Art :
Unfortunately, this is another Internet legend. Seems to make the rounds
every year about this time (all the sap flowing must make things crawl out
of the woodwork <g>).
The thing reported on CNN actually had to do with how the phone companies
slice up your phone bill, and had nothing to do with what you pay.
The truth is actually fairly humorous : the Baby Bells had originally
lobbied to get the fee for a local call paid entirely to the phone company
that completed the call, on the theory that since they had most of the
current subscribers, they would be completing most of the calls. However,
some startup phone companies figured out a way to make money off that, they
catered to ISPs that only receive calls ! So, when the Baby Bells figured
out they were losing several million a year to a scheme that THEY ASKED
FOR, they lobbied again to have the ridiculous rule removed. I believe the
FCC (NOT Congress) agreed, sometime _last year_.
The US Congress has made very clear that they are not (currently)
interested in taxing or limiting the Internet. In fact, they passed a bill
that made permanent a previous temporary law that prohibited taxing the
Internet.
I would also like to respectfully point out that this has nothing to do
with LBCs, and probably will irritate listers in other countries that
already have to pay for access by the minute ! If you want, email me
off-list, and I'll dig up some of the links to debunking sites.
Randall
On Friday, May 28, 1999 2:48 PM, Arthur H. Smith
[SMTP:arthurhsmith@compuserve.com] wrote:
>
>
> > > >> CNN reported that in the next two weeks, Congress is going to vote
> > > >> on allowing telephone companies to charge for Internet access.
|