Friday, May 26, 2006
Jan. 13, 2005 -- MAIN launches non-profit nationwide Internet service
CONTACT: Wally Bowen, 828-255-0182
Internet Service Launched By Progressive Nonprofit
A nonprofit nationwide Internet service has been launched to serve dial-up
Internet users who support media reform and the creation of a vigorous
independent media.
Marketed under the name IndyLink, the service is aimed at value-conscious
Internet users who also want to avoid the commercial clutter and privacy
risks of corporate services such as AOL and Earthlink. IndyLink is a
service of the North Carolina-based nonprofit Mountain Area Information
Network (MAIN), which has been providing dial-up Internet access since
1996. MAIN currently has more than 4,000 subscribers in western North
Carolina.
"IndyLink gives dial-up Internet users the option of putting their dollars
where their values are, rather than having those dollars go to support a
corporate media system that is not serving the needs of a democratic
society," said Wally Bowen, a veteran media activist and founder of MAIN
and its low-power FM radio arm, WPVM, the Progressive Voice of the
Mountains.
"The Internet-access industry has undergone mergers and consolidation like
other media industries, and the emerging business model is to harvest and
sell personal information while pushing more and more targeted ads at
subscribers," Bowen said.
"Because IndyLink is provided by a nonprofit organization, we don't rely
on advertising revenue to survive. This allows us to provide a
non-commercial 'oasis' where subscribers can enjoy greater privacy
protection and lower cost," Bowen said.
"Creating a truly democratic media includes support for more
non-commercial, not-for-profit media," said Robert W. McChesney, a leading
media scholar and founder of the Free Press media reform coalition.
"IndyLink is an excellent example of how citizens can support nonprofit
media with their Internet dollars," he said. <http://www.freepress.net>
Launching a national dial-up service when the whole world seems to be
moving to high-speed cable and DSL may seem counterintuitive, said Bowen.
"But our marketing research shows that dial-up will be a viable option for
cost and privacy-conscious subscribers for years to come," he said.
Priced at $14.95 a month, IndyLink service is about 30 percent less than
AOL and Earthlink, while offering comparable spam and virus filtering and
a dial-up "accelerator" which can produce download speeds up to five times
faster than conventional dial-up service.
"IndyLink operates on the same telecommunications infrastructure used by
corporate ISPs, so our service is just as reliable. In addition, we have
one of the most experienced tech-support staffs in the Internet industry
because we provide living-wage jobs and turnover is low. We don't
outsource our tech support in order to take advantage of low-wage workers
in developing countries," Bowen said.
"For citizens wanting to support non-commercial Internet alternatives to
monopolistic telecom providers, IndyLink offers not only excellent and
affordable Web services, but represents a new and exciting direction for
21st-century public-interest telecom policy," said Rob Williams, president
of the media reform group, Action Coalition for Media Education (ACME).
<http://www.acmecoalition.org>
Via its homepage, IndyLink also offers a daily digest of progressive news
and information gleaned by IndyLink staff and volunteers from across the
World Wide Web.
"We believe the IndyLink homepage will quickly become a 'must see' stop
for progressive activists and citizens who are looking for news content
under-reported by mainstream media," Bowen said.
Information about IndyLink and its services can be found at
http://www.indylink.org. To contact IndyLink, email info@indylink.org or
call toll-free 1-866-962-6246.
END
