Re: Should we oppose the Data Superhighway/NII?

["Perry E. Metzger" <pmetzger@lehman.com>]

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