Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!bbn!rochester!cornell!batcomputer!itsgw!steinmetz!uunet!aocgl!tmanos
From: tmanos@aocgl.UUCP (Theodore W. Manos)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: Cut off AT&T? (Was: The death of USENET)
Message-ID: <30.UUL1.3#935@aocgl.UUCP>
Date: 20 Jun 88 21:38:07 GMT
References: <651@scovert.sco.COM>
Organization: Alpha Omega Consulting Group, LTD,  Roselle, IL
Lines: 31

In article <651@scovert.sco.COM> davidbe@sco.COM (The Cat in the Hat) writes:
> The problem with cutting Bell Labs off or forcing them to pay for the
> privilege to connect with your site probably isn't an issue for those people
> suggesting it.  However, for those who do legitimate business with people
> at Bell Labs, there's a problem in antagonizing "the powers that be" in that
> it could potentially cause problems in communication, and a lack of
> productivity.
>
>  ......[stuff about using ATTMAIL, etc. deleted]........
>
> Or, to put it mildly, quitcher whining, and go out into the real world.  :-)

Who's doing the whining?  Are you suggesting that you expect *everybody
else* to pick up the communications tab for those few on the net (in
terms of percentages) who are sending "legitimate business" mail back
and forth to AT&T?  So the rest of the net is to carry the stuff that
will serve some purpose to AT&T and it's business partners, even though
AT&T refuses to do the same for the rest of the net?  Am I understanding
this correctly?  Can't AT&T, and those site that "need" to talk to AT&T
afford to connect to uunet or each other directly, and thus not burden
the rest of the net with part of their cost of doing business?

BTW, do you *know* for a fact that I/we *don't* do business with AT&T? :-)

[Again folks, please note that I *don't* want to see AT&T cut off from
the net....I think it would be a damned shame at the very least.
However, if AT&T carries through with it's plan to cut off the rest of
the net, then I think the rest of the net should cut them off too.
However, I think that we *should* give them a "grace period" in
recognition of what they've done for the net in the past.]
Ted Manos   tmanos@aocgl.{COM,UUCP,UU.NET}  or ...!{uunet,mcdchg}!aocgl!tmanos