To: cypherpunks@toad.com C >This is a press release put out by People for the American Way and C >the Media Access Project last week. C > C >Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Inouye's bill guarantees C >access on the "superhighway" for non-commercial and governmental C >uses. "Without this protection, we may not get anything besides home C >shopping and movies on demand," said Leslie Harris, Director of Public C >Policy for the People For the American Way Action Fund (PFAWAF). C >"We hope -- and expect -- that some day the new technologies C >will provide so much capacity at such low prices that there will be C >no >need to reserve space for public use. The bill directs the Federal C >Communications Commission to phase out the `public right of way' if C >and when that happens." But, he added, "It is critical that local C >government and non-profit groups have access to the new technologies C >right away. What complete and utter garbage. With monthly access costs in the $20 range and an incredibly diverse marketplace under construction without "public interest" power-mad fascists involved in it, such whining shows nothing more than their view of the gullibility of the public. All networking proposals involve two-way networks and private voice and data systems that anyone who cares to can use to communicate with anyone who cares to. Any "public interest group" that cares to (and many have) can put aside its tin cup and get online. If 12-year-olds can do it... DCF "Whether or not the residents of that fetid swamp between Virginia and Maryland try to help us or hinder us, we'll build Market Earth on the nets. And there's not a damned thing on God's good green earth that they can do about it." --- WinQwk 2.0b#1165