more on The Return of Ma Bell -- AT&T (SBC) to buy BellSouth?]

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: The Return of Ma Bell -- AT&T (SBC) to buy BellSouth?
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2006 08:16:45 -0800 (PST)
From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
To: dave () farber net
CC: lauren () vortex com


Dave,

As if the situation hadn't deteriorated far enough with the ever
shrinking field of meaningful telecom "competitors" and "we own the
pipes so pay us through the nose" giant, consolidated ISPs, word now
comes that SBC (oops, that's "The New AT&T") is readying to buy
BellSouth:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/05/business/05deal.html

Note that in addition to the obvious effects on basic telephone
services and ISP operations, this would also put 100% of Cingular
Wireless under AT&T control (it's an open question as to whether
they would keep using the Cingular brand or switch the wireless ops
brand to AT&T in such a case).

I've been using the analogy of the 1991 film "Terminator 2:
Judgement Day" to illustrate where we're headed in the telecom
sector.  You'll recall the robot cop who was blasted apart into globs
of mercuric metal, that flowed back together to recreate the
original whole.

That's what's happening now -- with the smiling approval of Congress
and the FCC -- far along the path of resurrecting a new Ma Bell with
powers and influence that will vastly exceed even those of the
original Bell System.

The giant telecom behemoths are aggressively taking a stranglehold
on the lifeblood of communications, imposing more and more blocks
and controls, while simultaneously arguing that they must be exempt
from laws that would impose competitive fairness and network
neutrality.

If we allow this process to continue, we'll have failed in the face
of our own telecommunications "judgement day," with negative effects
on telecom users and society at large that could be vast indeed.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
   - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, IOIC
   - International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com



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