Re: Protest proposed phone company Internet charges

["L. Peter Deutsch" <lpd@aladdin.com>]

Like all "urban legends", this is vague, hysterical, and totally lacking in
concrete documentation.  What is the source of the information?  "CNN
reported."  No date for the alleged CNN report.  No bill number for the
alleged bill.  No URL for any on-line information.  No information about the
alleged bill's author(s) or sponsor(s).  No nuthin'.

There is a "fact sheet" on Internet access charges on the FCC's Web site at

    http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Factsheets/nominute.html

It says, among other things:

   4. What did the FCC conclude in its February 25, 1999 decision?

   The Declaratory Ruling concludes that carriers are bound by their
   existing interconnection agreements, as interpreted by state commissions,
   and thus are subject to reciprocal compensation obligations to the extent
   provided by such agreements or as determined by state commissions. The
   Declaratory Ruling finds that Internet traffic is jurisdictionally mixed
   and appears to be largely interstate in nature. But, the Declaratory
   Ruling preserves the rule that exempts the Internet and other information
   services from interstate access charges. THIS MEANS THAT THOSE CONSUMERS
   MAY CONTINUE TO ACCESS THE INTERNET BY DIALING A SEVEN-DIGIT NUMBER AND
   WILL NOT INCUR LONG DISTANCE CHARGES WHEN THEY DO SO. [emphasis in the
   original] In a notice of proposed rulemaking, the Commission also asked
   for comment on proposals governing future carrier-to-carrier compensation
   for handling this traffic.

   6. Will the FCC's decision that calls bound for ISPs are interstate require
   ISPs have to pay access charges to local companies?

   No. The FCC has a special exemption for ISPs, under which ISPs are
   treated as local phone customers and are exempt from interstate access
   charges paid by carriers. Thus, rather than paying higher access charges,
   ISPs simply purchase phone lines from the local phone company as any
   local business would do. Nothing in the FCC's February 25, 1999 decision
   affects this exemption.

This file was last edited on March 23, about 6-7 weeks ago.

> My friend Jon Leland at Media Mall today emailed me about a dangerous move
> in Congress to permit telephone companies to charge long distance rates
> for email being shipped over their wires to distant locations. I don't yet
> know all the details or the bill's title, but Jon's a "reliable source,"
> and would not put his credibility on the line (see below) unless the
> problem was real.

"Reliable sources" are subject to hysteria and legend-mongering too.
Please, folks, apply basic prudence and common sense before broadcasting
this kind of stuff all over the Internet: look for *concrete*, *verifiable*
information before spreading rumors.

			Thanks -

						L. Peter Deutsch