[8859] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: NTIA Universal Access Hearing
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Richard Civille)
Wed Dec 8 10:51:14 1993
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 1993 10:39:38 -0500 (EST)
From: Richard Civille <rciville@civicnet.org>
To: Dave Hughes <dave@oldcolo.com>
Cc: compriv <com-priv@psi.com>
In-Reply-To: <m0p7AdQ-000A3DC@oldcolo.com>
On Tue, 7 Dec 1993, Dave Hughes wrote:
> Richard Civille says:
> >
> > New Mexico was chosen in part because it would attract Native American
> > testimony from the many tribes in the region, and also the interests of
> > rural communities.
To which, Dave says:
> I would HOPE there was also recognition that New Mexico also is
> home to a large proportion of an Hispanic population - which is
> about as underrepresented online as any major minority group in
> the US. As much for cultural reasons as economic and technical.
Yes, es correcto.
> I will be starting work there in January aimed *precicely* at
> this sector. And use OS2, SLIP, Lora (Italian) Fidonetable
> BBS software and NAPLPS (for both bilingual online as well as
> graphical-cultural representation) in remote as well as urban
> areas to see if we can bridge that growing gap. For which
> laying down white man's ascii fiber optic pipes is not going
> to be a sufficient solution. 'Access' is more than technical
> and economic. Its 'cultural' and I will be suprised to learn
> that the NII thinkers have given much thought to that reality.
> Have they?
Somewhat. Just their commitment to do these hearings, one a month for
four months is start in the right direction. I know that one woman who is
coordinating these hearings and some other outreach activities for NTIA is
half-Hopi and grew up in New Mexico.
We have to take this with a grain of salt I think but its good to see them
taking this kind of initiative but I think they have a long, long way to
go. I suppose if I were real cynical I could think of a way to say after
these hearings: "Well, we found after exhaustive analysis that universal
service is not a problem. Those who don't have phones just don't seem
to want them, and this was all about phones anyway, right? If you have
problems about literacy go talk to the adult education people, not NTIA
or the FCC. Anyway, thanks for your input, time to move on."
So we have four hearings to let them know what the real story is...
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Center for Civic Networking Richard Civille
P.O. Box 65272 Washington Director
Washington, DC 20035 rciville@civicnet.org
(202) 362-3831
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