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Edited Edupage, 4 February 1997



From:	IN%"[email protected]"  5-FEB-1997 01:10:14.09
To:	IN%"[email protected]"  "EDUCOM Edupage Mailing List"

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>Edupage, 4 February 1997.  Edupage, a summary of news about information
>technology, is provided three times a week as a service by Educom, a
>Washington, D.C.-based consortium of leading colleges and universities
>seeking to transform education through the use of information technology.
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>GATES SAYS OLD LAWS ARE GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE NET
>Microsoft's Bill Gates:  "It's always surprising how old concepts carry over
>into the new medium.  It's overly idealistic to act like, Oh, the Internet
>is the one place where people should be able to do whatever they wish:
>present child pornography, do scams, libel people, steal copyrighted
>material.  Society's values have not changed fundamentally just because it's
>an Internet page.  Take copyright.  Sure, there should be some
>clarifications about copyright, but the old principles work surprisingly
>well in the new medium.  Anybody who says you have to start over -- I don't
>agree with that."  (George Feb 97)

	Looks like he hasn't thought about enforcement problems, which
may fortunately prevent the application of unnecessary laws to the 'net.

>CULTURE CLASHES ON THE INTERNET
>At a session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the issue of
>censorship on the Internet was debated from East/West perspectives, with the
>Eastern view represented by such countries as Singapore, Iran, and Egypt.
>Denmark foreign minister Uffe Ellemann-Jensen said, "Whenever you want to
>stop the free flow of information, you must ask yourself what is possible.
>The usual answer from politicians is we need international rules.  I say,
>forget it.  It won't happen."  Iranian mathematics professor Mohammed
>Lasijani countered:  "In the west, the issue is sometimes how to globalise
>liberalism:  how to export an ideology.  I am not a liberal, and I do not
>believe liberalism is the only way to a decent life."  (Financial Times 4
>Feb 97)

	Well, yes, neither did Adolf Hitler. Sorry, cultural differences
won't wash; individual liberties are more important than culture or
national sovreignty.

>Edupage is written by John Gehl <[email protected]> & Suzanne Douglas
><[email protected]>.  Voice:  404-371-1853, Fax: 404-371-8057.

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