[9796] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
re: bill text draft 2: Telecommunications Competition Act (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (adam fast)
Fri Jan 21 14:30:24 1994
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 11:19:12 -0800 (PST)
From: adam fast <adamfast@u.washington.edu>
Reply-To: adam fast <adamfast@u.washington.edu>
To: mrc@ikkoku-kan.panda.com
Cc: com-priv@psi.com, nii_agenda@civicnet.org,
this didn't go thru when jeff sent it for some reason, so i am resending
it...
adam
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 10:21:13 -0800 (PST)
>From: Jeffrey Sterling <jeffgs@netcom.com>
To: mrc@ikkoku-kan.panda.com
Cc: adam feuer <adamfast@u.washington.edu>
Subject: re: bill text draft 2: Telecommunications Competition Act (fwd)
> Gack! What a terrible idea. A perfect example of government fixing what
> isn't broke. This bill will create a new bureaucracy which will interfere
> with small service providers by burying them under a mound of paperwork. Only
> the big guys who can afford to have a legal department to fill out the
> paperwork (and pay the government fees) can be in the business.
>
There is no new bureaucracy created under this bill nor will you be
buried under a mound of paperwork.
The bill simply allows entities such as fiber companies, phone companies,
electric utilities, and cable companies to string wire as long as the
networks interconnect.
Local interconnection and open access to CNAPs give the best chance for
low cost, broadband access.
This bill is more directed to the new fiber nets that will connect to set
tops on people's TVs than it is to the existing Internet. It applies
Internet architecture to voic and video. What's wrong with that?
All I seem to hear over the Net is DATA, DATA, DATA. There is more to
this digital convergence than the Net. It is whether communities will
have CNAPs so they can create a commercial enterprise network to conduct
trade with the rest of the world and among themselves.
Your "if it ain't broke don't fix it attitude" is dangerous, because if
those who are currently use to the Internet are not willing to fight for
open access to the data hioghways of the future, then these
megacorporations are going to have a vertically integrated market where
no one but the John Malones and Bill Gates of the World will be able to
participate in electronic commercial enterprise.
Jeff
