US/ND-4: Bona Fide Request?
Bona Fide Request?
Steve Kohn (NOTES.SKOHN@A50VM1.trg.nynex.COM)
17 Sep 1996 15:54:15 GMT
Dr.Van Dam stated:
> I would strongly argue that ANY request from an educational institution
> should be honored. The tax-exempt qualification is fine, but I don't think
> that is the question being asked by the FCC. They may be more concerned
> with what is a BONA FIDE REQUEST, not who is a BONA FIDE agency to make a
> request. In conversation with FCC representative this past summer, this
> seemed to be their focus, the "content of the request", not the
> "requestor."
>
> If I interpreted correctly, then all requests from educational agencies for
> any type of voice, video or data service should be considered bona fide.
> Any other approach infers a structure at some level, probably a state
> level, to filter and evaluate the requests. I would not endorse that
> approach. State agencies have enough to do without checking local
> educational requests for electronic services.
I think there are two issues here; 1) a bona fide request; and 2) from
a bona fide school. I think if a request comes from a bona fide
school, it should atomatically be considered a bona fide request. But
I don't think we can have a very loose definition of a bona fide
school. A list of bona fide schools should be developed by the
appropriate agency in the state and forwarded to all the
telecommunication providers so they know they are getting a request
from a bona fide school.
My only concern about "verifying" bona fide requests would be if the
E-rate ended up being - free. Then I'd be concerned about abuse of the
system with schools ordering services they were not ready to use.
Steve Kohn