IP: Who determines who your isp should be

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1998 16:09:17 -0800 (PST)
From: Dan Gillmor <dgillmor () sjmercury com>
To: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Subject: http://www5.mercurycenter.com/columnists/gillmor/docs/dg112998.htm

IF your local telephone monopoly decided that it alone could be your
Internet service provider when you went online via your telephone wire,
you would be outraged. Yet that's precisely what your local cable-TV
monopoly insists on when it provides Net access.

This state of affairs hasn't mattered very much until recently. But as
cable companies wire more and more places for high-speed, two-way Internet
access, the issue has moved onto a short list of vital policy questions.