“The Federal Communications Commission today [12 June]
released the contents of a letter it sent Friday to America Online
Inc. asking the world’s largest ISP to provide more information on
whether it is working with other instant-messaging providers on an
open IM standard.”
“The request comes less than a week after a group of high-tech
companies sent letters to the chairmen of the FCC and the Federal
Trade Commission, asking that the two bodies encourage AOL to
support the work being done by the Internet Engineering Task Force
and other IM companies on the standard.”
“With more than 150 million combined users, AOL’s ICQ and AOL
Instant Messenger clients comprise by far the largest IM network in
the world. The company has consistently blocked users of rival
services from communicating with AIM and ICQ users. Just this
weekend it blocked users of Odigo Inc.’s IM service from accessing
its network.”
“Both the FTC and the FCC are reviewing AOL’s proposed merger
with Time Warner Inc.”