[In case this interests any of you. -dave] ................................. cut here .................................

Date: Wed, 8 Nov 1995 19:28:25 +0100 From: steve@isys.hu (Steven Carlson) Subject: invitation to join the European Online Development list

Greetings -

I'm writing to invite you to join the European Online Development list <online-europe>. If you're active or interested in Internet in Europe or the CIS, this list may be for you.

I'm inviting you because you're one of my circle of contacts, and work either in journalism or in an Internet-related field. I'm sending a similar letter out to several hundred people who attended Esther Dyson's East-West High-Tech Forum, held recently in Bled, Slovenia.

A day before this year's conference opened, Esther held a special meeting of Internet providers and related companies from around Europe and the CIS. We all agreed it was a very useful meeting, that we should meet again soon, and that we should all try to keep in contact over the net. Therefore this list.

As commercial Internet pioneers in Europe, we find ourselves in surprising agreement on a number of topics. Though many of us now earn our daily bread from providing Internet connectivity, many of us suspect the real future may be in content. Yet what form this new medium will take - or who will pay how much for what - still remains a mystery.

We share concerns about privacy, copyright, encryption, censorship and libel. In each of our countries, these and other issues will eventually need to be addressed by new laws, laws that will be written by people who - we suspect - know very little about online realities.

In each of our countries, the local PTT is waking up to the smell of profits in the IP market. These telecoms much prefer a comfortable monopoly to the vagaries of competition. The PTTs have considerable financial resources and political connections. How can smaller Internet providers compete with these giants on even terms? Who will guarantee a level playing field?

I think you'll agree there's plenty to talk about. And at this early stage in the development of Internet that's exactly what we need to do.

I hope this list becomes a useful resource: a place to learn what others are doing in Europe and the CIS; a place to identify potential partners; a place to watch and learn.

To subscribe, send a message with no subject line, and the text: subscribe online-europe, to <majordomo@isys.hu>. Contact me if you need help <steve@isys.hu>.

Once you subscribe, you might want to a send a message to the list introducing yourself and your company. Give us some idea of what problems you're working with in the field of Internet media or connectivity. Or, if you like, share with us your success stories.

Send your posts to <online-europe@isys.hu>

A full WWW archive of online-europe is available at <http://www.isys.hu/online-europe>. Don't get too excited yet. At present all you'll find there are some test messages.

Thanks for your attention, look forward to seeing you on the list.

=steve=

--- Steven Carlson iSYS Hungary info@isys.hu steve@isys.hu http://www.isys.hu