DrewClark.com: ". . .Over the weekend of October 29-30, Business Week published an interview with Whitacre on its Web site. In the interview, which had taken place back in September, Whitacre displayed his usual aggressive style. Asked about Google, Microsoft, and Vonage —all big Internet companies that use broadband to transmit video, software, and telephone calls, —Whitacre said, "“They don't have any fiber out there. They don'’t have any wires. They don'’t have anything. They use my lines for free —and that i’s bull. For a Google or a Yahoo! or a Vonage or anybody to expect to use these pipes for free is nuts!"” For the first time, Whitacre was talking publicly about charging the Internet companies a fee to reach an SBC customer. And if Google or Yahoo didn'’t pay up, he implied, they would presumably find their Web sites more difficult to reach. Technology geeks immediately saw Whitacre'’s words as a threat. "“It certainly has the feel of extortion,"” said the TechDirt blog. "Be afraid. Be very afraid,"” said telecom consultant Kevin Werbach, a Clinton administration telecommunications official. . ."
Click here to read the background info-- wow, arrogance unlimited-- and erroneous conclusions. (The lines do not belong to you, sir! But that is a discussion for another time...)
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