[NYT] Bell-South charging access fees for phone-over-Internet

INTERNET FEES CHARGED - [New York Times, C5.] Ever since
April, when the Federal Communications Commission reported
to Congress that telephone calls made from one phone to
another using the Internet could become subject to network
access fees, the industry has been waiting for a test case.
BellSouth has now provided the test. The company has written
to a half-dozen Internet service providers in its region saying
that in November, BellSouth will start levying access fees for
voice conversations the Internet companies transmit. The fees
are the same sort that local phone companies like BellSouth
charge to AT&T and MCI for connecting calls to the local
network. Internet traffic has never been subject to such fees. But
the Internet telephony companies are not ready to give in. In
some ways, BellSouth's move may be largely symbolic, since
most Internet voice traffic so far involves attempts to avoid the
high charges for international long-distance calls, in which local
access fees are a relatively minor part of the price. And yet,
BellSouth is trying to close what many in the telephone industry
have seen as a loophole in networking pricing regulations. 
				Thanks! 
					Bill
Bill Stewart, bill.stewart@pobox.com
PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF  3C85 B884 0ABE 4639

At 1:46 PM -0400 on 9/14/98, bill.stewart@pobox.com wrote:


> The company has written
> to a half-dozen Internet service providers in its region saying
> that in November, BellSouth will start levying access fees for
> voice conversations the Internet companies transmit.

Bingo. A hole big enough to drive cryptography through...

Crank up your PGPFones, folks.

Or, maybe we just need ipsec?

Cheers,
Bob Hettinga
-----------------
Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@philodox.com>
Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

I know I'm new here, so pardon the long post if you will, but this came to
my attention...

Jesse Berst says:

This is another in my occasional series about Natural Born Killers (NBKs) --
products, services or sites with the genetic potential to become a "killer
application." An NBK is not a recommendation to buy. Or even, as in the case
of Alexa, a recommendation to use a free product. An NBK nomination is a
recommendation to study a product for the good ideas it contains.
And Alexa stuffs a lot of good ideas into a small toolbar that appears at
the bottom of your browser. This toolbar links back to the company's massive
database, which archives most public Web sites. It also tracks anonymous
usage patterns, so it can analyze what people really do on the Web.
(This is handy because we really need to know what people do on the Web.
For Gosh sakes, if we didn't know what you were doing, that'd be downright
depressing!  Then how could we pigeonhole you and market to you and we all
know, the Web won't be successful without some good, clean, marketing!)
The toolbar goes along with you as you surf,
(nothing makes me more comfortable than to have a nice tracking device
stapled in my flanks)
offering site statistics and a variety of helpful tools. For instance, if
you get a File Not Found error, you can retrieve a previous version of the
page from the Alexa archive. You can see site ratings from other Alexa users
(and vote on sites yourself). You even get a direct link to a Web-based
dictionary, thesaurus and encyclopedia.
(Compromise your right to privacy and we'll give you
chump-change-virtual-trinkets!)
PC Magazine says "those with more Internet savvy will get the most out of
Alexa." I would go even further. Alexa is less valuable to mainstream
users -- it's intended audience -- than it is to Internet insiders like you.
I say that because of three things you can get from Alexa:
(1 An optional shoulder-mounted Duo-Cam(r) which simultaneously watches your
monitor and tracks retinal placement so marketers will REALLY know what
you're looking at:
2, A FREE newsletter with important messages from our sponsors who you have
indicated interest in by allowing your retina to focus on their banner ad
.gif: and
3, AnalProbe Y2k(tm) that monitors, in conjunction with the Duo-Cam(r), your
sphincter tightness when certain images are placed on your monitor.  This
device has been known to become addictive to certain members of the
Log-Cabin-Republican party and certain NOW founding members, so extended use
is recommended only with caution.  However, the data we are able to collect
has proven to be 100% accurate shit, so our sponsors feel it is a beneficial
device.)

Indirectly, I am already being charged a tax for internet service:   this month AT&T added
a "Universal Connectivity Charge" for a "Universal Service Fund" which "not only helps
provide affordable phone service but also gives schools and libraries access to the
internet."

It's only $1.88 right now, just a wedge . . .

    ..
Blanc