[11590] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Internet abuse and firewalls
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Per Gregers Bilse)
Sun Apr 10 08:10:26 1994
From: Per Gregers Bilse <bilse@eu.net>
Date: Sun, 10 Apr 1994 12:28:55 +0200
To: com-priv@psi.com
I believe my initial (somewhat old) point about this
was misunderstood.
I think
- bullet-proof vests are a good thing
- the need for bullet-proof vests is a bad thing
- once the need for bullet-proof vests is an
established fact of life, we'll see something
even less encouraging for free and open movement
Let's have some fun with the latter:
One day, the FCC and their equivalents in other countries
will alert departments of trade and commerce to the fact
that all this flow of information on the Internet should
be regulated by trade agreements.
Said departments will argue that for instance free advice
on USENET news is a result of the country of the author
having educated him; and that the free flow of information
will result in unfair balance of trade, since the receiving
countries obviously didn't spend the same time and effort
educating their people, but are still getting what they
need in terms of information.
A nominal trade value will then be assigned to each article,
which of course means that duty, export restrictions,
sales tax, etc enter the scene. We'll then see the
first real, live information smugglers, pirate satellites,
grey imports, and more.
GATT rounds will never be the same again.-)
--
bilse <bilse@EU.net> +31 20 592 5109 (dir: 5110); fax +31 20 592 5163
``Reach out and ping somebody''
