Urban legend, part 250

[Stephen F Schell]

Dear List,

I read the message forwarded by Paul Graeber this morning, and sent a short "Don't mess with my Internet" message to the FCC at the address given.
Their reply to me was waiting when I got home this evening. Here is the
text of their message:
..
***Your comments have been forwarded to be associated with the ACTA
***Internet Phone Petition (RM No. 8775)  Future comments may be made
***directly to rm8775@fcc.gov   The petition may also be viewed at
***http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Other/actapet.html

I went to the website and read the petition. Now I'm no lawyer, but it
seems to involve a trade association, the America's Carriers
Telecommunication Association (ACTA), pettitioning the FCC to make a
declaratory ruling. The intent is to prevent certain companies from
marketing software which would permit users equipped on both ends to conducting normal phone conversations via their modems and the Internet. It
seems to be written very specifically for this purpose, not as a general
"Let's charge all Internet users" type of scheme.

Now I face the embarassing task of writing another message to the FCC to
retract my earlier, uninformed comments. Sorry for straying so far from
a technical topic, but I am hoping to spare others from a similar fate.


Steve Schell
stfrsc@juno.com.