Subject: [IPTEL] FYI How much would this effect us folks !?

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 1 May 2001 08:40:51 -0500

URGENT: HELP STOP HR 1542!

April 30, 2001 - The Republican leadership of the U.S. House of
Representatives is preparing to push through a bill that caves in to the
Bell Companies and opens the door for the FCC to regulate IP voice over
data networks.

The "Tauzin-Dingell Broadband Bill" incorporates for the first time
Internet applications and broadband in the legacy telecom regulatory
framework. The bill will make it illegal to offer IP based voice services
over the Internet and give the Bells hooks to kill off remaining broadband
competitors.

The US House of Representatives Telecommunications Subcommitte approved "HR
1542" on Thursday, April 26th. The bill will get voted on by the Commerce
Committee and the full House of Representatives soon.

The Internet has prospered precisely because applications remained beyond
the reach of regulators. The Bell companies have used regulatory means to
build monopoly advantage in virtually all areas of telecommunications. The
Bells have so far failed to monopolize Internet applications, such as;
email, world wide web, VoIP, ecommerce, streaming, peer-to-peer networking,
and others as yet unknown.

The entire bill starting with its title "Internet Freedom and Broadband
Deployment Act" is remarkably disingenuous. The bill ends Internet freedom
and removes any hope for broadband deployment. Existing telecom regulations
make no mention of the "Internet". Tauzin's bill which takes the form of
amending existing regulations specifically uses the word "Internet" 50
times. The Bell companies have served and continue to serve as the dominant
obstacle to broadband deployment. The Bells have longstanding efforts to
protect their lucrative business selling 1970's T1 technology from
competition. Bell efforts to deploy DSL appear only in areas where a
competitor exists. Their deployments slow, customer service degrades, and
prices rise as soon as they weaken or kill off competition.

Provisions of the bill:
     Incorporates Internet applications in framework established by Telecom
     Act of 1934
          Defines for the first time meaning of term "Internet"
          Defines for the first time meaning of term "Internet Access"
          Defines for the first time meaning of broadband "High Speed Data
     Service"
     Makes voice applications of Internet illegal
     Eliminates limitations on Bell entry into long distance data service
     business
     Eliminates requirements on Bells to resell broadband related services
In other words, it removes all regulatory restraint on the Bell monopolies
leaving no prospects for competition. No matter how the Bells might want to
spin the story, actions speak clearly that monopolies produce high prices
for substandard services. Long distance, wireless, and Internet access
services have improved in quality with declining prices only to extent
competition existed. The Bell monopoly controlled local service has not
improved even given increasing prices since the break up of AT&T in 1984.

A year ago we rallied and as an industry and helped stop HR 1291. We can do
it again. WE MUST STOP HR 1542!

Applications of the Internet should remain unregulated, with no exceptions
for voice applications and services.

Contact your representative in Congress via the switchboard at
1.202.224.3121

I urge you to call and email your Representative and the House Leadership
with the message that HR 1542 is a mistake. The Internet should remain
unregulated, without no exceptions for voice applications and services.
http://www.house.gov and http://www.house.gov/writerep will help you locate
the address of your Representative.

Let them know that: "The Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act"
does neither!
If they open the door to regulating any Internet service, it will set a
terrible precedent
Using the Internet for voice communications is a good thing and should not
be regulated or taxed. Consumers will be hurt and only the old monopoly
telephone companies will benefit.
Internet voice services are used mostly by low income people for
international communications, as a substitute for vastly inflated
international long-distance calls.
This is a new source of privacy concerns, as companies pry apart traffic
streams to determine what's "voice"

Send [email-masked] a bcc if you'd like and I'll keep you posted. Click
here to subscribe to the HR 1542 mailing list.

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