100 lines
5.4 KiB
Plaintext
100 lines
5.4 KiB
Plaintext
On the Oregon BBS Rates Case
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(NEWSBYTES)
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On 2-5-92, reporter Dana Blankenhorn released a copyrighted exclusive
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story for Wendy Wood's Newsbytes covering the Oregon BBS rates case.
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What follows is an abstract of that story.
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Blankenhorn writes: "US West has launched a campaign before the Oregon
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Public Utility Commission which would force all bulletin board systems
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(BBSs) in that state to pay business rates on their phone lines." The
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Newsbytes exclusive also asserts that US West "wants the Oregon PUC to
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reinterpret its tariff so as to define any phone not answered by a
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human voice as a business line."
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Blankenhorn quotes extensively from an apparent interview with SysOp
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Stewart Anthony Wagner while summarizing the chronology of events in
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the case. Some folks here might find the chronology and alleged facts
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be a bit different from what has been reported in the past.
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According to Blankenhorn, Portland, Oregon SysOp Tony Wagner attempted
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to subscribe to extra phone lines so as to expand his BBS from 2 lines
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to 4, as well as make arrangements for a TDD. It was at this point
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Wagner was informed he would have to pay business rates on all lines
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by US West. According to Blankenhorn, US West relented on the voice
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and TDD lines while maintaining that the BBS lines would have to be
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classified as business lines. Wagner filed what Blankenhorn calls an
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"appeal" at the Oregon PUC "for the BBS".
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Wagner is reported to have closed his BBS almost immediately because
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he "can't afford it" at business rates, which blankenhorn states to be
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around $50 (presumably per month) on each line. Before closing his
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system, Wagner says he alerted regional SysOps via FidoNet to his
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plight. Wagner points out that some SysOps chipped in to pay for a
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lawyer. Blankenhorn quotes Wagner on a so-called "compromise proposal"
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that "they (US West) come up with a residential data line rate, as an
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alternate form of service." Wagner's proposal apparently included a
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guarantee of data quality at a rate that Wagner seems to assess at
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$5.00 above standard residential rates. Wagner asserts the proposal
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was rejected.
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Wagner's comments on the hearing display optimism as he offers the
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thought that "the hearing went quite well. The tariff says a
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residential line is for social or domestic purpose. They ignored the
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social, they talked only about domestic. The BBS is as social as you
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can get."
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In a series of quotes from Wagner on what he believes US West is
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doing, a grim picture is painted for more than BBS operators. For
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example: Wagner states "there is no question they want to apply this
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to all SysOps. Their position is that if it's not answered by a human
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voice, it's a business. A fax machine is a business, to them. So's an
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answering machine."
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Wagner spoke of what he might consider a silver lining in his cloudy
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future as a SysOp when he told Blankenhorn that publicity must be bad
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for US West. He reinforces this idea by noting "one thing that hurt
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them (US West) badly was that they picked on me. I'm very hard of
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hearing. Most of my users are disabled. A large percentage of our
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SysOps here are disabled. And Mr. Holmes (US West's attorney in the
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Wagner case) was unprepared for that."
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Blankenhorn talked with Judith Legg in the hearings section at the
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Oregon Public Utility Commission concerning the Wagner Case. He
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reports Legg told him "a hearing was held on the case in January, and
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US West has already submitted a 17-page brief supporting its
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position." Hearings Officer Simon Fitch was attributed as informing
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Newsbytes that Wagner "has until March 3 to file his own brief, after
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which reply briefs will be sought from both sides." Fitch is also
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reported to have said a decision in the case is due in late March or
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early April with final oversight from the Commissioners.
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Attempts, by Blankenhorn, to contact attorney Steven Holmes at US West
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were unsuccessful. Apparently, no one else in the company was
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available for comment. Thus, the Newsbytes article contained no
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synopsis of US West's side of the issues in the Wagner case.
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Blankenhorn left the door open to a future update by noting
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information requested from US West would be reported as soon as that
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information is made available to Newsbytes.
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So much for the abstract...
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A FEW OBSERVATIONS: It seems that Blankenhorn must not have been able
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to obtain a copy of US West's brief before going to press. Otherwise,
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Blankenhorn would realize, and could have noted, that US West's
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comments have no impact on FAX or answering machines. BBS operation in
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general, and Wagner's BBS in specific, are the myopic focus of the
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brief. Blankenhorn also could have asked about and cleared up what
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appears to be a discrepancy between Wagner's apparent indication that
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he was running his BBS on 2 phone lines at the time he requested new
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lines, and the repeated references in the US West brief to Wagner's
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"3" BBS phone lines. Finally, I called Judith Legg myself on 2-6-92
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and asked her about the actual timing of the hearing. She informed me
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that the hearing was indeed in December. In Blankenhorn's defense,
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Legg admits that she was under the mistaken impression that the
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hearing took place in January, and that this is probably what she told
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Blankenhorn. A check of the Oregon PUC's computerized schedules was
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necessary to clarify the actual hearing date.
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Walter Scott
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