Re: FCC's Hundt calls for univ service for Net, nixes iphone regs

[tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)]

At 7:04 AM 9/21/96, David M. Rose wrote:
>On Fri, 20 Sep 1996, Declan McCullagh wrote:

>>[Note that the 'we" paying for the shipping clerk's network is a
>>private corporation spending its own money. But the second "we" is the
>>government spending netizens' money. Guess the FCC can't tell the
>>difference. --Declan]
>
>Correct. And if "we" fund universal service, then "we" don't want to see
>anything on the Net about non-GAK crypto, the right to bear arms, freedom of
>association, chemistry, non-clothed persons, taxes, etc. etc.  "We" feel
>that many if not "all American, but especially kids in classrooms" would be
>injured by these thoughts.

This is a terribly important point. If the "universal access" scheme is
approved and deployed, it gets the government back into the regulation of
the Net business. (I'm speaking of the "regulation of the Net" of the sort
that existed some years back, when "appropriate use" (scientific,
technical, educational, etc.) was the watchword, and casual chatter, GIFs,
etc. were called "inappropriate" by some.

The Constitutional issues of free speech would remain mostly unchanged even
if "universal access" happens, but the government would definitely get more
of a foot in the door than it has now.

--Tim May


We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed.
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Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
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