Re: upcoming internet legislation/USA

Alex Burton (burtona@ere.umontreal.ca)
Sun, 21 Mar 1999 00:40:05 -0500

Be carefull with these things. Erroneous information harms everyone.
Forwarding this message does not help.. A 10-minutes search reveals things
like this:

http://www.house.gov/capps/internet_news.htm
http://www.house.gov/royce/Internettaxahoax.html

and especially from the FCC's own Chairman

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

What is going on is that what used to be a straightforward matter (billing
one-to-one communications) is getting more complex. Things Must Change(tm),
but in these days of capped long-distance plans and the like, it should be
for the better. To quote the chairman:

"The big picture in the long run is very
positive -- our continued "hands off"
policy towards the Internet will allow it
to continue growing rapidly, unfettered
by regulations."

The power of an address such as www.house.gov/writerep must be used with
caution, or it looses it's significance. The Internet is great, but as
more voices are heard(able), more caution is necessary.

(Just a French-Canadian's 2 cents ($USD!) ;)

Alex.

At 3:02 PM -0700 3/20/99, Louise Reichlin wrote:
>Forgive the political note, but I think this is important for this group
>and all US citizens that use the Net. I will paste it in as it was sent to
>me. Writing a note from the web page cited is very easy.
>
>> The House has a bill set up for a vote ASAP on whether to charge LD
>charges for Internet access even if you dial-up locally.
>
>> This is something that affects each of us. Please read and forward:
>
>Congress will be voting in less than two weeks. CNN stated that the
>Government would, in two weeks time, decide to allow or not allow a
>charge to your phone bill equal to a Long Distance call EACH time you
>access the Internet.
>>
>> The address is http://www.house.gov/writerep/
>
>If you choose, visit this address and fill out the necessary form!
>>
>> If EACH of us forwards this message on to others in a hurry, we may
>be able to prevent this injustice from happening!
>>
>> PLEASE PASS THIS ON!!!
>
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