ATTBI Registration Resolved

[jc at trillian.mit.edu (John Chambers)]

| The upshot:
|
| ATT broadband no longer allows you to simply call in the MAC of the NIC
| you are using facing them.  You have to go through their silly
| registration process.  Their registration process snarfs the MAC off of
| your machine and away you go.
|
| It doesn't work from lynx 2.8.5dev3, as the form has a button on it that
| is unrecognized by lynx. It doesn't work with konqueror (3.0) running
| without java.  It works with MSIE and that is pretty much it. Further
| caveat, it doesn't work unless MSIE on a machine that is connected
| directly to the modem. No intervening firewall. Once the MAC is
| registered, that NIC is the only one that will work with the cable modem
| for anything aside from arp.  arp being available so that their installer
| can find the registration machines.

So they it seems they are  working  hard  at  allowing  only  Windows
access, and excluding most of the visually handicapped.

I wonder if there are any legal steps that can be taken to fight this
sort of barrier? After all, we did manage to get the rules changed so
that we can buy our own phones and plug them in, and if they  satisfy
the FCC specs, the phone company has to allow you to use them. Now it
seems that AT&T is working toward restricting internet access to only
Microsoft products.

We really should be pushing for laws that require ISPs to  allow  any
devices that follow the RFCs. Otherwise, we're in for another century
like the one in which the only phone innovations allowed  were  those
that The Phone Company decided to allow.