##6 Congress & the Internet Town Hall

[Paul Guinnessy <P.K.Guinnessy () qmw ac uk>]

[Summary.  See YSN # 1307 for the complete post.  -ed.]
  Shaun Black asked on 27 July about problems contacting the Congress
linkup. Carl Malamud has found out the summary below.
  The Internet Town Hall depends on donations from many organizations,
many of which are commercial entities.  Along with everything else, the
Online Congressional Hearing was going to transmit audio and video over
the Internet, and to avoid destroying the standard links, ARPA
volunteered the use of their high-speed experimental DARTNET, whose
underlying facilities are operated by Sprint. The Internet Town Hall
folks asked if Sprint would like to join, and in the process provide a
high-speed link to the hearing room. Sprint expressed some concerns
about the ethical considerations of donating the link to the government,
even for this use alone, so the subcommittee postponed the hearing for
several months.  You can still email comments to congress () town hall org
to be forwarded to the Subcommittee staff. You can also ask to be added
to a list that will be notified when the hearing is rescheduled.

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From: SHAUN%JASON.DECNET () relay the net (Shaun D. Black)

  Thanks to all (Paul Guinnessy especially) for providing info on
problems with input to Congress on the future of the Internet via the
congress () town hall org .  When the hearings are reactivated in the fall,
it will be a good opportunity for further YSN action.  I also agree that
ACTION is an integral component of YSN vitality.  Go4it!

[ go4it is an alliterative contraction, "go for it" i.e. "carpe diem." ]

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