Community to AOL: Tear Down This Wall, Mr. Case.Business/Technology Editors WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 27, 2000 Tribal Voice
testifies at Federal Communications Commission Federal Communications Commission (FCC), independent executive agency of the U.S. government established in 1934 to regulate interstate and foreign communications in the public interest. Hearing on AOL-Time Warner Merger Today, Ross Bagully, CEO of Tribal Voice, testified before the Federal Communications Commission on the importance of allowing open communications in instant messaging. In his testimony, Bagully cited a broad spectrum of entities, from the national association of the deaf National Associations of the Deaf are national bodies that represent Deaf people and the Deaf community in their respective countries. They are usually members of the World Federation of the Deaf and advocate for sign language. to a number of leading instant messaging, software and application companies, that have expressed concern about the closed state of the instant messaging market. Bagully Stated: "Mr. Case, on behalf of the IM industry and users everywhere, tear down this wall "Tear down this wall" was the famous challenge from United States President Ronald Reagan to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to destroy the Berlin Wall. In a speech at the Brandenburg Gate, by the Berlin Wall, on June 12, 1987, Reagan challenged Gorbachev, then the General . Users of IM, like users of email and the telephone, deserve the right to free and open communication. AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. has repeatedly denied consumers this right by building a wall around its members. In order for consumers to enjoy all of IM's benefits and for the technology to realize its full potential, your wall must come down." "We know from history that those who unfairly exploit a market dominance don't get nicer as they get bigger. And we know that as instant messaging moves from being a chat tool to a more content rich and business oriented product that the combined AOL-Time Warner platform will give AOL-Time Warner plenty of opportunities to bundle its extraordinary media properties with its stranglehold over instant messaging to favor its content and prevent innovations that might threaten its dominance." "AOL's main defense for its actions does not hold. As detailed in a white paper issued last week by leading companies with an interest in Instant Messaging, AOL's claim of protecting consumers from privacy and security risks is unfounded. There is not and need not be any trade-off between interoperability on one hand and privacy and security on the other. Full interoperability can be achieved in a timely manner, bringing numerous benefits to consumers without jeopardizing privacy and security." "The instant messaging market is dominated by AOL, which controls 90% of the market. AOL has repeatedly blocked the attempts by companies such as Tribal Voice, MSN (1) (MicroSoft Network) A family of Internet-based services from Microsoft, which includes a search engine, e-mail (Hotmail), instant messaging (Windows Live Messaging) and a general-purpose portal with news, information and shopping (MSN Directory). , Yahoo! and iCAST to enable its users to freely communicate with AOL members. Despite repeated promises of action to `fast track' its efforts toward interoperability, AOL continues to block other providers from communicating with its users. The IM Community has asked that AOL bring down its wall. Its time for the Government to also add its voice and also say `Tear down this wall, Mr. Case'" About Tribal Voice Tribal Voice is a leading provider of co-branded instant messaging and interactive communications solutions based on its PowWow technology and a majority-owned operating company operating company A business that engages in transactions with outsiders. of CMGI CMGI Commonly Maintained Grounds Infrastructures CMGI College Marketing Group Information (Services) , Inc. Founded in December 1994 and acquired by CMGI in December 1999, the company is headquartered in Denver, Colo. and maintains a development organization in Colorado Springs, Colo. More than eight million worldwide users participate in over 18,000 communities via the company's PowWow software. For more information on Tribal Voice and to download its PowWow client software, please visit http://www.tribal.com or call (303) 226-0578. Companies interested in working with Tribal Voice to develop their own instant messaging and interactive communications solutions should e-mail sales@tribal.com or call 1-877-4POWWOW. |
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