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NorthStar 
A Guiding Light on Internet Issues 
 
Newsletter of the Internet Users Consortium 
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NorthStar.

NorthStar is a guiding light to help you focus on the primary issues 
which threaten our Internet Freedom. In this Newsletter we let Internet 
Users know what the necessary issues and actions are to defend the Internet. 
We sincerely invite your participation at all levels, from discussion to
action. 
Rethink what Activism means - Isn't it just participation? 

NorthStar #13   Sunday 3/17/96
Director..........proteios@iuc.org 
Editor.............wtj@primenet.com 
Contributor..............molsen@iuc.org

Update:   Internet Users Consortium 
COOLUM, AUSTRALIA, 1996 MAR 13 (NB) via Individual Inc.
Netscape Communications within six months will build voice software for making
low-cost long distance calls via the Internet into its Navigator program,
the company's co-founder and vice president of technology, Marc Andreesen,
said at a technical forum in Australia. Andreesen told The Sydney Morning
Herald newspaper that telephone companies could no longer justify the way
they charge for voice telephony, especially over long distance.

"We're going to build the voice telephony stuff into our Navigator
(software). We can get it out to 25 or 30 million desktops in the
next six months. That's a big enough critical mass for it to take
off," he said, according to the newspaper. He predicted phone
companies would find much of their equipment "rapidly becoming
useless."

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NEVER SAY NEVER . . . but . . . We at NorthStar 
believe so strongly in these principles that we make the 
following pledge to you, our reader and fellow Internet Activist: 
NorthStar will NEVER sell/rent/trade/share our mailing list 
NorthStar will NEVER use Government mandated encryption 
NorthStar will NEVER represent any commercial interest 
NorthStar will NEVER cooperate with any Government intrusion  
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ACTA COALITION ATTEMPTS TO MAKE ITS COMPETITION ILLEGAL

FCC Petitioned to stop 'misuse' of Internet!

The America's Carriers Telecommunication Association (ACTA), a trade
association of
'competitive', long distance carriers today petitioned the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) to stop companies from selling software
and hardware products that enable use of the Internet to voice long
distance services. According to their manifesto, "America's Carriers
Telecommunication Association was founded in 1985 by independent long
distance companies to serve the needs of small businesses and to advance
the goals of more effective competition. ACTA's membership today includes
over 130 companies engaged in providing telecommunications services". Call
me an old Lassaiz-Faire Capitalist, but since when is legislating your
competition out of existence supporting competition? This certainly doesnt
promote lower costs for consumers by competing forces.

In other words, they want to make the use of hardware/software packages
like InternetPhone which transmits voice communication via the Internet to
anywhere in the world while circumventing the exorbitant long distance
rates thrust upon the consumers illegal or at least keep the costs high
enough so that traditional long distance 'appears' to be a viable option.
A growing number of companies are selling software programs with ancillary
hardware options that enable a computer to transmit voice conversations. 
This, in fact, creates the ability to "by-pass" local, long distance and
international carriers and allows for calls to be made for virtually "no
cost."  For example, on-line service providers generally charge users
around $10.00 for five hours of access and then around $3.00 for each
additional hour.  Five hours equals 300 minutes, divided by $10 is 3.3
cents per minute.  The average residential long distance telephone call
costs about 22 cents per minute or seven times as much. That is still
higher than what would be paid if the Internet user were getting Internet
access via an ISP. A $10 or $20 flat rate per month could net hundreds or
even thousands of dollars worth of savings for a single individual
(depending on their calling habits). The motives of the long distance
carriers seems questionable upon understanding the complete situation. Not
to mention that they make no public mention of it, you cannot even find
ACTA info on the websites of the participants and the FCC doesnt archive
the petition itself. The less you know the better, apparently.

The Internet is a unique form of wire communications. The rapid growth of
the Internet is stressing the capacities of the Internet itself. The
Internet access points are growing at 50% per month with subscriber growth
running close to 30% per month.  Individuals are accessing the Internet
for more and more business applications such as
market research, news, and advertising with corporate web sites exploding,
to say nothing about using the Internet for E- mail applications.

ACTA submits that it is incumbent upon the FCC to exercise jurisdiction
over the use of the Internet for unregulated interstate and international
telecommunications services.  And I thought this was the era of
deregulation due to economic bankruptcy via the enormous deficit we have
incurred. My mistake. Long distance and international carriers must be
approved by the FCC to operate and must file tariffs before both the FCC
and state public service commissions. All of these requirements are
stipulated in the Communications Act of 1934 and the Telecommunications
Act of 1996. Opening up free trade for big corporations through GATT and
NAFTA seem to have no parallel in the lower cost transference of data
communications.

In other words, 'legislate out my competition because I cannot compete
with their technology directly and I am unwilling to lower rates to
compete with them indirectly through different services'. They mention
nothing about the fact that they have had requests to install second phone
lines per a single address that have nearly matched the growth of those
accessing the Internet. What about that money?  I gather thats why local
providers have kept quiet thus far and support the long distance alliance
from the background. Technology may once again be surpassing government's
ability to control its proper use.  

ACTA goes on to say, "However, the misuse of the Internet as a way  to
'by-pass' the traditional means of obtaining long distance service could
result in a significant reduction of the Internet's ability to transport
its ever enlarging amount of data traffic. Therefore, ACTA has petitioned
the FCC to define the type of permissible communications which may be
effected over the Internet". So more people are hooking up to the Internet
and the technology is ready, but they feel that 'too many people are going
to use the Internet'? To me, that makes claims towards 'people are using
it more and more so do something to limit it'. It makes better sense to
support the direction and be prepared to supply the new demand, rather
than attempt to extinguish it. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) FCC
http://www.fcc.gov/
2) Mikes Homepage
http://ddi.digital.net/~mike/
3) VON Coalition
http://www.von.com:80/vonyes/
4) Free World Dialup
http://www.pulver.com:80/fwd/
5)Telco Industries
http://w3.wb.cst.titan.com/more.htm
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The American Carriers Telecommunication Association  are not a new
coalition, but they are mounting a new offensive.  It seems that the
nation's large Long Distance Services, who comprise the ACTA, have risen
up in protest of the new technology on the Internet: InternetPhones, voice
and video transmission over the Internet.  They are under the impression
that this technology is illegal and, in their opinion, it is usurping
their strong-hold on long-distance voice communications in the United
States.  They might not be saying it in those words, but one only has to
understand their history of legislating out the competition.   Their
reasoning is as follows:  The FCC should create regulation that would
control the Internet and preserve the bank accounts of Long-Distance
carriers unthreatened by a better idea and an emerging technology.  These
corporations, in pure Ludditte fashion, have decided to attack the
technology.  They fear this technology and its ability to seize control of
voice communications over the nations public phone lines. Most notably
this new technology will bring the promises of science fiction to everyday
communication.  Who wouldnt like to have voice and picture phones for
interpersonal communication.  If they are successful in their attempts
they will maintain unchallenged control over the very technology they are
trying to impede to keep their coffers full.  

   What does all this mean?  For starters, once again the business sector
and the government are in collusion to bilk the american consumer and
taxpayer.  More legislation could be instituted on voice communication
over the Internet.  They could set up a tax, or charge, to transmit data
over the Internet.  Essentially making the costs to ISPs so high that many
fold and the large telcos can once again remain in control of how we will
use the telecommunications resources we have and charge us for it. Since
the netphones convert the voice into data for transmission, the FCC has
only one option to insure that the Long-Distance people and the government
still have this source of revenue.   They could charge a net-tax on data,
or allow ACTA members to charge Internet Providers a variable, or set,
amount each month.  The ISP would have to pass this charge along to its
customers in order to insure profitability.  The small companies that are
developing this technology,  as well as marketing it, would be eliminated
from the equation.  The higher costs and regulation would do that job. 
Once again progress is stopped in order to keep feudal lords in control of
their private fiefs.  Does anyone really want to continue being told how
and what telecomm resources they can use and what cost, when its been
shown it can be done at low cost and high service. People will demand more
and expect more. That comes as quite a shock to an industry that had no
incentive for 60 years to improve the telephone and telecom technology
beyond the obvious rotary to touch tone phones.  Keep the competition
strong and force the telcos to give better service at lower cost and,
moreover, to start using the new technology to compete, rather than
attempt to remove it from being a source of competition by 'making it
illegal' or so overpriced that its no longer feasible to an individual or
an ISP. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Vocaltecs Internetphone
http://www.vocaltec.com/
2) Voice On Net HP
http://www.von.com/
3) PGPhone
http://web.mit.edu/network/pgpfone/
4) Voice Email
http://www.bonzi.com/
5)Webphone
http://www.itelco.com/

*** proteios@indirect.com PLEASE send us any other relevant URLs you may
find ***
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NorthStar is an Internet Distribution List provided by the Internet Users
Consortium
a fiercely independent Grass Roots organization founded by Martin Thompson
and Kenneth Koldys, Jr, to inform and coordinate Internet Users concerning
political and government actions against the complete self-actualization 
of the Internet and our Constitutional Rights in Cyberspace. 
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Rethink what activism means - Isnt it just participation?
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