Re: Siegel and Lewis

[Michael Conlen <meconlen@IntNet.net>]

On Wed, 4 Jan 1995, Jonathan Cooper wrote:

> > is how can they regulate what private business and citizen's do with 
> > there Fiber Optic's, ISDN lines, telephone lines, and computers. If the
> 
>    They already do - look at the regulations on telcos, power companies, 
> water companies, cellular/paging companies, lawyers, doctors, etc. 

A big difference between the 'net and some of the above, is that the net 
has been around in a very large presence (internatonaly) before the laws 
are being introduced, where as paging and cellular service didnt exist. 
As far as lawyers and doctors and lawyers, one of the big things the 
government does is protect agianst quacks. Not to many people are going to 
argue with this. The government wants to protect us from speech in the 
case of the 'net, well there are quite a few people who are going to 
stand up for their first amenment rights. 

If you want your own communication service, you can buy it. weather you 
use fiber based WAN's or go straight for satalite service, used by 
companies such as Holiday Inn, or Circuit City. You can exchange any 
information you want. 

I think the important thing to remember is that net access is not a 
right. My service provider has the right to give service to whom they 
please, as long as race, sex, or creed are not deciding factors. 

What goes across .gov and .mil computers is one thing, however what 
commes across sprintlink's computers to my service proveder to my 
computer is up to sprintlink, Intnet.net and myself. I dont care to read 
racist comments, so I dont view them. If I want to download nudie gifs, 
its my business, and right as stated under the First Amenment.