Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2000 18:19:51 GMT From: kkrnqenopsamorshp.now Subject: Important Information Concerning AOL - Time Warner Merger! Help Save USENET! 887
THIS MESSAGE IS POSTED TO THIS NEWSGROUP TO ATTEMPT TO PROTECT USENET AS A MEANS OF PUBLIC DISCOURSE! USENET IS IN DANGER! PLEASE HELP PROTECT IRC and USENET! SEND ONE OF THESE LETTERS TO THE FCC! This is NOT and EMAIL which will be ignored! This response by you will be an OFFICIAL FILING! It will appear in the OFFICIAL PROCEEDING as a comment read by ALL THE ATTORNEYS who are participating in the action, as well as ALL THE FCC COMMISSIONERS! It will remain there FOREVER as part of the OFFICIAL RECORD of the AOL - Time Warner merger! With YOUR name on it! The FCC is on the verge of requiring the protections these letters ask for. your letter might PUSH THEM OVER THE EDGE and make the internet a BETTER PLACE for EVERYONE, INCLUDING YOU! MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO USENET AND IRC! Choose ONE letter. Copy the letter you want to send to another file. You can put it on your letterhead with MS Word or just use a text file. You can make any change to the letter you want, or add any comment you have. 1. go to: https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/websql/prod/ecfs/upload_v2.hts (This is the official FCC page where electronic filing of petitions is accomplished) 2. Fill out form 3. Put your name, Address, Email address, and all other required information on the form. (Remember this is an OFFICIAL FILING so the FCC requires this information. It is not published unless you put it in the letter as well as the form) Proceeding is 00-30 (this is VERY IMPORTANT, it is the case number of the AOL TIME WARNER APPLICATION for merger. If you get it wrong, your comment WILL NOT BE FILED!) 4. Send form. 5. After you send the form, THEN select the filename of the letter you are sending, and send that. 6. After you send the file, you will receive an official confirmation of the filing from the FCC. 7. Comment will appear for all to read in about 4 hours (but won't appear on the weekend.) ***>Remember the FORM INFORMATION will NOT appear, only the letter. LETTER 1 It has become common knowledge in USENET and IRC Chat that any person can obtain the canceling of a Road Runner account merely by making complaints to Road Runner abuse. The complaints do not have to be justified, they don't even have to be true, there just needs to be a lot of them. Many Road Runner customers have figured this out, and never upload anything to USENET through Road Runner, or access IRC through Road Runner, but obtain a backup account to protect their high speed access. Unfortunately, the majority of the people don't find this out until they have been terminated for "abuse" that never happened. What is worse, recently Road Runner has terminated some customers who posted material it considered objectionable which was not even posted through Road Runner, but through this back-up ISP! It is beginning to appear that Road Runner is actively trying to get rid of anyone who regularly posts political, social, or any other comment to USENET or IRC, and that Road Runner is attempting to convert the internet from a way to express views to a service where they can sell their other Time Warner offerings. This is not what the internet is supposed to be. I am not making this comment at the urging of any company or organization. Regular users of USENET and IRC have become extremely concerned that the merger of AOL and Time Warner will result in the disappearance of USENET and IRC, and I would like to see some insurance that this cannot happen. If the merger takes place, the merged company will be in a position where they can effectively remove both USENET and IRC as viable components of the internet, at least for users with high-speed access. Please, for the benefit of internet users who do use the internet for purposes of speaking out rather than purchasing interactive cartoons or games from Time Warner, if you approve the merger between Time Warner and AOL merger, include some protection for USENET and IRC users so that these valuable internet functions cannot be eliminated from the internet by the new company. (Your Name) ____________________________ LETTER 2 I am writing this to bring to your attention a form of abuse by Road Runner, concerning the "unlimited access" it sells. Road Runner allows its customers to download an unlimited amount of material, as long as it is material supplied by Time Warner. However, as soon as someone attempts to either download material from another service, or upload anything, Road Runner speed caps both the upload and download. This speed cap applies to all usage of the internet from then on and effectively destroys high-speed access for that customer. In some cases, Road Runner actually terminates its customers for uploading more than Road Runner finds acceptable. Unlimited service appears to be the right to spend and unlimited amount of money with Time Warner, not unlimited access to the entire internet. This is not unlimited service. We do not get what we pay for. If Road Runner sells unlimited service, it should be unlimited, even if we don't choose to spend still more money with Time Warner. If the merger between Time Warner and AOL is allowed to take place without some protections, it seems that the internet, or at least high-speed access to it, will become limited to "programming" offered by AOL or Time Warner. Please don't let this happen. Your Name qnkpexkfvtlolcnozzgfbgqddogoixnzkjgwypmtslrfnxwvzhk
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