Underdogs Unite

Asking for activism, not funding, a group of ISP advocates continue fighting incumbent carriers' habitual abuses of current telecom laws. This gathering of underdogs hopes to build a coalition that can play David to telecom companies' Goliath.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Associate Editor [October 11, 2001]

Update: The ISPTA website appears to be under new ownership.

Several ISP Associations gathered together at ISPCON Fall 2001 in Las Vegas this week, including Sue Ashdown of the American Association of Internet Service Providers, Dave McClure of the US Internet Industry Association (USIIA), and new group dubbed CompTIA.

Ashdown spoke at the "Town Meeting" along with representatives of the Texas ISP Association (TISPA) and the California ISP Association (CISPA). Veteran telecom attorney W. Scott McCollough, of Stumpf Craddock Massey & Pullman, rounded out the panelists that fielded questions from ISP owners and operators.

David Robertson, TISPA vice president, said that lobbying is incredibly expensive undertaking and described some of the personal insults regulators had recently thrown his way.

"I wish we'd been told from the beginning that the FCC was not going to work for us," Robertson said. "Then we would not have trusted them. All of us have suffered because we spent money on a system we thought would work."

Jousting at windmills
Pointing down the conference table to the AAISP chair, Robertson said "Sue Ashdown spent $37,000 on a rocket docket that stopped ILEC abuses for all of 10 days. We've spent tens of thousands of dollars on formal complaints, only to have them dismissed when ILEC lobbyists present their case."

Robertson said it was a battle that David could not win against such Goliath's. "I was in the FCC elevator last week with six RBOC lawyers who were on a routine visit to the Common Carrier Bureau of the FCC. We cannot compete with that kind of multi-million dollar lobbying."

Robertson added that a FCC representative told him if he wanted regulation, he might as well jump out a window, but to throw the chair through the window first to make sure the glass is broken."

In its presentations before federal regulators, TISPA representatives minced no words and made enemies of the Commission by describing its failure to enforce pro-competitive telecom laws already on the books.

TISPA and the other ISP associations are not asking ISPs to cough up thousands of dollars to file lawsuits and motions with federal and state governments any more. Instead, the panel urged concerned ISP operators without a state organization to visit a new website for ISPTA.org to help create statewide ISP associations in states that have no local lobbying body.

The website also contains a handy directory of ISP Associations that make it easy for independent ISP owners to associate their businesses with the advocacy group of their choice. The ISP Trade Alliance is a free, non-profit service underwritten by the Texas ISP Association.

Lawyers, gusn and money
During an impassioned question and answer portion of the presentation, one interlocutor asked why ISPs don't ask their subscribers to fund lobbying efforts, much as the NRA gets money from regular people rather to support its lobbying activities.

David Gower, President of TISPA and founder of Gower.net, said that it's important to get the ISPs together first, rather than ask customers for money. He suggested that ISP operators take the time to explain the policy ramifications of current state and federal regulations to customers in order to win their support for their cause, before they ask customer to open their wallets and support lobbying efforts.

McCollough chimed in and told about the time he tried to challenge a state public utility commission ruling using a grassroots advocacy method of popular support. McCollough established a website from which users could click on a button to send a protest about a specific piece of legislation to the state PUC.

With the Internet being what it is, and absolutely no advertising of the site, word-of-mouth took hold and the website started sending thousands of e-mail per hour to the state PUC. Overwhelmed with the onslaught of email, the state PUC asked McCollough to shut the website down.

Undaunted, McCollough responded by taking the page offline, but proceeded to print every single e-mail and carry the stack of papers to the state agency, personally delivering the public protest to regulators.

Associate freely
McCollough resorted to unconventional methods because the state PUC made a questionable ruling without allowing for any time to comment on the decision. Local ISPs would have objected to the ruling, but were not given the opportunity to do so. McCollough resorted to people power and obtained a full review of the onerous decision.

Here again, the message is simple for ISPs—organize first, then get the message out to the masses and the people will follow. Only then can small, independent ISPs impact rules and regulations that affect their businesses.

As to which ISP association or associations your ISP should support, ISP-Planet remains agnostic. Keep in mind that supporting an ISP association is a cost of doing business. Supporting the group of your choice is just another business decision concerning who you want to associate your ISP business with.

— End