And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: OPEN INTERNET AT RISK http://www.opennetcoalition.org/what/ You have a personal stake in a crucial issue where the Internet's future is being decided. The Federal Communications Commission, Congress, and other governmental agencies are considering whether the keys to the Internet will be left in the hands of consumers, or instead given over to local telephone and cable company monopolies. You may be astonished that this debate is even occurring. After all, today access to the Internet is remarkably open and competitive. That is the very source of its power. Consumers are able to choose among dozens of competing service providers to help them connect to the Internet at the lowest price and with the best service. ISPs compete on price and ease of use. We compete on connection quality and on customer support. We compete in the different services we provide. This openness and competition has driven the incredible phenomenon of Internet growth over the last few years. Now imagine a future in which only one ISP is allowed to connect you to the Internet. You must use that ISP no matter what its price, or how poor its quality and customer service. You are forced to see the content that ISP puts on its home page or splash screens - perhaps obnoxious advertising, perhaps political commentary that you disagree with. Believe it or not, that is the result we could have in the next generation of the Internet. The Internet of the future will require high-speed "always-on" connections. We will be able to download information from the Net at amazing speeds, including video programming like today's television and cable services. We will be able to use our Internet connection to make much cheaper phone calls, and video phones will finally become practical and common. Many other devices in our homes and offices will become more efficient and useful through links to the Internet. The key to all these new services will be a permanent "broadband" connection from your home or office to the Net. You will no longer "dial-up" the Internet by a local call from your computer to your ISP. Instead, you will be permanently connected to your ISP with a link that is capable of carrying far more information than today's phone line. These "broadband" local links are not futuristic technology. Telephone companies already are starting to upgrade their local lines to support broadband transmission. Cable companies also are adapting their lines so that they can carry communications to and from the Internet at high speed. It remains to be seen where and how quickly these upgrades will occur. Cable, for example, may have a particular advantage in the small business and residential market. But in any event, consumers generally cannot expect to have more than two "broadband" links to their home. And many will have only one: either the telephone line or a cable connection. The catch is that both the cable industry and some telephone companies want to use their control of the "last mile" wires leading to homes to gain exclusive control of access to the next generation Internet. These "local wire companies" want to force consumers to use the local wire company's affiliated ISP - whether the consumer is happy with that option or not. Cable companies are unanimous and very direct on this subject. They do not intend to allow customers to select any ISP but the cable company's own service. When the cable company offers a broadband link to your home, you'd think that you could use that link to connect to MindSpring or any other ISP, just as you buy local phone service today that allows you to reach anyone you want, including your preferred ISP. But cable companies state emphatically that they will not give you that option. If you want to get next generation Internet service delivered through their wire, you will be required to use the cable company's own ISP. You'd better like that company a lot, including its prices, service quality, the editorial views it promotes on its home page, and the use it makes of your customer information with junk mailers. Local telephone companies probably will not be allowed to "just say no" to other ISPs. And, some of them are behaving much better than others in dealing fairly with other service providers. However, in many cases they are seeking the same practical power the cable companies want by looking for ways to discriminate against their competitors and steer customers to their own ISP operations. How would you feel if your only economical way to reach the next generation Internet was by using your local phone company? Do you want to pay their prices, which would not be regulated? Do you want to rely on them for technical support? Do you want them deciding what content you are exposed to each time you visit the web? For that matter, do you feel much better if you could choose between the phone company and the cable company, but no one else? It doesn't have to be this way. Both the phone and cable companies can easily allow customers to connect with other ISPs besides their own so that consumers can continue to choose their ISP for themselves. They just don't want to do so. They want to completely lock up the next generation Internet customer for themselves (the cable position). Or they want freedoms that would allow them to discriminate against consumers choosing unaffiliated ISPs (the position of some telephone companies). Either way, today's open and competitive door to the Internet would be slammed shut. This is the most important issue consumers of Internet and telecommunications services face. If consumers don't have an open choice of which service provider they connect to through the "last mile" wire leading to their homes and businesses, we emphatically will not have a competitive market for the core communications service of the future - the Internet. Government policy makers are considering these questions right now. They are hearing plenty from the telephone company and cable company interests. They need to hear from customers. The message is simple. The government should adopt policies that allow consumers to use the Internet service provider of their choice - both today and in the next generation "broadband" world. MindSpring is a founding member of the OpenNET Coalition - a group dedicated to this issue. If you would like to find out how to make your voice heard on this issue, please go the coalition web site and sign up to be part of the OpenNET Coalition Activist Network: http://www.openNETcoalition.org/action/ The coalition will keep you informed and let you know about the best opportunities for you to express your views to policy makers. We at MindSpring have never asked you to take a stance on any political or public policy issue. But, this one is so critical to the future of Internet consumers, and so directly relevant to the service that MindSpring provides to you, that we feel we need to make sure you are aware of this issue and encourage you to speak up. As always, thank you very much for your attention and for choosing MindSpring. Sincerely, Charles Brewer MindSpring Founder and CEO &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
