Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: David Gast Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Information Services (was Re: PacTelesis Power Grab) Message-ID: <3788@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 12 Feb 90 12:29:12 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 40 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 95, message 5 of 5 From nvuxr!deej@bellcore.bellcore.com 16 Dec 89 18:46:33 GMT >In article <2161@accuvax.nwu.edu>, goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com writes: >> What PacTel isn't allowed to do is sell the >> information. They can sell the access to third parties who provide >> the information. But Bells are common carriers, who carry information >> for a price, and not information providers. The court has ruled, in >> effect, that if they were to be both, they'd have too much clout to >> compete with other information providers. >The problem with this "neat" breakdown -- telcos are information >common carriers, therefore they can't be information providers -- is >that the telcos also "own" information that they could potentially >"sell". (Of course, the question of who really owns information is >still very thorny...) As you point out, the question of who owns the information is very thorny. It is my belief that information about the subscriber, customer, or bill payer should belong to the subscriber, customer or bill payer, not the service provider. (I would not make teleco the exception either). >Should you restrict the telcos from selling, >say, online white pages service? If you do, the service is never >going to be available -- no one else has the information to offer it. >Should you make the telco give the service away? It costs money to >provide it -- where does this money come from? Why should teleco get money for selling my name and information about me? If anyone should get the money, I should. Then people can pay the service provider if they want the service. David Gast gast@cs.ucla.edu {uunet,ucbvax,rutgers}!{ucla-cs,cs.ucla.edu}!gast