I attended ad hoc after hours session called "Call to Arms" yesterday evening. Dave Robertson, president of TISPA, is leading the discussion and promises that we're in for a wild ride.

Panelists include Jim Pickrell, CEO Of BrandX Internet, Harvey Reiter, counsel for BrandX (BrandX is currently suing the FCC over some of its decisions), Joe Marion, the Executive Director of FISPA and Kate Lynch from Bway.net.

This group is trying to create a national group that can represent the interests of state ISP associations. Great move in my books. There really hasn't been a strong national voice with a broad level of support throughout the US. Most ISP associations have either been captured by Telcos and don't represent a broad enough cross-section to be taken seriously. I think this group has what it takes to actually make something interesting - and effective - happen.

The agenda for this meeting was as follows:

• Why NIA (national internet alliance)
• - who speaks for ISPs?
• - Verizon, SBC, Comcast?
• WHere do we stand on the issues and what needs ot be accomploished
• - brandx- open access
• - open access on wirelines (DSL, powerlines)
• Who controls our future  (fcc, congress)?
• How do we influence them?
• How can we do it?
• 50 assocs
• 100 contacts 2 from ea. state, not the same isp
• national end user campaign
• the pwoer of consumers and communities
• the plan
• establish national phone number, contact, temp. address, website, board election at the fispa meeting
• fill out the contact cards with your details, comments and tell us whether there are associations in your state and indicate whether or not you are interested or not...

The following are some general notes from the various speakers. Its not a comprehensive record of the entire discussion, but I think that it should give you a general idea of what the key issues are and what this group might eventually look like.

The BrandX case centers on their concerns regarding the FCCs attempt to legitimize monopolistic behaviors through regulation. For instance, announcing that broadband services were not telecommunications services. BrandX won the first round (making Michael Powell very unhappy) of the case. The FCC's appeal was denied last week, but they are taking it to the Supreme Court - a very expensive proposition for BrandX. There is a stay on the order until the Supreme Court issues an opinion. This isn't over until its over, but it will set the stage for determining what the basic rights of the the ISPs are. These can't be a theoretical win, this needs to be a practical win that ensures that money gets made by real people over the long run.

ISPs are not happy regarding open access over wirelines.

Harvey jumped in with a further clarification of the BrandX case - FCC says cablemodem service is a broadband service and its unregulated. They are poised to do the same for DSL. If this happens, they can apply it to *any* wireline delivery. This would be a very bad thing for ISPs.

The FCC may actually not appeal. There is a bit of a tussle with the DOJ who is interested in maintaining their wiretap privileges which might be lost if this is an information service. The appeal with probably come from the telco's this coming summer. We won't know until the end of June who will be filing. If the Supreme Court decides not to hear this, we will know by the end of this year. If they do decide to hear it, we might know something by the end of June 2005.

Dave - What is the outcome if they win and what is the outcome if they lose?

The outcome if ISPs lose is that the cableco's and telco's will be allowed to offer fully unregulated broadband services unfettered by state or national oversight.

Jim: If ISPs lose, its game over. The situation will be the same as with cable, where we are locked out. You may as well just close down your ISP now.

Dave: what do you want a group to accomplish for you?

Audience: structural separation.

Audience: FCC 2 v. Exchange tariff.

Audience: Tri-annual (Triangle?) review is scary. (Alex)

Audience: Blackout on NG fibre.

Audience: Licensed spectrum available to small ISPs

Audience: More unlicensed spectrum and higher power transmission

Express America Internet , Maine: Getting access to plant sometime...not just access.

Dave: getting people to tell the story isn't enough. Getting visibility on the hill is critical.

Next meeting will be with the FISPA folks so that there is a group of issues that we can move forward with. We don't want to be a single-issue group.

We had an ISP from Fairfax who tried to tell a story about the anti-competive actions of a telco who heard this week from the FCC that the FCC "...didn't want to hear the story." and that "this was a done deal with the RBOCs". The FCC is telling the community that having an RBOC on one side and a Cableco on the other represents competition. The power now lies with Congress. The FCC is really only interested in direction from Congress.

We've got fifty states and if we had an organization with 50 state organizations marching in the same direction, we've got the weight we need on the hill.

Ray: CAUCE, we fought a pitched battle as a loose consortium for 6 years against the direct marketing association against overly permissive direct marketing laws - organization, even loose organization, makes all the difference in the world.

Jim: how many of you know what your representatives are up to?

- how many of you are worried about formulating your message?

- FISPA is having a meeting in 30 days in New Orleans.