Dear Mr Williamson: This week I have been in America at an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) meeting. IETF meetings bring together around 2000 technical people who are working together to develop and improve the global Internet. Among them are people from most of the world's telecommunications companies, which gives me a very good chance to talk to them and find out how telephone services work in other countries. I have taken the opportunity to canvas opinion on Telecom New Zealand's 0867 service for Internet access from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Everyone has responded with open-mouthed astonishment to the idea that a single company could actually do this, and remark that "it wouldn't be legal in any other country." The effect of this service is to force ISP's to use Telecom to provide PSTN connection services for them, or to use another provider with whom Telecom has an '0867 agreement.' I fail to understand why you, as Minister of Communications, are prepared to allow any one company to exercise such a high degree of control over public access to the Internet in New Zealand. Would you please let me know how you intend to correct this anomoly if you continue to be New Zealand's Minister of Telecommunications? Yours sincerely, (Dr.) Nevil Brownlee +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Nevil Brownlee Director, Technology Development | | Phone: +64 9 373 7599 x8941 ITSS, The University of Auckland | | FAX: +64 9 373 7021 Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand | +---------------------------------------------------------------------L --------- To unsubscribe from nznog, send email to majordomo(a)list.waikato.ac.nz where the body of your message reads: unsubscribe nznog