Jim.Parkhurst@p2.f29.n382.z1.fidonet.org (Jim Parkhurst) (01/14/90)
I (finally) got around to reading my January 1990 issue of Byte and saw the following. Don't know if it made it here (didn't see it if it did):
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"But probably the most unsettling threat comes from phone companies
that want to classify potentially profitable BBSes as businesses. In
Houston, Southwestern Bell has attempted to classify all Texas BBSes as
businesses and thus subject to business rates of $35 per month per line.
(Residential rates are $16 per month.) Southwestern Bell officials have
been meeting with the Coalition Of Sysops and Users Against Rate
Discrimination (COSUARD).
Action on a similar tariff in Oklahoma awaits the outcome of the Texas
case. COSUARD argues that even multiline BBSes that request donations are
usually run by amateurs, while SOuthwestern BEll says that charging for a
subscription makes a BBS a business. Merely asking for a donation may be
acceptable, but all multiline BBSes must pay business rates, says Bells'
lawers. The dispute continues."
State of the BBS Nation
Lamont Wood (San Antonio) and Dana Blankenhorn (Atlanta, Georgia)
Byte Magazine, Volume 15, Number 1, January 1990