[11674] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
reply to Rothman
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Ira Brodsky (via RadioMail))
Wed Apr 13 08:06:16 1994
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 1994 22:15:51 PDT
From: Ira Brodsky (via RadioMail) <brodsky@radiomail.net>
To: interesting-people@eff.org, farber@central.cis.upenn.edu,
opfer@radiomail.net, stahlman@radiomail.net, com-priv@psi.com,
ggilder@mcimail.com, barlow@eff.org, jswatz@well.sf.ca.u
----- Forwarded Message
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 1994 11:04:39 PDT
>From: Ira Brodsky (via RadioMail) <brodsky@radiomail.net>
Subject: Re: The EFF and Universal Access -- and Andrew Carnegie
To: rothman@netcom.com
Cc: frezza@radiomail.net
David,
Where are there "free" libraries and public schools? How do they operate without incurring costs? One hot controversy that has erupted around the country is whether public schools should be funded by local real estate taxes or state income taxes. I'm curious where you stand on this.
Doesn't the idea of having the government educate the people so that they can "vote sensibly" raise any red flags? You don't think this approach would favor incumbents, do you?
Were you serious when you depicted a minimalist government as one concerned only with making sure the trains run on time? On-time train service has been the pride of socialist and fascist governments, not free marketers.
The Pentagon provides a service for the common good that can't be provided by private industry. Schools and libraries are another story.
As Chicago's public schools demonstrate, "free" education doesn't necessarily deliver any value. Why should we expect anything better from "free" access to digital data pipelines?
How would you propose to avoid the failures of public education on the NII? In Chicago, 8 year old kids get blown away by gun-toting classmates. Does this augur well for the NII?
Tell me why I should expect Chicago schools to accomplish with $2000 workstations what they have failed to achieve with books?
I don't know who is being denied access to information networks today. And I'm not sure that knowing what you want and paying for it is unfair.
You seem concerned that we will create a society of information 'have nots'. (Couldn't they just pay attention in "free" school, or go to the "free" library?) Tell me, David, what do you plan to do when 'bad' information finds its way onto the Infobahn?
Ira Brodsky
