[10633] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: CCN's Clarification re: Internet Local Loop
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dave Hughes)
Wed Mar 2 20:32:58 1994
From: dave@oldcolo.com (Dave Hughes)
To: gwright@world.std.com (Gary R Wright)
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 1994 19:46:59 -0700 (MST)
Cc: com-priv@psi.com (compriv)
In-Reply-To: <CLysFD.9s6@world.std.com> from "Gary R Wright" at Mar 1, 94 02:33:12 am
Gary Wright writes:
>
> Certainly there are many places where this type of service is not a
> local phone call away but Internet service providers are sprouting up
> all over. Probably faster than any regulations could ever keep up with
> them.
>
> Perhaps, sometime in the future, Internet access will be a service
> that we consider indispensable, but it certainly isn't anywhere near
> that today. Why are we talking about regulated access to something
> that is easily justified (IMHO) and purchased by a business or
> non-profit organization but for personal use is really a luxury?
>
The same arguement could have been made in 1934 when the Telecommunications
Act was passed, making voice telephone a 'universal service' with
regulated monopoly. Were voice phones 'indispensable' then? And should
we NOT have passed that law?
There is a lot of chicken and egg here.
In your reference to 'business or non-profit organizations' beig able
to afford the Internet, you left out one large sector where Interenet
access is *not* a luxury, but already a near-necessity - education,
with 40 million K-12 students as well as higher education - who
should not only have access from schools as 'institutions' but
also from home. Ditto teachers. But we already have the 'haves and
have nots' in access to technology and telecom in education. If we
really believe the Internet is all so important for the future,
we better figure out how, not just by the 'hidden hand' of the
marketplace, but by direct action, INSURING that every student in
the US has access. One way or another. Period.
To paraphrase a saying about Wars and Generals, Education of
American Youth is to important to be left to Captains of
Industry.
