* The current Internet, glorious as it is, is not the likely long term solution. The various bans and constraints on business interactions, on fees, on commercial use, etc., are major limits to what we're talking about here. (Some alternatives exist, like Alternet (sp?), but Internet is what most of us are now using.)
Agreed. The Internet, in it's current form, is not going to be the information center of the future.
* "Remailing fees" are the natural, free market solution to the costs of transmitting, decrypting, storing, and forwarding messages. But these fees run afoul of various Internet rules.
Yup.
* These new kinds of networks may look more like descendants of FIDONet than of the Internet, in the sense of being more decentralized and outside the control of institutions and government agencies. (Some have argued that the Internet is already transnational and is already beyond the control of governments. This sounds plausible in theory, but in practice most Internet users _are_ subject to various rules about usage, about noncommercial use, etc.)
This is where I disagree strongly. We are entering a time when the commercial advantages of internetworking are strong enough to cause the formation of a real, commercially built, non-government-controlled internet (small "i"). This network will be devoid of any AUP beyond simple legality, and will operate much like a common carrier: They won't care what you put on the wire unless someone brings it to their attention. I highly doubt that FIDONET is the model of the future. People are moving toward increased connectivity and real-time services, not the slow, store-and-forward model of FIDO and UUCP. The example of encrypted, untraceable real-time video requires internet technologies. Mail forwarding just doesn't cut it.
* Some on this list have expressed distaste that remailing will have to be _paid for_ by someone (other than themselves).
My major problem with this is that I'd rather not have to stamp each piece. I'd like to see a remailer sell me an unlimited-use ticket for a month, say. But this is what the free market is for. I'm sure someone will see their way to offering the service I want to buy. Marc