[ NNSquad ] Re: Rights of network providers

[Brett Glass <nnsquad@brettglass.com>]

At 09:33 AM 2/15/2008, David P. Reed wrote:
 
>Mr. Glass appears to be reasoning by analogy:
>
>1. That network providers have "human rights".   While some personal rights may inhere in corporations as persons, they do not inhere, say, in LLCs and other business structures.

I'm a sole proprietor, and -- as best I can tell anyway -- I am human. My
network is my property. And you have absolutely no right to regulate it.

--Brett Glass

    [ Your network is your property, but when you offer services that use your
      network to the public as a business (as opposed to simply using your
      network in-house for your own purposes) you bring yourself directly
      under the current and potential regulatory umbrellas in any number of
      aspects.

      Decades ago there were significant numbers of local telephone companies
      that were literally Ma and Pa, privately-owned operations, with the
      family running the switchboard, doing all the wiring and phone
      installations, climbing the poles, the whole works -- very similar to
      your situation in some ways.  But the fact that they were relatively
      small and privately owned didn't mean that they stayed completely
      unregulated and able to do anything they wanted.  They may not have been
      regulated in exactly the same manner as the big boys, but they were
      commercial telephone operations and eventually treated as such.

      Now, it might be argued that even tiny phone companies were in a
      dominant position in their market, vs. situations where a number of ISP
      choices are available today.  But the latter case still doesn't absolve
      a firm of all regulatory potential, simply due to its private ownership.
  
      Come to think of it, small telcos could be even harder to deal with than
      the corporate giants.  For some reason I'm reminded of Hooterville telco
      from the old "Green Acres" television show.  The company finally
      provided a telephone line to the Douglas' house, but for ages only via a
      butt (test) set clipped to the top of a telephone pole.  And we thought
      that Ma Bell was strict ...

      -- Lauren Weinstein
         NNSquad Moderator ]