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Micro$oft Monitor

IN THIS ISSUE:

Action Alert: Senate Hearing
Online Petition
About Micro$oft Monitor

ACTION ALERT: SENATE HEARING
Judiciary Committee Hearing Scheduled For Early December

Fax or phone committee members to urge an investigation of Microsoft

Send a fax to Chairman Orrin Hatch from NetAction's fax server, at: http://www.netaction.org/fax/.

The last few weeks have seen an exciting increase in momentum for challenging the Microsoft monopoly and ensuring open Internet standards. This momentum has included the Justice Department's petition for sanctions for violations of the 1995 consent decree, the ensuing media attention to Microsoft's activities, a Senate Judiciary Committee inquiry into Microsoft's anti-competitive practices, Ralph Nader's Appraising Microsoft conference in Washington, D.C., and the release of NetAction's comprehensive report on Microsoft's economic strategy for monopoly: http://www.netaction.org/msoft/world/.

But in order to succeed in stopping the Microsoft monopoly, we must keep up the pressure on our representatives in Congress by urging them to follow through on their inquiry into Microsoft's anti-competitive practices and consider all potential legal and legislative actions to ensure consumer choice in Internet access, content, and commerce.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled another hearing to examine antitrust issues in the computer industry, and we need your help ensure that they hear from consumers and conduct a thorough examination of Microsoft's activities.

NetAction has set up a fax server to help you convey your concerns about Microsoft to the Senate Judiciary Committee, and to urge committee members to support our recommendations for restraining Microsoft's anti-competitive practices. Go to: http://www.netaction.org/fax/ to send a fax now to Chairman Orrin Hatch.

Phone and fax numbers for all of the committee members are listed below. If you live in a state represented by any of the Senators listed below, we urge you to fax or phone the Senator from your state and urge them to use the upcoming hearing to investigate Microsoft.

Committee members and their phone and fax numbers are:

** Senator Leahy does not have a publicly available fax number. He can be reached by phone, or you may prefer to copy and paste the letter on our fax server page and send it to him by E-mail .

This is a critical time in our campaign, so we urge you to take a few minutes, use the NetAction fax server, and/or call the Senate Judiciary committee members.

Online Petition

The Anti-Micro$oft Association has initiated an E-mail petition to demonstrate that there is consumer support for computer manufacturers who stand up to Microsoft's threat to revoke their license to install Windows 95 unless they also install the Internet Explorer icon on the desktop before shipping the computers to retail outlets.

The petition is at: http://machcu.home.ml.org/petition.html. (NOTE: This URL is no longer valid as of 05/23/2001.)

About The Micro$oft Monitor

The Micro$oft Monitor is a free electronic newsletter, published as part of the Consumer Choice Campaign http://www.netaction.org/msoft/ccc.html. NetAction is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public, policy makers, and the media about technology-based social and political issues, and to teaching activists how to use the Internet for organizing, outreach, and advocacy.

To subscribe to The Micro$oft Monitor, write to: . The body of the message should state: subscribe monitor. To unsubscribe at any time, send a message to: . The body of the message should state: unsubscribe monitor.

NetAction is supported by individual contributions, membership dues and grants. For more information about contributing to NetAction, contact Audrie Krause by phone at (415) 775-8674, by E-mail at , visit the NetAction Web site at: http://www.netaction.org, or write to:

To learn more about how activists can use the Internet for grassroots organizing, outreach, and advocacy, subscribe to NetAction Notes, a free electronic newsletter published twice a month.

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