peterm@sumax.seattleu.edu (Peter Marshall) (02/19/91)
In an unusual move, the daily ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION used its lead editorial Dec. 31 to attack the policies of Prodigy ... the editorial addressed the issue of what rules, if any, should govern electronic service providers. Prodigy argues it's an electronic newspaper, and like the J-C itself can set its own rules. But the newspaper said Prodigy e-mail "closely resembles a common-carrier communication medium like the mails or the phone systems ..." While Prodigy is ooposed to regulation by states or the FCC, the editorial continued, it is "subject to such regulation...." The editorial is important, not only for its publication in a daily paper, but for its appearance in a daily which itself has entered Prodigy's marketplace ... The ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION has begun offering a service called Access Atlanta, which offers electronic mail along with database access. Peter Marshall [Moderator's Note: You know what will be interesting to see -- the degree to which the J-C practices what it preaches as it were -- is when Access Atlanta has been running for awhile and they begin having run-ins with their own subscribers. Maybe they'll show the rest of us how these situations should be handled. I'm not terribly fond of Prodigy, but it is a privatly owned service to be run as its proprietors think best, IMHO, as is the J-C. PAT]
graff@mlpvm2.iinus1.ibm.com (Michael Graff) (02/21/91)
In issue 131, Peter Marshall <halcyon!peterm@sumax.seattleu.edu> writes: > Prodigy argues it's an electronic newspaper, and like the J-C > itself can set its own rules. But the newspaper said Prodigy > e-mail "closely resembles a common-carrier communication medium > like the mails or the phone systems ..." I'm reminded of the old Saturday Night Live TV commercial parody in which a husband and wife argue whether a new consumer product is a floor wax or a dessert topping. A Friendly Announcer steps in and tells them "You're both right, it's a floor wax AND a dessert topping!" It seems to me that Prodigy could be classified as both an electronic newspaper and a common carrier, depending on which part of Prodigy you're talking about. For that matter, so could GEnie, CompuServe, and most of the other commercial online services. And if the BOCs are allowed to become information providers, they'll be in the same boat. ...Michael