InfoSpace (INSP): Where GNET went! Message Board

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Technology Stocks : InfoSpace (INSP): Where GNET went!

INSP 78.18

-4.7%

12:32 PM EST

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To: PatrickMark who wrote (9605)	7/15/1999 3:45:00 AM
From: RTev	Read Replies (1) of 28311

As an investor, what I want for GNET is for cable subscribers to have to pass by GNET's "storefront" everytime they go online. Ah, but there's a problem with wanting that kind of thing. I touched on the same issue the other day in the ATHM thread in #reply-10496299. The same warning applies to Vulcan's cable systems and GNET that applies to Excite@home and its MSO partners: If the content folks attempt to emulate the kind of gatekeeper approach that AOL uses, then they would encourage greater regulation of their MSO partners. Right now, cable systems run by AT&T and the other ATHM partners (which include some Charter systems, by the way) are open to the internet. They are not closed systems like AOL. The user cannot be forced to pass by any storefront when they go online. The ISP on those systems has no way to force their users to see any advertising or content, because the user can choose among any of the dozens of internet tools available. The ISP might preset a home page on a browser, but it's simple for the user to change that. The ISP might even provide some kind of proprietary tool that shows content determined by the ISP (as @home does on at least some systems), but the user need never use that tool. Unlike AOL's dialer and email reader, it is not required to access the system. The major cable companies now provide an open internet system that's quite different than what AOL uses on their gatekeeper system. AT&T, which has taken the lead in lobbying against the "forced access" folks, emphasizes that their systems provide open internet access. Any cable system that attempted to force a gatekeeper ISP on their users would deserve any regulation that forced them to open the wires to other ISPs who might provide an open internet system.

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