ies that have the resources to spend millions of dollars each year to lobby Washington for favorable rules. Loose or favorable regulations impact many companies. There may be no incentive to enforce privacy and strengthen the security of data centers and cloud offerings. Regulations impact pricing, tax policies, and billing practices. Regulatory decisions on mergers and acquisitions impact the absence or presence of competition and prices for consumers, government agencies, and enterprises, all of whom purchase telecommunications services. THE 1984 BREAKUP OF AT&T Prior to the 1984 U.S. Justice Department Divestiture ruling, what are now AT&T, Verizon, and part of www.TechnicalPDF.com CenturyLink were part of the Bell system. The Bell system consisted of 22 local Bell telephone companies that were each owned by AT&T Corporation. As part of the 1984 divestiture ruling, AT&T kept the long-distance portion of its organization, which it viewed as more lucrative than local calling. The goal of divestiture was to encourage competition for long- distance services. The 22 local telephone companies were re-organized into seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs). The Telecommunications Act of 1996 The goal of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was to spur innovation and competition for local services. The Act allowed incumbent local telephone companies, who previously were allowed to sell services only within their region, to offer out-of-region long-distance services that the 1984 divestiture had barred them from offering. The Act also decreed that for the first time, cable TV operators, electric utilities, broadcasters, interexchange carriers, and non-traditional competitive local exchange providers would be permitted to sell local calling, toll calling, and related services. This provision allowed the former AT&T, which was then an interexchange carrier, to resume selling local services. To encourage competition for local services, the Act prescribed rules enabling competitors to connect to the central offices of