Bell company efforts to intimidate Daniel Berninger
Rather than advance counter arguments on the merits that they have not violated the antitrust laws, the Bell companies led by Verizon prefer to intimidate critics. They remain above the law only so long as it works.
Go to Telecom Antitrust Intelligence Report and the Call For Help to see why the Bells might wish First Amendment protections didn't exist.
1. Scare off funders
David Young, Verizon, Director of Technology Policy, has maintained a steady campaign since June 2000 to get Jeff Pulver not to work with me.
2. Personal attack
John Thorne, Verizon, Sr VP, Asst General Counsel, made a personal attack at an ABA meeting in front of 35 attorneys. He taunted me as someone purely motivated by pursuit of a fast buck. Seems a bit strange given who made $4.4 billion dollars in profits last quarter alone.
3. Personal attack in WSJ editorial
John Thorne seemed rather proud of the personal attacks contained in an August 23, 2002 Wall Street Journal editorial Son of Frankentobacco. Terribly embarrasing for WSJ. Hopefully, there does not exist a paper trial between the two.
4. Subpoena via knock on the door 8:00 pm at night
See a copy of subpoena here. (Get free efax viewer here)
See a copy of response Jonathan Guy, Swidler Berlin Shereff Friedman made on my behalf here - page 1 page 2
See a copy of Verizon response to Swidler letter here. (requires efax viewer)
Never mind! - Verizon settles with Ntegrity and withdraws subpoena of Daniel Berninger - December 26, 2002
Email to Ivan Seidenberg, CEO, Verizon - November 20, 2002:
Dear Mr. Seidenberg,
A member of your 3000+ person legal and regulatory staff took the *inappropriate* step of having me served with a *subpoena* for documents and an appearance in Verizon's dispute with the Ntegrity over alleged antitrust violations in the United States District Court in New Jersey
The subpoena sought any and all communication with Keith Machen, CEO, Ntegrity and anything that shows AT&T helped Ntegrity.
I am not a party in this dispute. I have no financial relationship with Ntegrity or AT&T.
I wonder what Verizon sought to gain from the subpoena.
If Verizon had in mind using subpoena power to intimidate a critic, this would represent an abuse of the process and a sham.
I very much support Keith Machen's efforts to pursue an antitrust complaint against Verizon and hope he succeeds in holding Verizon accountable for any and all violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
See http://danielberninger.com/callforhelp.html
The largest CLEC looks like a matchbox toy car relative to Verizon. If you check the numbers, your efforts against Ntegrity amount to a 12,000 lb elephant fighting with a one ounce mouse . I don't see how you can begrudge Keith Machen a few supporters.
If Verizon did not violate the antitrust laws by preying on Ntegrity, then I am sure Verizon has the resources to make its case in court without seeking to chill criticism.
You have to admit the facts suggests the presence of illegal monopolization:
* The price of local telephone service has gone up every year for 20 years while the cost of providing service went down. As a result, Verizon's profits grew 5 times faster than revenues.
See http://www.teletruth.org/docs/PROFITSREPORT2002.pdf
*The government policy of allowing monopoly in telephone service failed a long time ago. All the competitive sectors of telecom outperform monopoly local service. You might consider how cell phones managed to turn around the enormous pricing advantage enjoyed by wireline.
See http://www.pulver.com/antitrustreport/AntitrustReport08Rev1.2.pdf
* Bell company CEO's enjoyed the highest salaries among all regulated utilities by a large margin. All of the Bell company CEO's ranked in the top 25 highest paid, and no other regulated utility has a CEO in the top 100.
See http://www.teletruth.org/docs/compensationFIN.pdf
Rather than harassing tiny CLEC's and telecom activists, Verizon should consider the billions of dollars in failed investments as a more important source of troubles.
See http://www.teletruth.org/docs/ForeignBellinvest.pdf
I concede the alignment of public officials like soon to be former Department of Justice Antitrust Chief Charles James, soon to be former SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt, and FCC Chairman Michael Powell leaves Verizon with nearly unchecked power.
Verizon still has to find a way to defeat the United States Constitution and the First Amendment protections:
* Freedom of speech
* Freedom of press
* Freedom to assemble
* Freedom to petition government
Let's us not forget the separation of church and state. The oppression of citizens arising from the alignment of government and the church that concerned the authors of the Constitution starts to look very much like the oppression that follows alignment of government and corporations. The abuse of corporate power already makes many people believe we need separation of corporations and state.
It may seem the tactics of your staff were not sufficiently aggressive, but keep in mind this letter went out to a press list of 200 reporters and 100,000 people on various email discussion groups covering issues that include abuse of corporate power. The mainstream media remains loathe to cover stories unfavorable to powerful corporations, but not even Verizon can turn off the Internet.
Senator McCain the incoming Chairman of the Commerce Committee also represents a friend of those suffering abuses of corporate power.
See http://www.pulver.com/mf2004
If the whole matter represents a misunderstanding, please let me know by replying to this message. I very much want to correct any mistakes made in the various efforts to characterize monopoly in telecom, but we need to keep the discussion to the merits of the arguments presented.
Very truly yours,
Daniel Berninger
http://danielberninger.com
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Please feel free to redistribute the attached open letter if you cc:dan@pulver.com and include this notice. Feedback welcome.
See http://danielberninger.com/callforhelp.html for more info.
posted by Daniel at 6:49 PM
