| (937) 233-0532 12 April 1997 Secretary Subject: Consumer Privacy 1997 -- Request to Participate, P954807 I would like to participate in the upcoming sessions Two and Three fo the June Public Workshop on Consumer Information Privacy. I have submitted required comments on the questions posed by the Commission under seperate cover along with this letter. My credentials on this subject include: 1. I am a retired Air Force officer who has been on the Internet since 1983 as part of official duties. I have therefore seen the growth from earliest days to the present. 2. I am owner and primary system administrator of a small not-for-profit Internet Service Provider (ISP) founded just before retirement in late 1993, therefore I have witnessed and have been directly involved in the explosive growth phase of the Internet over the last three years. 3. I am familiar with the technical operation of the Internet mail system and other technical aspects of the Internet from my system administration duties. 4. I have personally observed, both from the user and ISP perspective, the rapid emergence of unsolicited commercial mail and the attempts by providers and Internet users alike to stem this invasive, costly practice. 5. I have personally had to maintain constant vigilance over the computer systems I administer including having to upgrade and secure them against the theft of resources that unsolicited commercial mail has come to represent. 6. I have had to answer and deal with subscriber complaints from our own user community regarding inability to get off mailing lists they never asked to be put on. 7. I monitor and am an ongoing participant in several online discussion forums dealing with unsolicited commercial e-mail and other forms of net abuse. In these forums all sides of the issue and various solutions are hotly debated. I have a good view of all sides of the argument for and against. 8. I have closely observed the salient lawsuits which have been brought by the major online providers, CompuServe and AOL. I provided friend of the court letters in both. 9. I maintain contacts in many different providers network administration, network security, and legal departments with whom I work to trace unsolicited mailings and mutually work out other network problems, therefore I am aware of their views on the subject. 10. I am a member of the Internet Service Providers' Consortium, a growing group of providers who share common goals to protect and preserve the value of the Internet as a personal and business communications medium. I am prepared to bring and present evidence in the form of actual mailings received, published articles on the subject, as well as direct personal experiences. The Internet Service Providers' Consortium has also indicated they are interested in me being the official spokesman for that organization pending polling of the membership. Thank you for your consideration of my application to participate. If there is additional information I can provide or questions I can answer, I will be happy to do so. I may be reached at the address or phone number in the letterhead. I may also be reached by electronic mail at hostmaster@tigerden.com. Yours truly, George F. Nemeyer |