BD: Re: SCN: "Free-Nets" in Los Angeles Times

[Steve Guest]

Hi
Well first off we do have free dialup service.  On the other hand, this is
basic command style access and not FREE Internet access.  I agree it would
be great to offer such services, but we have address some important issues
first.

Let me try and explain why we do not have free internet access.

1) If we were to offer free unrestricted connections to the Internet via
our free dial service and our SPL donated connection to the Internet, then
the traffic which SCN uses would jump considerably.  This would be
followed by the lose of our donated Internet feed, because currently I
have been led to believe that the Library would not be able to justify the
cost of the service.  This would mean that we would have to provide our
own Internet feed.  At this point we raise the need then to be in the
Library because we are then simply taking up their limited space.  So if
this was to happen then SCN would have to cover the phone lines, the
Internet feed and possible the cost of a new location.  We do not have the
budget for this and we would be out of funds within months or weeks.

2) If we were to offer such a service with a fee, as indicated that
Victoria in Canada does, then we open another can of worms.  First lets
point out we are not in Canada and therefore have a whole different set of
rules to abide by.  One of these is the IRS.  They are already looking at
FreeNets because our "charitable" status is based on the educational value
of the service.  As soon as we set up a competing service with a
commercial service such as MSN or AOL - fee for service - in an area which
is not directly education then we fall outside the charitable status.
Thus we lose the 501(c)3 status.  This is what happened or is happening to
Eugene FreeNet.  They had to setup a commercial company to sell their fee
for service IP connections and break away from the educational section.
Again something that would put us at odds with the Library and its
donation to us.

The IRS are still sniping and they have not yet gotten to SCN, but we are
in their sights.  We have to be careful and stay legal.

Until we can figure out the IRS's view of this, understand the Library's
view, have the funds and staff to support this and the software to ensure
that we can guard against misuse - I do not see SCN being able to commit
to supplying free full internet access for our users.

Plus - this was not what SCN was designed to offer.  It is initialy an
email and maillist site which grew into a major web resource for Seattle.
We were never in the free ISP business.

I hope this response is clear.  I am not trying to say we cannot discuss
these points, but we need to ensure that we can support our current
services before we branch into others.

Steve
      =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=
Steve Guest         steveg at scn.org         steve at groupworks.org
VP of Board and ED of Seattle Community Network
(425) 653 7353                               http://www.scn.org/

On Thu, 20 Dec 2001, patrick wrote:

> I wish SCN had low-cost, regular dial-up service. Victoria freenet
> has regular dial-up service for $104 a year, which is a great deal.
>
> Few people use Lynx and after they have used Hotmail or some other
> web-based service to check their mail, after they have surfed the net
> to check on items on eBay, etc., one would find it hard to go to a
> clunky Lynx browswer to surf the web.
>
> Patrick
>
> --- Doug Schuler <douglas at scn.org> wrote:
> >
> > A good article entitled "Freenets Getting a New Lease on Life" is
> > in today's Los Angeles Times.
> >
> >
> http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-000100643dec20.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dtechnology
> >
> > -- Doug
> >
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