@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 Sender: CjBLacK <•••@••.•••> Subject: Re: QUESTION of open net survival >I think there is consensus that reform is needed in the Telecommunications Act of 1934, >but at what price? Excellent question! But take note, the name is not the Telecommunications Act of 1934, it is just the Communications Act of 1934. It is obvious that this thing needs some updating, as there is currently nothing on the books regarding the Internet, the motherlode of all telecommunication. The bill cannot stay the way it is for much longer, which is why the current discussion regarding the new laws is needed. We have the wrong people writing the bills. And I know that this makes a lot of people angry. And I also know that this would make a lot more people mad if they knew what was going on. It is just too bad that the many groups that have banded together to combat the evil legislation that is being proposed don't have the ability to somehow make the cause more public. I think that if more people had a clue, more people would fear losing their own civil rights, regardless of whether they use the Internet or not. This is not just an issue of limiting what can be transmitted across the Internet, this is a matter of whether or not a bunch of old farts in Washington can dictate to us what we see and hear and whether these geriatrics can take something as hugely powerful as the Internet and tear it down, piece by piece, until it is nothing but a wimpering sniveling worthless commercially-enslaved boring entertainment piece, kind of like FM Radio has become. -Cj @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Date: 23 Jan 96 From: John Whiting <•••@••.•••> Subject: cr> A QUESTION: will the open net survive? Richard-- Your question uncannily echoes my own thoughts. I came to the Internet only last September through writing a history of KPFA, the listener-supported, non-commercial radio station in Berkeley. Recent changes in its structure and goals led to the opening of a net forum for those who were concerned and apprehensive. Then the Compuserve/Bavaria Caper opened my eyes to events which others have been anticipating for some time. A chance referal to your forum has telescoped the horror into a few short days. The files I have accumulated chronicle, as if in time-lapse photography, the rise and fall of the Net as an exemplum of creative anarchy. I feel like a passenger on the Titanic. But these are conditions under which all sorts of artists, for centuries, have maintained a tenuous continuity - a thread, if you like - of optimism. "Two or three about the [Roman] temples," wrote Ezra Pound, "were enough to keep alive the old religions." John @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~--~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ Posted by Richard K. Moore (•••@••.•••) Wexford, Ireland Cyber-Rights: http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/ CyberLib: http://www.internet-eireann.ie/cyberlib Materials may be reposted in their entirety for non-commercial use. ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~--~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
