Okay, the following has been part of a hoax that has been circulating for years... dating back at least to the days when 300 baud modems were fast... So, here's an official link to start things out: http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/News_Releases/1999/nrcc9014.html Basically, the FCC voted that the Internet does constitute interstate connections, however it is exempt from interstate phone access charges. The main question left is whether or not local phone companies can charge for dialing into the ISP. I haven't had time to look through the document completely, but from what I can tell the FCC left the decision up the States and phone companies. Again, this is based on a preliminary look at the statements and I could easy have misinterpretted something. Since this does resemble the hoax warning, I was extremely skeptical of it, even when it appeared in a respected on-line publication aimed at technology professionals. It wasn't until I saw the statements on the FCC site that I began to believe it. You might want to pass this information along in a CALM manner so that if it does come to a point where intervention at the state levels is necessary, people do not assume it is a hoax. However, always be sure to check the authenticity of such warnings.... preferably at the site where it originally appeared (in this case the FCC). Just passing along the information... if anyone has additional information, I would love to hear it off list so we don't bore the others... - Marc G. Marc Turner, MEd Department of Psychology Southwest Texas State University San Marcos, TX 78666 phone: (512)245-2526 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
