FreeIM.org is spearheading the call
for open instant messaging communications on the Internet.
The groups campaign for open instant messaging communications is led by
online entertainment company iCAST
Corp., which recently formed the industry initiative dedicated to
interoperability and freedom of choice in the instant messaging marketplace.
Forty-three leading technology and instant messaging companies Wednesday
joined the call for instant messaging interoperability in a letter to the
heads of the Federal Trade Commission and
the Federal Communications Commission
advocating their support of open standards for instant messaging.
The letter explains the companies’ concerns about the instant messaging
marketplace in light of the proposed Time Warner Inc. and America Online Inc. merger.
In the letter, the companies suggest that the federal agencies in charge of
approving the merger consider that America Online
maintains a closed, proprietary instant messaging service that prohibits
the free flow of interoperable communications over the Net.
The group contends that instant messaging will become a large and critical
communications function and that businesses and individuals should be able
to exchange instant messages regardless of which product, or which service
provider, they use.
FreeIM.org urges the federal regulators to support the principle of open
standards and interoperability for instant messaging.
Concerns about the instant messaging began when AOL, which controls over 90
percent of the instant messaging market, blocked users of other services
from communicating with AOL users. Both MSN and Tribal Voice have launched instant
messaging programs that operated in conjunction with AOL services over the
past year.
Each time companies outside of AOL initiated interoperable instant
messaging, AOL technicians moved to shut down the access due to security
issues on its servers.
Margaret Heffernan, iCAST chief executive officer, said if the AOL and Time
Warner merge, the door to instant messaging would be closed
forever.
“As IM continues to utilize content created by companies such as Time
Warner, the potential merger raises even greater concern about AOL blocking
their users from access to non-AOL users,” Heffernan said. “We simply
cannot allow AOL to stifle innovation and hinder interoperability.”
Ross Bagully, Tribal Voice chief executive officer, said access to instant
messaging needs to be ubiquitous.
“The future of instant messaging is linked to open access and
interoperability,” Bagully said. “If the walls AOL has built around its
members remain standing, that future will not be a bright one.”
FreeIM.org member multimate.net
produces a free browser companion dubbed Instant Rendezvous for Web sites
to build online communities through instant messaging communications. Eli
Efrat, multimate.net chief executive officer said AOL has had plenty of
time to make its instant messaging services interoperable.
“AOL has continually rebuffed any chance for open communication, even
though the company promised more than ten months ago to ‘fast-track’ its
interoperability efforts,” Efrat said.
Companies signing the letter include leading instant messaging companies
include Excite@Home,
Alta Vista Inc., CMGI Inc. and Odigo Inc., as well as AOL’s instant
messaging rivals MSN.com and Tribal Voice, and others.
Tricia Primrose, AOL spokesperson, said the company is not interested in
developing quick fixes to make instant messaging interoperable if it
sacrifices a single members privacy.
“AOL supports the industry’s efforts to create an open standard for instant
messaging that respects consumers privacy and protects members security
concerns,” Primrose said. “AOL is participating with the Internet Engineering Task Force to arrive
at an open standard for instant messaging.”
Primrose added that it would continue to pioneer its instant messaging
services and extend royalty-licensing agreements to those Internet services
that would respect their member’s privacy.
“One of the side effects of the open mail standard is spam,” Primrose said.
“E-mail is wholly interoperable, but we’re not going to allow a quick-fix
open standard like some of these groups propose to compromise the security
of our members. We will continue to work with the IETF to produce a
genuinely interoperable standard for instant messaging that respects
individual’s privacy.”
The IETF is scheduled to accept proposals to produce such an interoperable
open standard this month. The Internet Message Access Protocol Extension
last met in March and continues its Working Group effort to revise and
publish standards-track extensions to IMAP4 yet this year.
