Please don't confuse New York with the vast reaches of Rural America. ALL Internet access is a long distance call from many many location in the world, including here. I would *love to have a free national net available, 'cause I think I know how to use it. Others might abuse it, but I woul work the heck out of it. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1993 17:29:18 -0500 From: "Perry E. Metzger" <pmetzger@lehman.com> To: cypherpunks@toad.com Subject: Re: Should we oppose the Data Superhighway/NII? jdblair@nextsrv.cas.muohio.edu says:

I'm not sure what you mean by "various groups," but I do think that a very basic net connection, with minimal services (access to government records, public domain postings, and similar information) should be provided either free or at a very minimal cost.

In New York City, the effective variable cost of an internet mail/news connection is $27 a month -- less than you can panhandle in about threen hours during rush hour, and I'm assuming you never use the phone for anything else and call a couple times a day. The cost is still dropping, and will doubtless be nearly invisible even without any government intervention within a few years. My poorest unemployed friend living in Hell's Kitchen in a fifth floor walkup apartment in roach-infested tenement (no joke) has an internet connection via Panix. I therefore see no reason for government guarantees of net access -- it is obvious that anyone with even minimal initiative can get one already, or will be able to within a few years. The cost of a net connection is far less than the cost of, say, smoking, and there are homeless people who still manage to smoke. Perry