[9803] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Open Letter: LA Data Highways
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (John [Francis] Stracke)
Fri Jan 21 16:14:47 1994
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 13:55:22 +0500
From: francis@avalle.insoft.com (John [Francis] Stracke)
To: mkapor@eff.org, com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: Larry Walker's message of Fri, 21 Jan 94 10:52:45 CST <9401211652.AA21271@iscmed.med.ge.com>
>that we simply "declare victory and go home," the Administration can simply
>declare the LA Data Highway program to be in effect: All employees contact
>their sys admins and ask what software/modems/phone-numbers they should
>start using.
Um. These are people whose houses have fallen down. Where do they
plug in their machines?
I know not everybody lost their home (don't know what the figures
are). That makes it worse, in a way: the people who have to drive to
work will be stand out as the ones who've been burned, or who can't
afford a computer, or whose work is too low on the totem pole to be
done remotely (the people who can't telecommute those whose jobs
require physical presence; generally, they're are perceived as being
of a lower social class--the obvious exception being doctors :-).
>hurricane. Even a 10-20% reduction in load on the phone network in a crisis
>situation is of major value, and can free up significant resources in the
>relief agencies.
No argument here. I agree that this would have significant practical
benefits; I'm worried only about the social impact. We have enough
indicators of social class in this country; let's not have the
government mandate a new one.
/===========================================================================\
|John (Francis) Stracke | My opinions are my own. |
|Insoft, Inc. |===================================================|
|Mechanicsburg, PA | "Chris is the most self-effacing guy I know." |
|francis@insoft.com | "Well, I'm not *that* good at it." |
\===========================================================================/
