IP: DEAL WITH AT&T HALTS BALLOT ITEM ON INTERNET USE Edupage, July 3 2000

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

> AT&T has agreed to allow competitors to access its networks in
> Massachusetts by 2002, ending open access advocates' efforts to
> place a state-wide open access question on November's ballot.
> The ballot question initiative, headed by venture capitalist J.
> Christopher Grace, was expected to spark a massive advertising
> campaign by AOL, AT&T, and other large Internet companies.  "The
> bottom line is that consumers will have this choice a lot faster
> than if we had the government telling us what to do," says AT&T's
> Richard D. Jenkinson, noting that if successful, the ballot
> question would have spawned a legal battle of several years.
> Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) commends the arrangement as "the
> best voluntary open access agreement to date anywhere in the
> country." (Boston Globe Online, June 28 2000)