[10378] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Privatization of the Net
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (James Love)
Sun Feb 20 14:04:04 1994
Date: Sun, 20 Feb 1994 14:07:56 -0500 (EST)
From: James Love <love@essential.org>
To: com-priv@psi.com
A FEW SIMPLE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE INTERNET AND THE DEBATE OVER
TELECOMMUNICATIONS LEGISLATION - directed to readers of com-priv
Please excuse my ignorance, but would those who understand tell
me how the eventual privatization of the internet (the defunding
of the NSF backbone) will change the way that email or gopher
access and the like are priced?
As the readers of this list certainly know, many internet users
believe that the elimination of NSF funding for the Internet
poses a threat to the type of democratic discourse that takes
place every day on com-priv and other lists. Others say that it
will not change anything. Many of us are afraid to ask
questions, for fear that we will display our ignorance of how the
internet is financed, priced and controlled.
In our view, the Internet pricing of email and file transfers is
key to this enormously successful model for civic discourse and
democratic debate. Are we going to lose that in the future, or
are things just going to get better?
jamie
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James Love, Taxpayer Assets Project; internet: love@essential.org
P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036; v. 202/387-8030; f. 202/234-5176
12 Church Road, Ardmore, PA 19003; v. 215/658-0880; f. 215/649-4066
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