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Qwest's motivations are indeed quite interesting. You might remember a front-page story from the Washington Post in October that Qwest was (apparently) asked by the NSA to do something Qwest's general counsel thought illegal in <b>FEBRUARY</b>, 2001. I think (hope?) that everyone can agree that telecom immunity shouldn't go back THAT far.<div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>The article is quite unclear about what was requested (as all of the court documents had the interesting information blacked out), but the date (many months before 9/11), and the fact that the lawyers thought it illegal at the time, are not.</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>In case you don't remember the article, you can still read it at </div><div><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/12/AR2007101202485.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/12/AR2007101202485.html</a><br><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>Alan</div><div><br><div><div>On Feb 16, 2008, at 10:52 AM, cranky old coot wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I applaud your motives Dwight, but I have experienced Qwest in Colorado.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">You don't really want their phone service!</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Back when this all came to light my guess was that Qwest clocked efforts<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">to get a higher profit margin in righteous indignation.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">For example, they (Qwest) contracted with the state to provided fiber<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">optic service to each county in Colorado. They have completed the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">contract in all counties except one.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Yes, the exception is the county I<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">care about. The whole county has only one microwave link for all their<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">phone and internet connections. OK, so there is only one town<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>in the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">county and it is 50 miles from the next town, in the next county down<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">the mountain, BUT still...</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">This is a throttle on the local economy!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Every afternoon as local<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">businesses close out their credit card sales, every one else's internet<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">service slows down as more of the microwave link is allocated to phone<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">service.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Maybe the world is not black & white</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">COC</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Dwight Holmes wrote:</div> <blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I'm just sorry Qwest isn't an available option for us<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div> </blockquote><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">_______________________________________________</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">TownTalk mailing list</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">To post to the list, send mail to TownTalk@riverdale-park.org</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">TownTalk-request@riverdale-park.org is for automated subscription processing only</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">http://riverdale-park.org/mailman/listinfo/towntalk</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">For more information about Riverdale Park, visit http://www.ci.riverdale-park.md.us</div> </blockquote></div><br></div></div></body></html>