Date: Sun, 8 Mar 92 03:21 EST From: "Michael E. Marotta" Subject: File 8--BBSes and Telco Rates GRID News. ISSN 1054-9315. vol 3 nu 5 March 7, 1992. World GRID Association, P. O. Box 15061, Lansing, MI 48901 USA ------------------------------------------------------------------ (54 lines) Say YES! to Business Rates (C) 1992 by Michael E. Marotta BBS sysops in Oregon are fighting a telco policy to charge busi- ness rates for any phone with a fax or modem attached. BBS users know of similar telco policies from Kansas City, New York, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Texas over the last two years. Actually, there are at least two ways to view the situation. (1) THE HOME DATA CENTER In an information society, every home must be an information center. We have telephones and televisions, books, newspapers and magazines, computers, copiers, faxen, cable TV, VCRs, camcorders and answering machines. There is a view, wrongly held by sysops, that they "provide a service to many users." EVERY BBS USER IS A SYSOP. Whether you go to them or they go to you, data travels from home to home. (2) THE HOME TREASURY In a commercial society every home must be a business. We all buy and sell. Most of us buy and sell labor. (Anyone can build a car; most people choose not to.) In addition, people everywhere and Americans especially buy and sell housewares, nutritional supplements, baseball cards, comic books, automobiles and very many other goods. We routinely trade childcare, bookkeeping and computer programming services. Your checkbook is your general ledger. In 1892, "no one" had an adding machine or typewriter in their home. In 1942, dishwashers were found only in restaurants. Should your phone rate depend on whether or not you have a dishwasher or adding machine in your home? If yours should not, then why should General Motors'? Karl Marx's "Communist Manifesto" mandated public schools as a prerequisite to socialism. It is no accident that schools supported by tax dollars justify many marxist assertions. Among these is the myth that "businesses" are "rich" and can afford higher phone rates, while "workers" are "poor" and deserve a subsidy for the "right" to a phone. Another fallacy of marxism is that telephones are a "public utility" that must be regulated or owned by the state. Judging by other markets, if you let anyone become a phone company you will find that those who use more service will pay more in toto less per call. A user's or provider's race, sex, sources of income, height or weight will be equally irrelevant. Those who are good at providing information and carrier services will prosper and the others will become telco hobbyists. Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253