Here is the response which I sent to the FCC after reading Robert O. Dahl's
posting:

The following posting was transmitted to a listserv to which I subscribe.

If the posting is correct it disturbs me.  I already pay a local telephone
company for a line connecting me to anyone else in the world with access to
a telephone; in addition, I pay an internet provider for access to email,
the Wide World Web, my local library, and college/university library
catalogs.

I am not opposed to telephone companies earning money in excess of their
expenses; that is how they are able to maintain and upgrade the service
which I have come to expect of them.

However, in my region of the United States (Pacific Northwest), the local
telephone companies have been refused rate increases by state regulatory
agencies.  It appears that their profits are sufficient to their (my)
needs.

If they wish to increase the rates which they charge my internet supplier
for access to their lines of communication that is their business.  My
supplier is in a better position than I am to require a quid pro quo; i.e.,
to demand a significant increase in service to offset a concomitant
increase in money charged for access to their lines.

In the end, my contract for access to email and the www is not with the
telephone company, it is with an internet supplier and it seems
inappropriate for the telephone company to charge me money for a service
which they have already sold to my provider.

It is nothing more than a tax on a tax.


>Subject: Internet, FCC
>
>I am writing you this to inform you of a very important matter currently
>under review by the FCC. Your local telephone company has filed a
>proposal with the FCC to impose per minute charges for your internet
>service. They contend that your usage has or will hinder the operation
>of the telephone network.
>It is my belief that internet usage will diminish if users were required
>to pay additional per minute charges. The FCC has created an email box
>for your comments, responses must be received by February 13, 1998.
>Send your comments to [log in to unmask] and tell them what you think.
>Every phone company is in on this one, and they are trying to sneak it
>in just under the wire for litiagation. Let everyone you know here about this
>one. Get the e-mail address to everyone you can think of.



Jack C. Thompson
Thompson Conservation Lab
7549 N. Fenwick
Portland, Oregon   97217

503/735-3942 (voice/fax)

www.teleport.com/~tcl