Re: [rohrpost]

[µ (markushafner) <]@unet.univie.ac.at (][] <uly@kvmp.com>)>]

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 an 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

----------------------------------------------------------
# rohrpost -- deutschsprachige Mailingliste fuer Medien- und Netzkultur
# Info: majordomo@mikrolisten.de; msg: info rohrpost
# kommerzielle Verwertung nur mit Erlaubnis der AutorInnen
# Entsubskribieren: majordomo@mikrolisten.de, msg: unsubscribe rohrpost
# Kontakt: owner-rohrpost@mikrolisten.de -- http://www.mikro.org/rohrpost