] If they don't fight for their right to exist, independent
] ISPs soon will be replaced by huge cable television and
] telephone companies supported by misguided FCC
] regulations, according to Kushnick, who addressed an
] audience Friday at ISPCON, an annual gathering for
] Internet service providers.
]
] Extinction is not the only trouble bedeviling ISPs.
] Owners and workers say they are being forced to turn into
] Net nannies, cops and snoops by the cavalcade of
] anti-terrorist and copyright-protection legislation
] that's been passed in the last two years.
]
] Kushnick's speech was greeted with much somber
] head-nodding and occasional bursts of approving applause
] from an audience consisting mostly of ISP owners and
] employees.