[9231] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
E-d-u-p-a-g-e 12/23/93 [about po'-folks' telcom rates]
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (David Rothman)
Fri Dec 24 00:42:44 1993
Date: Fri, 24 Dec 93 00:36:54 -0400
To: "com-priv" <com-priv@psi.com>, "Arthur R. McGee" <amcgee@netcom.com>
From: "David Rothman" <rothman@netcom.com>
Reply-To: rothman@netcom.com
Let's hope that everyone picks up on the "Hahahah" below and gets Art
McGee's well-made point. Poverty specials like "Wireless for All" are
hardly nirvana for the citizens of Watts. I'm sick of seeing po'-folks'
rates touted as the ultimate way to make the NII serve everyone.
1) Just what will the true rates end up being for the poor and others?
The money is coming from *somewhere*--presumably middle- and upper-class
rate-payers. Just how long will optimism and goodwill prevail? I assume,
at least, that the e-clip below referred to rates and not just to mere
availability of services.
2) Grand promises like "Wireless for All" will increase cynicism toward
government and telcom folks alike--and maybe even cause people to throw
bricks through pawn-shop windows when the truth differs from the
ballyhoo in the media. I've already told how a lead in the Washingtno
Post grossly raised expectations about the amount of aid going for
electronic libraries. Aren't we seeing a little pattern here? No
conspiracy, just a lots of people independently arriving at their own
wishful conclusions. I just hope that the LA papers didn't print the
same "Wireless for All" malarkey that E-d-u-p-a-g-e did (too bad about
E-d-u-p-a-g-e; I enjoy it on the whole).
3) Although some telcom discounts are necessary, the best way to help
low-income folks is to work toward keeping costs affordable to all.
Telcom/cable gouges are harming even the middle class, and the companies
envision Americans spending still more of their incomes on NII-style
services. Gimmicks like poverty specials for wireless users could
ultimately hurt the country as a whole by taking attention off the
gouges of today and tomorrow.
4) Strange isn't it--how public doles will discourage honesty and
individual initiative but this one from AT&T magically won't? What
happens if families in Watts exceed the income limits for special rates?
Will they lie? And if we reward folks too much for staying poor, isn't
it possible that they will oblige?
Too, might certain do-gooders be more interested in the glory of
creating telcom programs for the poor than in really solving their
problems?
5) Priorities, folks--please. Most citizens/taxpayers/rate-payers, I'm
sure, would much rather see big bucks going for infant nutrition
programs and education, as oposed to wireless communications. Sure would
be nice if more money were available to bring technology to low-income
students and train teachers to use high-tech properly.
And why not a little more imagination, too? Via multiple apps--of the
kind I describe in teleread.txt--the new tech could help schoolchildren
and business people at the same time and establish a wider constituency
for true solutions. Let's think of society as a whole, not just the
little parts, and let's please try not to accentuate economic and social
differences. A fixation on po'-folks rates--however popular they are
among many academics--won't help.
It would be tragic if, in their eagerness to create a consensus on NII
issues by hewing to Conventional Wisdom, Messrs. Clinton and Gore helped
foment riots.
Let's hope that final NII policy will avoid such mistakes.
**************************************************************************
David H. Rothman "So we beat on, boats against
rothman@netcom.com the current...."
805 N. Howard St., #240
Alexandria, Va. 22304
703-370-6540(o)(h)
I *encourage* online, noncommercial reproduction of my public postings.
Permission hereby granted--implicit, explicit, whatever. Down
with unnecessary restrictions on the flow of knowledge!
**************************************************************************
>DATE: Thu, 23 Dec 1993 13:46:56 -0800 (PST)
>FROM: Arthur R. McGee <amcgee@netcom.com>
>
>Merry Christmas...Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! :-(
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Thu, 23 Dec 1993 11:01:04 -0500
>From: Edupage <info@ivory.educom.edu>
>Subject: E-d-u-p-a-g-e 12/23/93
>
>************************************************************************
>EDUPAGE. Edupage, a twice-weekly summary of news items on information
>technology, is provided as a service by EDUCOM -- a consortium of leading
>colleges and universities seeking to transform education through the use of
>information technology.
>************************************************************************
>
>[stuff deleted]
>
>WIRELESS FOR ALL. AT&T pledge to make wireless communications services
>available to California minority, low-income, inner-city and disabled
>consumers; in view of that pledge, various consumer groups will back AT&T's
>plans for a $12.6 billion purchase of McCaw Cellular. (Wall Street Journal
>12/23/93 B2)
>
>[stuff deleted]
***************************************************************>
>EDUCOM -- Transforming Education Through Information Technology
>************************************************************************
>
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