[941] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Privitization is the issue today
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Stan Barber)
Thu Jul 11 18:11:51 1991
From: sob@tmc.edu (Stan Barber)
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1991 17:10:48 CDT
In-Reply-To: edtjda@magic322.chron.com (Joe Abernathy)
To: edtjda@magic322.chron.com (Joe Abernathy), com-priv@psi.com
Cc: nren-discuss@psi.com
On Jul 11, 3:43pm, Joe Abernathy wrote:
} Subject: Privitization is the issue today
} It's good to know the alt.sex fanatics still care. But a year after the fact,
} I reread our article and can't imagine how the subject could have been
} approached more evenly. I don't know what world Stan Barber lives in, but here
} in the real world, that report was an examination of a fascinating development
} in the education community. There were huge sites on the net that took the
} story in stride without a moment's pause, because they'd taken seriously the
} acceptable use policies attached to their federal money.
Joe, I live in a world where the network is an integral part of my job and
my life. You can't possibly understand it at that level. You are a journalist.
You want people to read what you write. If people didn't, you would have no
job. You said NOTHING to me about the tone of your article. You did not give
me a chance to see how my words were being used. Had I known your agenda, I
have been involved AT ALL.
} Let me ask a rhetorical question: What did the net.community expect would
} happen when a newspaper eventually got a copy of something like Cindy's
} Torment, with "Baylor University" and "Southern Methodist University" splashed
} across the top of the page? Cindy was the actual catalyst, it might interest
} you to know, and once she had been turned loose in the newsroom there was no
} stopping her.
I would say that we know now what would happen. An article is published
that contains some facts, some twisted facts and quite a bit of opinion, and
it wasn't even on the OP-ED page.
} I don't twist words, I didn't twist words. I delivered a timely, mostly
} accurate story in the face of a universally hostile climate. Everyone
} interviewed had the chance to address the issues head-on and defuse the
} situation, but chose not to do so, with the exception of Mitch Kapor. In
} retrospect, that's the one thing I would do differently, press more at
} the real issues. But I was intimidated then of my sources and an over-
} whelmingly complex subject.
Everyone did not have a chance to review the final article. I didn't see
it until the day it was published. I didn't even know the scope of the
article. Yes, I was naive. I will not cooperate again.
} Today, that's not the case. There's not a better qualified journalist
} than me to address the national policy issues surrounding this network and
} its future. I would submit that those issues center on commercialization,
} privitization and the advisability of building a gigabit network, this
} grand "data superhighway."
You overstate your qualifications. The Chronicle and you in particular have
no real experience with the internet. You know USENET, but have no concept
what the "grand data superhighway" is really about. If you did, you'd know
that there are many possibilities and all of them may come to pass in some
form. The interesting thing is how they may fit together for create the
next generation in this information age. I doubt you can find a way to
explain that effectively given your predisposition. Of course, your
editors may like this because of the notice that your "mostly correct"
article received from the networking community. Sells a few newspapers,
doesn't it?
} ANS is engendering an enormous amount of opposition among the people
} with whom I've talked recently, and with that much smoke it's easy to
} guess there's a fire.
Fine, do an article about ANS, but don't attribute their policies and
actions as being representative of all that goes on with NREN or the
internet. Remember ANS is not the internet (sound familiar?).
} I'm anxious to address these important issues, in a thoughtful and
} completely fair way. But I do need your help.
I believe you need help to understand the important issues. I am not sure you
can do so objectively. You certainly have not demostrated this to me.
}-- End of excerpt from Joe Abernathy
--
Stan internet: sob@bcm.tmc.edu Director, Networking
Olan uucp: rutgers!bcm!sob and Systems Support
Barber Opinions expressed are only mine. Baylor College of Medicine
