Congressional Bill Might Endanger ISPs. (Technology).LOCAL Internet service providers are lobbying hard to defeat a bill pending in Congress that would deregulate deregulate To reduce or eliminate control. One of the major forces in the financial markets in the 1970s and 1980s was the federal government's decision to deregulate interest rates. the high-speed Internet business. LA. County ISPs and the California Internet Service Providers Association The Internet Service Providers Association, or ISPA, is a British body representing providers of Internet Services. ISPA was established in 1995 as the first trade association for ISPs, promoting competition, self-regulation and progress within the internet industry. have banded together to push for the defeat of House Resolution 1542, also known as the Tauzin-Dingell bill for its prime sponsors, Reps. W.J. Tauzin, R-La. and John Dingell, D-Mich. The complaint? The industry claims the legislation emasculates the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which opened major phone companies' networks to competitors in exchange for the right to provide long distance service --voice and data. Tauzin-Dingell would override the requirement that phone companies prove they have opened networks to competitors before they can provide long-distance service. Small ISPs fear loosened restrictions would make it easier for the phone companies to freeze them out of the long-distance digital subscriber line See DSL. (communications, protocol) Digital Subscriber Line - (DSL, or Digital Subscriber Loop, xDSL - see below) A family of digital telecommunications protocols designed to allow high speed data communication over the existing copper telephone lines between end-users and (DSL DSL in full Digital Subscriber Line Broadband digital communications connection that operates over standard copper telephone wires. It requires a DSL modem, which splits transmissions into two frequency bands: the lower frequencies for voice (ordinary ) business. "This is the No. 1 issue facing Internet providers today; nothing else is even close," said Jim Pickrell, president of Santa Monica-based ISP (1) See in-system programmable. (2) (Internet Service Provider) An organization that provides access to the Internet. Connection to the user is provided via dial-up, ISDN, cable, DSL and T1/T3 lines. Brand X Internet LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control and recently elected president of the California ISP Association. Brand X, which provides Internet service to the city of Santa Monica, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and Sony and Fox studios, would have little chance of competing if Congress removes any protections, he said. Pickrell charged that phone companies are already ignoring the law by charging noncompetitive prices for network access. "On some theoretical level we at least have legal recourse," he said. "If the bill passes, we won't have any rights." |
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