '-' \ } http://ua1vm.ua.edu/~crispen/
.( _( )_.'
'---.~_ _ _& Warning: squirrels.