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Xref: sserve gnu.misc.discuss:6033 comp.org.eff.talk:8842 comp.unix.bsd:4356 comp.os.mach:1999 Path: sserve!manuel!munnari.oz.au!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!ogicse!das-news.harvard.edu!cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!crabapple.srv.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!sean+ From: sean+@andrew.cmu.edu (Sean McLinden) Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss,comp.org.eff.talk,comp.unix.bsd,comp.os.mach Subject: AT&T Long Distance Boycott (was: BNR2SS, Mach, and The Lawsuit) Message-ID: <UecUwQO00iUz81B9Qv@andrew.cmu.edu> Date: 31 Aug 92 04:22:52 GMT Article-I.D.: andrew.UecUwQO00iUz81B9Qv References: <1992Aug29.025306.12549@microsoft.com> <9070PB1w164w@underg.UUCP> <1992Aug29.235059.23907@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 36 In-Reply-To: <1992Aug29.235059.23907@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> I suspect that the best way to approach this would be a general posting to the entire netnews community informing them, in a succinct manner, what is the situation, what are the issues and alternatives, and what is the recommended course of action (switching long distance carriers). The posting should be by someone who has no ties to the other carriers (a posting from MCI.COM would not look so good). It should be as brief as possible so as not to discourage people from reading it. It should be posted to ALL newsgroups as it affects all of us. And yes, a well organized boycott of AT&T would be very effective. Long distance is AT&T's most profitable area and one in which their market share is crucial. It would be particularly interesting if MCI and Sprint got on the bandwagon, and offered a few hundred free minutes to former AT&T customers who switched and listed "Lawsuit" or "academic freedom" as their reason. As was mentioned before, this lawsuit is distasteful for many reasons. The theme of the lawsuit, intellectual contamination, threatens the core of any educational process (in writing a book on fishing will I ever be able to prove that I wasn't influenced by a 10th grade reading of "Moby Dick"?) In asking the courts to intervene, USL (the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree) violates the principle that the marketplace (not the courts), should decide what are commercially successful products. (But then when has AT&T played fairly when it comes to market forces?) I have little doubt that USL will lose this suit (if it ever even gets to trial). But the economic and educational impact of the suit, itself, (witness CMU's reluctance to get in the fray with the MACH distribution), will be felt widely and deeply. It is unfortunate that we have gotten to the point where organizations such as USL can use the court system for such malevolent purposes as interfering with the dissemination of what is now public knowledge simply because they cannot, otherwise, compete in the marketplace. Sean McLinden