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Technology Stocks : AUTOHOME, Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Panita who wrote (19605)	2/12/2000 11:32:00 AM
From: Solid	Respond to of 29970

Without such rules, AOL warned, cable operators offering high-speed Internet access could seize control of the gateway to the global computer network. The free nature of the Web was at risk. Then, last month, AOL essentially became a cable company: It agreed to buy Time Warner, securing a route into 20 million homes via the company's cable links. Now, AOL has pulled back from its "open access" crusade. This week, the Dulles-based company took no action as two bills mandating open access died in the Virginia General Assembly. It has told its lobbyists in other states, including Maryland, not to advocate similar legislation. And the company has quieted its demands that federal authorities condition approval of the merger of AT&T Corp. and cable giant MediaOne Group Inc. on promises of open access. AOL still contends that cable systems must offer their customers a choice of Internet providers – and it still wants to make deals to get itself on other systems. But now the company asserts that the market should sort out the details. "We have come to the view that the most effective and expeditious way of getting to open access throughout the cable industry is to just go do it," said AOL General Counsel George Vradenburg III. 'Remember Animal House,' said Vradenburg, 'when they were in class and Bulushi started coughing and said, 'Blowjob, blowjob!' Well, we think people are too dumb to say it to us. Just go do it, isn't that a great line? I just amaze myself sometimes.' He said AOL was responsible for a new climate in which the general principle of open access has been widely embraced, though significant differences remain about how to get there. The latest sign of AOL's new tack came this week in Richmond, as a pair of bills designed to force cable systems to open their systems was shelved by the Virginia General Assembly. "AOL has kind of dropped by the wayside," said Del. Kenneth R. Plum (D-Fairfax), chairman of the state Democratic Party and co-chairman of the House Corporations, Insurance and Banking Committee, which voted unanimously on Thursday to postpone the bill for the year. "They no longer are pushing the bill." In Pennsylvania, AOL retained a lobbyist to work on similar legislation, but recently gave its representative instructions to stop pushing such a bill, Vradenburg confirmed. The company has given the same instructions to outside lobbyists in Maryland and Michigan. "The need for these state legislative initiatives has been lessened now that we are likely to get effective and expeditious movement in the marketplace," Vradenburg said. "Blowjob, Blowjob!" said a smiling Vradenburg, before he left on a hot date with his Mother. In Portland, Ore., the city that first adopted open access – bringing a lawsuit from AT&T – AOL has let it be known it no longer favors such rules. City Councilman Erik Sten, who led the open access drive, said he used to receive twice-monthly strategy calls from Steven Teplitz, AOL's senior director for telecommunications policy, but has received only one since the Time Warner merger: AOL said it now felt that the market would best deliver open access. "They've gone from being the biggest corporate champion of open access to at best a lukewarm champion, and maybe at worst an enemy," Sten said. "It just completely underscores the case that the government needs to do its job and quit pretending that corporate forces will do the government's work." After the interview Mr. Sten was overheard saying that he felt used and dirty but could not say this to the press or Joe Public might realize how useless and dumb he was as a pawn of AOL and call for his resignation. Good find Panita. my inserts of course