[12086] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: legal basis for NSF Support of Internet
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Joseph W. Stroup)
Wed May 4 19:34:39 1994
Date: Wed, 4 May 1994 09:42:53 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Joseph W. Stroup" <nettech@crl.com>
To: James Love <love@essential.org>
Cc: com-priv <com-priv@psi.com>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.85.9405040734.A15172-0100000@essential>
Jamie,
There are alot of telephone companies out there ( long distance companies
incl.) that can't wait to charge by the packet, minute, second or
something. They see the Internet as a new hunting ground for revenue. I
for one will be the first to get off the "net" and go back to a bbs if
this happens. I don't think users will put up with it. One of the main
things I think these companies are looking for is a few points of
control. Points that become attractive to connect to. Points that will
draw people (providers) in... And then... This is truely a world wide
web, spinning its way towards a bigger bottom line for those of us with
stock in the RBOC's. Yes - I am not happy with the RBOC's but, I do own
stock in them.
Recently I attended at meeting in Denver where US West was talking about
their company selling off small central offices and doing more with data.
The Superhighway thing is what the US West person called it. Why thats
the way of the future... the general stuff and all. He went on to say
that the PUC had claimed if the small offices were sold that 50% of the
profit had to go back to the rate payers. US West says no way. If thats
the case they will void the deal. The telco's are dumping offices they
for years agreed to update , Yes, Mr. PUC - we will update this area to
private line service & touch tone in 4 years, oh , please just give us
this rate increase. Bong. And now, they have yet to upgrade and are
dumping these offices. The new owners will get away with an increase - in
the name of an upgrade just because the rate payers need to be "handled".
So , you see - with justification, the rates will still go up. And
services that could have been provided all along, will be put in place at
the expense of the customer. Sorry for the telco stuff but, fiber or
copper its not the medium but, what you do with it.
The funny part in the case of US West was when the rep. said - rebate,
50% who are they kidding? Our stock holders are the ones taking a risk
and they should get the money. I love it . The stock holders are taking a
risk? Right. In a spin off un-regulated area...where the case flows right
back to the parent CEO - Why bother to say there is any seperation.
The people who want to charge for these services are screwing aound with
an established network - Don't forget that. If you or I started this kind
of stuff with AT&T they would spend millions to defeat it. The fastest
way to stop this business of charging is to refuse to talk about it. Take
the telco line - Costs - Hey where were you when I had this idea for
something called a network ? I'll tell you. You were there handing me a
wire , a circuit and charging me big bucks! You had no interest in
helping people in anyway - Not until you decided to take the market from
us. This was tried by the RBOC's in the X.25 market - Result- They
failed. The same can happen here and it won't be the end of it all.
Joseph Stroup
