The nascent National Internet Alliance is advocacy the way the small ISPs should have always done it. But the alliance must be lead by its feet, or it will never get off the ground.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [June 4, 2004]

Just a few years ago there were several national ISP associations. Sue Ashdown, who more or less was the American ISP Association, has retired for reasons unknown (if they're personal reasons, we don't care to know; if she was pressured to retire, we'd like the details). We do know that she won one case where an RBOC had violated the law in failing to provison a CLEC's DSL. The case cost $37,000 to win, and the ruling, unusually, was actually enforced—but only for ten days (see Underdogs Unite).

The US ISP Association and CIX ran out of money and closed. Their URLs were bought by D.C. lobbyist lawfirm Steptoe & Johnson (see Watch Out, They're Associating!). The core of USISPA, however, went on to found TeleTruth, seeking a broader base of support—everyone who's ever been ripped off by the phone company. Their phone bill report is well worth reading.

But there is one national ISP association, and it's new. At ISPCON in April, a new association was launched (see Independent ISPs Vow Open Access Fight). The association is doing it right, building from the bottom up instead of top down.

For the moment, the top is a poorly maintained website registered to STIC (founding member of TISPA) for the National Internet Alliance that features a message from FISPA, an ISP assocation that expects to complete its own national reach this year.

The website aims to represent ISPs in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, and perhaps in other U.S. territories as well. Speaking for all the small ISPs, the alliance might be able to affect policy. But to achieve this goal, the alliance will need an assocation in every state, which it does not yet have.

The association will also work at the state level through state associations, and it's those state associations that will really drive policy. For a list of member associations, click here.

The North Carolina ISP Association is showing just what state associations can do (see Big Plans for Small ISPs in North Carolina).

The key concept of the NIA is simple—don't fight the RBOCs on their turf. The BOCs employ an army of lawyers and can win any legal battle or even, as Sue Ashdown learned, flout the law if they ever lose a court case.

The BOCs can also call on the unions to send e-mails and even send people to state legislatures and key regulatory hearings. ISPs might be able to fight them here by calling on their customers to tell their politicians why they matter, but it hasn't happened much in the past.

The alliance will share information and action items, including how to file statements with the FCC, statements that do not cost anyone tens of thousands of dollars. A statement that you draft at home will be read alongside a statement written by an army of lawyers that could cost an RBOC hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Bruce Kushnick, formerly of USISPA and currently running TeleTruth, has his own section of the TRO (pages 440 to 444). Although his objections did not change the TRO, they were noted. Kushnick did get the FCC to defend some questionable points, leaving the entire TRO vulnerable.

Activism starts with individuals. Individuals can make a difference. The National Internet Alliance only has 17 state ISP associations, and some of those are brand new. We only know of three state associations that have been around, consistently, for any length of time: NCCISP, TISPA, and CISPA. We need more.

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