Growing slowly but surely, you can count on the AISPA to help fight nearly any legislative wrangling that could harm independent Internet service providers in the U.S.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Associate Editor [May 9, 2001]

Update: Sue Ashdown has closed the AISPA. To read her resignation letter, visit the AISPA website.

Founded in June 2000 with core funding from organizations like AT&T and Covad, the AISPA currently boasts more than 2,200 supporters nationwide. Operating on a shoestring budget, Sue Ashdown and friends focus on lobbying for independent ISPs from its base of operations in Washington, D.C.

Ashdown said that it's been a busy year for the group as legislators become more tech-savvy, which just goes to show you that a little knowledge is indeed a dangerous thing.

"Right now, our top concern is the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)," Ashdown said. "But we also need to organize to fight Louisiana Senator John Breaux's broadband bill and its U.S. House of Representatives counterpart, the Tauzin-Dingell bill [HR 1542]. There are a whole host of other issues too."

On a mission
If any one ISP organization can do this, Ashdown's background makes her likely to succeed where others have failed. Ashdown's ISP experience began when her brother founded the Utah-based ISP Xmission.

Ashdown co-managed Xmission while she also co-founded the Coalition of Utah Independent Internet Service Providers (CUIISP). Recently re-christened as the Coalition of Utah Internet Service Providers (CUISP), the state group has ten ISP members.

"We filed an informal complaint with the state PUC against U.S. West that was never resolved, we investigated filing with the FCC but could not afford to, we filed comments in the FCC's first broadband proceeding," she recalled. "The telco was trying to deregulate itself every year and we fought its bill every year. But a version of the legislation eventually passed."

Ashdown said that the Utah ISP group tried to sponsor a bill to address DSL access issues, but a key committee member who was close to U.S. West and its lobbyists saw to it that the bill never saw the light of day.

Think globally, act locally
Ashdown continues to fight the same fight in other states. She has made a statement before the Delaware Public Service Commission, protested at the U.S. House of Representatives against the Tauzin-Dingell bill, and has been quoted published at the Orlando Business Journal and Mercury News, among others.

She notes that legislative activism is expensive for most small business operators like independent ISPs, but that with proper funding the AISPA will take on just about any righteous cause.

"We brought a request for investigation to the FCC at a cost of about $7,000. We cannot afford even the streamlined request known as a rocket docket," she explained. "The cost to win was about $300,000. The FCC's informal complaint process, the so-called rocket docket, is much too expensive for independent ISPs."

Based on her work with the California ISP Association (CISPA), Ashdown said that even lobbying a local public utility commission is expensive. CISPA has spent tens of thousands of dollars in California fighting SBC Communications, Inc. subsidiary Pacific Bell, alone.

But Ashdown said that she enjoys aiding state or local ISP efforts, noting that if Pennsylvania had a local ISP association, the aniti-pornography law that holds ISPs accountable for Web filtering never would have been passed."It's clear that ISPs were not talking to their local legislators," she said.

Absent a local ISP association, Pennsylvania ISPs are currently working with Ashdown, along with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy and Technology, to build better legislation for ISPs.

The AISPA wants you
So what does Ashdown want from independent ISP owners and operators? Three things. First, she hopes you'll either join or set up a local ISP association to work with state legislatures and public utility commissions in your backyard.

To this end, Ashdown is actively building lists of which ISPs are served by what congressional districts. She is looking for volunteers to help build these lists.

Second, your ISP can make a donation to the group. As for membership, Ashdown said the group is getting a lot less money from each individual member than it did last year. "But, she added, "we're getting donations from more people than we did before, so we're actually getting more this year than we did last year."

While most associations ask for $1,000 or more from each member every year, Ashdown is looking for anything—any donation amount whatsoever. "Most of our donations are between $50 and $500, and a few are even less," she said.

Finally, if you have a local ISP-related legislative fight on your hands, don't hesitate to call on the AISPA to help educate your local legislators. You can use the AISPA's Take Action section of its website to send off a letter to your representatives today.

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