Haha, that was a fun read! (and pretty accurate)
>> > Technically, ILECs publish a lot of stuff publicly, to comply with the > letter of regulations requiring them to do so. However, most of it is not > digestible or usable to those who work outside the world of ILEC > provisioning, so it has to be processed into commercial databases like the > LERG and LCADS. The same mafia then charges for access to these, for > reasons motivated by profit and creating systemic barriers to entry for > small competitors. > > If anyone balks at the seemingly surreal cocktail of having to sell one's > kidney for access to notionally public information, the ILECs can always > say: "You can download the 90 page local tariff yourself right there from > our web site, you just have to know where to look! The commercial databases > are just adding value by composing it into readily machine-processable > form!" > > This is one of the most common cop-outs of New Gilded Age sociopaths; > "we're complying with the letter of the law, and we reserve the right to > charge a reasonable fee for putting the information into a convenient form > for you..." Except, there wouldn't be a need to take 90 pages of arcane > prose and turn it into a few table rows of values if they did not > themselves dictate the rules; there is no "value add" in the LERG because > it is a response to a artificial contrivance, a purely invented problem of > the ILECs' own deliberate making. It exploits information asymmetries and > differences of power between big and small actors in the same way as > pseudoscientific chemistry gibberish on early 20th century quack remedies, > or the fine print on 264-page subprime mortgage issuance binders. > > I think that's really the essence of Erik's grievance, and it's a valid > one. Sure, you can participate in the PSTN*. > > * Expensive semi-proprietary decoder ring and beaucoup bucks required. > > -- Alex > >
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