I agree. The DOJ ought to start looking at this to determine if anti-trust laws are being violated. I believe that they are and have been for quite some time. -- -- Karl Denninger (karl@MCS.Net)| MCSNet - Serving Chicagoland and Wisconsin http://www.mcs.net/ | T1's from $600 monthly to FULL DS-3 Service | NEW! K56Flex support on ALL modems Voice: [+1 312 803-MCS1 x219]| EXCLUSIVE NEW FEATURE ON ALL PERSONAL ACCOUNTS Fax: [+1 312 803-4929] | *SPAMBLOCK* Technology now included at no cost On Sat, Nov 29, 1997 at 06:01:41PM -0800, David S. Holub wrote:
On Fri, 28 Nov 1997, Alan Hannan wrote:
Anyone that does definitively know, is likely to be covered under MNDA such that legally they couldn't tell you, anyway.
Which is exactly the problem and why the DOJ and other regulators should be concerned/informed. The Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreements to which you refer Alan are not intended to to protect 'Proprietary Information' (i.e. inventions and trade secrets) but rather to inhibit the First Amendment Rights of many of these ISPs. The effect is to virtually eliminate good faith bargaining between these carriers (that have used or continue to use this MNDA vehicle) and the rest of the Internet which in turn allows for highly discriminatory interconnection based on the theory that they can squelch the reporting of it with the threat of disconnection, litigation or both.
Seems to be working too - for now.
--david