Boycott This

The Columbia Institute for Tele-Information,and the School of Public Policy and Public Administration at George Washington University and
the Federal Communications Bar Association present "The
Telecommunications Act of 1996: Ten Years Later"

Bruce Kushnick:

Turns out that the two representatives for the CONSUMERS are Sam Simon, of
TRAC,  (who runs the largest Bell Skunkworks’ and astroturf group,) and
APT”s Daniel Pythyon, who is also the lawyer for the Bells’ lobbying arm,
USTA. APT is funded by the Bell companies.

More information at our Skunkworks. Still more below the fold:

Here is what I wrote the Federal Communications Law Journal in an attempt to fix this:

Before we start sending out an email to boycott your  upcoming DC event
on
the Telecom Act (see below),  I thought you should know about
the
speakers  you have chosen, specifically, TRAC and APT and Sam
Simon.

These groups do not represent consumers. They are astroturf groups
who
are directly funded by the Bell companies and are controlled by
"Issue
Dynamics"

Sam Simon of Issue Dynamics is the foremost lobbyist
for the Bell companies.
And yet, you have him talking about ‘consumer
issues’.

As
a former member of the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee,
2003-2004,
Teletruth has written extensively about the conflict of
interests.

And
it is about to get more embarrassing with the upcoming new data
and  an FTC
complaint we are filing against these groups.

Finally, a letter to CyberTelecom concerning how embarrassing this all is to them.

This is truly embarrassing conference. It has fake consumer groups,
funded
by the Bell companies, discussing how the Telecom Act of 1996
didn’t
work…. I’d be appalled, but this is what we come to expect these
days…

Let’s talk about Comedy — You have TRAC, a bell-friendly
consumer group
funded by the Bell companies (or run at a loss owed to) and 
run by Issue
Dynamics. And they’re talking about RESIDENTIAL customers…..
Now that’s
funny. And TRAC is on the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee!
—Issue Dynamics
runs the Bells’ skunkworks, creating multiple ‘consumer
groups coalitions’
all funded by the Bell companies. TRAC helped to harm
AT&T and MCI and allow
the Bells into long distance with questionable
data.

Dirck Hargraves is Secretary and Counsel for Telecommunication Research and
Action Center (TRAC) as well as General Counsel and Senior Consultant with
Issue
Dynamics, Inc.

"Are You Better Off Today Than You Were Ten Years
Ago? Residential Consumers
and Telecommunications Reform "

My favorite
is this one — It doesn’t say that Dan Phythyon is also Counsel
for United
States Telephone Association, USTA, the Bells lobbying arm….
Did you know
that Dan is on the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee  as a
CONSUMER ADVOCACY
GROUP, even though they are funded by SBC and Verizon.
Notice that the bio
doesn’t mention the role with the phone company lobby,
or who funds the
group. Alliance For Public Technology is run out of the Issue
Dynamics’ offices.

Dan Phythyon, Policy Director and General
Counsel for the Alliance for
Public Technology (APT); former Chief of FCC
Wireless Communications Bureau

"On the tenth anniversary of the 1996 Act,
it’s time to stop agonizing over
why it hasn’t worked as "intended" and move
on to the process of enacting
new legislation. Since that act will likely be
outdated within a few years,
too, let’s also think about how we can make the
process of legislating on
telecom matters more palatable."

And Chris,
how dare you say there are no CLECs. —Here Stalin talks about
Lenin, and
that poor CLEC Verizon. They’re registered in every state as a
CLEC when they
were supposed to merge and compete, remember?

John Thorne, Senior Vice
President & Deputy General Counsel, Verizon;
Adjunct Faculty, Columbia
Law School

"As Lenin once remarked on the subject of tanks, quantity has
a quality all
of its own. Lenin never knew Google. The drafters of the 1996
Act and the
1996 FCC didn’t know Google either. This may explain how the
legal regime
alternately attracts or repels investment in the new broadband
media."

Actually, the funniest is this —-

Michael Botein,
Professor of Law and Director, Media Center, New York Law
School

In
its creation of "Open Video Systems" ("OVS"), the 1996 Act attempted
to
create a new hybrid mass communications/telecom regulatory status, with
both
cable television’s programming services and common carriers’ obligations
to
third parties. The purpose of the provision seemed to be attracting
local
exchange telephone (LEC) and other companies to the multichannel
video
business. This plan never worked out, however, because of overly
onerous
regulation and lack of LEC interest. Ironically enough, however, the
major
Regional Bell Operation Companies have announced campaigns to offer
video,
voice, and data directly to the home.

Onerous Regulation? The
Bell companies lied to the American public about
fiber optic deployments,
collected billions per state, and then pulled out
of every state committment.
The Reason — Notice the word "open", meaning
that the companies had to have
these services open to competition — common
carrier. This is what customers
paid for, state by state — for a fiber
optic service they never received.
About $200 billion, about $2000 per
household.  The New Networks mentioned
are all closed because of bad FCC
rulings…. Onerous? But more to the point
— the networks customers
subsidized and didn’t receive is because — THE
NETWORKS COULDN’T BE BUILT
WHEN THE CONTRACTS WERE SIGNED!
—oops.

What a great group of truth-sayers… This is a must-attend,
though I think
that rotten tomatoes, good for throwing, will be hard to find
this time of
year.

Bruce.