Freedomnet Calls It Quits

It was an idea with a noble foundation, a "Filtered Internet Service" for families wishing to protect their own from the seamy side of the World Wide Web. It had the financial backing of an ernest and thoughtful man, a crew of highly qualified techno-guys from a diversity of backgrounds. It was launched in a flood of colorful advertisements that changed the face of Gulf Coast Computing forever. And it was by far the cheapest dollar amount per month of any ISP in our area Despite this bright beginning, Freedomnet has closed shop leaving only a single paragraph message on a stark white web page to mark where it had once been.

"FreedomNet is changing its business focus." The message states. "Starting July 10, 2000, we will no longer be offering dial up or Web hosting services." It continues. "Please seek a new Internet service provider as soon as possible. After this date, you will no longer be able to access the Internet through us. All personal web sites and web hosting accounts need to be moved by this date. Customers will not be able to access their sites after July 10, 2000. Domains should make the necessary changes with Internic."

Unlike Powerhouse, Pensacola Internet, Cheney, Amaranth and dotStar, who all found white knights to save their customers from their companies’ demise, Freedomnet did not "sell out" to the competition, choosing instead to refocus its energies and attention on the manufacture and legal duplication of compact disks for both the software and music industries, the latter of which, the ISP’s owner already had extensive experience with.

Freedomnet’s ideal and the reality of the Panhandle area Internet service marketplace collided early on with the new service being made available for $14.95 per month, an amount far below a threshold of profitability described by local competitors as being realistic.

Misinterpretation of the motives behind "filtered" services contributed to a backlash against the fledgling ISP almost from the very beginning. Filtering equated to censoring in the minds of many, leading to consumer resistance. According to one source who requested anonymity, "The filters being used (there) blocked all kinds of web sites that didn’t need to be blocked, while the newsgroups, where much of the porn resides in binary downloadable format were easily accessed."

Chris Clanton, Operations Manager for Freedomnet says that the company is not so much shutting down, as it is rethinking its market position. "The local ISP is pretty much going the way of the dinosaur," Chris commented to Gulf Coast Computing. "We" (referring to The Disk Company) have created more than 20 million CDs for Kmart, Ace hardware and other free ISPs since we came up to full production." He added that it was time for Freedomnet to "stop, take a breath and reevaluate the business."

For the 500 plus members of the Freedomnet family, this "reevaluation" means having to scramble around to replace either their dial-up or web host as quickly as possible.

"We’re going to leave (the service) on for a while," Chris said. "To give people time to move. Then we need to decide what the future holds for us."

Will the Phoenix arise again? "We shall see." Said Chris. "The market will decide what we will do."