[37184] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: HR 1542
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Daniel Senie)
Sat May 5 22:27:58 2001
Message-Id: <5.1.0.14.2.20010505221642.00a12b20@mail.amaranth.net>
Date: Sat, 05 May 2001 22:20:32 -0400
To: Charles Sprickman <spork@inch.com>
From: Daniel Senie <dts@senie.com>
Cc: <nanog@merit.edu>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.30.0105051735300.3370-100000@shell.inch.com>
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At 05:42 PM 5/5/01, Charles Sprickman wrote:
>Adelphia is not a regulated public utility, that's the difference.
Though a different cable company, a letter I received from ATT Broadband's
legal counsel might be of interest. I've been charged some 17 cents in
various taxes on top of my $49.95/month cable modem bill (I don't subscribe
to cable TV, just the data service). So I sent a letter asking why my
Internet service is taxed, where the State of Massachusetts does not impose
a sales tax on services, and where I thought the cable modem business was
outside regulation.
The response letter I received indicated that the cable modem business,
like EVERYTHING else in the cable business WAS INDEED regulated by the
state and local governments. I'm keeping a copy of this letter to use when
next ATT claims the local cable commission has no control over the cable
modems (next license renewal, I intend to push for open access).
I'll post a PDF of this letter on the web somewhere if anyone is interested.
Dan
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Daniel Senie dts@senie.com
Amaranth Networks Inc. http://www.amaranth.com
