From: hauben@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Michael Hauben)
Subject: The Computer as Democratizer: James Mill & Usenet News
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 02:34:38 GMT


                 The Computer as a Democratizer
                    James Mill & Usenet News

                        by Michael Hauben

"...only through diversity of opinion is there, in the existing
state of human intellect, a chance of fair play to all sides of
the truth."
     (John Stuart Mill, "On Liberty," Three Essays, Oxford, 1975,
     p. 60) 

"In a very real sense, USENET is a marketplace of ideas."
     (Bart Anderson, Bryan Costales, and Harry Henderson,  Unix
     Communications, Indiana, 1991, p.224)
------------------------------------------

     Political thought has developed as writers have presented
the theoretical basis behind the various class structures from
aristocracy to democracy. Plato wrote of the rule of the elite
Guardians. Thomas Paine wrote of the rule of the common people.
The computer connects to this democratizing trend by facilitating
wider communications between both individual citizens and the
general body of citizens.

     James Mill, the father of John Stuart Mill, analyzes democ-
racy in his essay "Liberty of the Press" from the 1825 Supplement
to the Encyclopedia Britannica. He puzzles over the question of a
government that operates properly. The difference is between a
government that operates for the advantage and in the service of
the people rather than for the advantage and gain of only those
individuals who are the government. Mill sees the absolute
corruption in government if the chance exists. Those in the
position of rule, would abuse that power for their advantage.
Mill describes, "If one man saw that he might promote misrule for
his own advantage, so would another; so, of course would they
all." (Mill, James, "Essay on Liberty of the Press", p 20) Mill
is led to say that the people need a check on those in govern-
ment. People need to keep watch on their government in order to
make sure this government works in the interest of the many. Mill
gives his choice of a check in the following:, "There can be no
adequate check without the freedom of the press. The evidence of
this is irresistible." (Mill, 18)

     What Mill often phrases as freedom of the press, or liberty
of the press, could perhaps be more precisely defined as the
uncensored press. The uncensored press provides for the dissemi-
nation of information and diverse opinions that allow the reader
or thinker to do two things. First, a person can size up the
issue and honestly decide his or her own position. Second, as the
press is uncensored, this person can make his distinctive contri-
bution available for other people to consider and appreciate.
Thus what Mill calls "freedom of the press" makes possible better
informed opinions and the free flow and exchange of different
ideas.

      Thomas Paine, in The Rights of Man, describes a fundamental
principle of democracy. Paine writes, "that the right of altering
the government was a national right, and not a right of the
government." (341) Mill also views active participation by the
populace as a necessary principle of democracy. He writes,

     "Unless a door is left open to the resistance of the
     government, in the largest sense of the word, the
     doctrine of passive obedience is adopted; and the
     consequence is, the universal prevalence of the misgov-
     ernment, ensuring the misery and degradation of the
     people." (Mill, 13)

     Another principle Mill links democracy to, is the right of
the people to define who can responsibly represent their will.
However, this right requires information to make a proper deci-
sion. Liberty of the Press can also fill this role in addition to
being a check. Mill writes:

     "We may then ask, if there are any possible means by
     which the people can make a good choice, besides liber-
     ty of the press? The very foundation of a good choice
     is knowledge. The fuller and more perfect the knowl-
     edge, the better the chance, where all sinister inter-
     est is absent, of a good choice. How can the people
     receive the most perfect knowledge relative to the
     characters of those who present themselves to their
     choice, but by information conveyed freely, and without
     reserve, from one to another?" (Mill 19)

Without information being available to the people, the candidates
for office can be either as bad as the incumbents or worse.
Therefore there is a need to prevent the government from censor-
ing the information available to people. Mill explains:

     "If it is in the power of their rulers to permit one
     person and forbid another, the people may be sure that
     a false report, - a report calculated to make them
     believe that they are well governed, when they are
     ill-governed, will be often presented to them." (Mill,
     20)

     After electing their representatives, democracy gives the
public the right to evaluate their chosen representatives in
office. The public continually needs information as to how their
chosen representatives are fulfilling the role. Once these
representatives have abused their power, Paine's and Mill's
principle allows the public to replace that abuser. Mill also
clarifies that free use of the means of communication is another
extremely important principle:

     "That an accurate report of what is done by each of the
     representatives, a transcript of his speeches, and a
     statement of his propositions and votes, is necessary
     to be laid before the people, to enable them to judge
     of his conduct, nobody, we presume, will deny. This
     requires the use of the cheapest means of communica-
     tion, and, we add, the free use of those means. Unless
     every man has the liberty of publishing the proceedings
     of the Legislative Assembly, the people can have no
     security that they are fairly published. (Mill 20)

     Ignorance Thomas Paine calls the absence of knowledge.
However, he says that men with knowledge cannot be returned to a
state of ignorance (357). James Mill shows how the knowledge man
thirsts after leads to a communal feeling. General conformity of
opinion seeds resistance against misgovernment. Both conformity
of opinion and resistance require general information or knowl-
edge. Mill explains:

     "In all countries people have either a power legally
     and peaceably of removing their governors, or they have
     not that power. If they have not that power, they can
     only obtain very considerable ameliorations of their
     governments by resistance, by applying physical force
     to their rulers, or, at least, by threats so likely to
     be followed by performance, as may frighten their
     rulers into compliance. But resistance, to have this
     effect, must be general. To be general, it must spring
     from a general conformity of opinion, and a general
     knowledge of that conformity. How is this effect to be
     produced, but by some means, fully enjoyed by the
     people of communicating their sentiments to one anoth-
     er? Unless the people can all meet in general assembly,
     there is no other means, known to the world, of attain-
     ing this object, to be compared with freedom of the
     press." (Mill, 18)

In the previous quote Mill places his championing of the freedom
of press as a realistic alternative to Rousseau's "general assem-
bly," which Mill feels is not a feasible form of democracy. Mill
expands on the freedom of the press by setting the rules. An
opinion cannot be well founded until its converse is also pres-
ent. Here he sets forth the importance of developing your own
opinion from those that exist. Mill writes:

     "We have then arrived at the following important con-
     clusions, -- that there is no safety to the people in
     allowing any body to choose opinions for them; that
     there are no marks by which it can be decided before-
     hand, what opinions are true and what are false; that
     there must, therefore, be equal freedom of declaring
     all opinions both true and false; and that, when all
     opinions, true and false, are equally declared, the
     assent of the greater number, when their interests are
     not opposed to them, may always be expected to be given
     to the true. These principles, the foundation of which
     appears to be impregnable, suffice for the speedy
     determination of every practical question." (Mill, 23)

     The current technological advances, the personal computer,
international computer networks, and other recent advances, bring
alive the possibility of exercising needed oversight over the
government. Liberty of the Press is one name that could be given
to the current state of how computers are influencing greater
communications. The personal computer makes it affordable for
most people to have an information access station in their very
own home. There are international computer networks that exist
which allow a person to have debates with other people across the
world over current events, search for data in various data banks,
or even play a computer game.
 
     If a person is affiliated with a university community, works
at a business which pays to connect to the Internet, or pays a
special service a fee, he or she can connect to a network of
computer networks around the world. A connection to this interna-
tional network empowers a person by giving him access to various
services. These services include electronic mail, which means the
ability to send private messages electronically to people across
the world who also have electronic mail boxes. The public alter-
native to this is a service called Usenet News. This service is
an example of James Mill's democratic principles.

     Usenet News consists of many newsgroups which each cover a
broad, but yet specific topic. People who utilize Usenet News
typically pick certain newsgroups or topics to focus on. Every
group has several items of discussion going on at the same time.
Some examples of newsgroups include serious topics such as
talk.politics.theory, - people "talking" about current issues and
political theory, sci.econ - people discussing the science of
economics, soc.culture.usa - people debating questions of United
States society; and recreational topics (which might also be
serious) such as alt.rock-n-roll - discussing various aspects of
rock music, rec.sport.hockey - discussion of hockey and rec.humor
- jokes and humor. The discussions are very active and provide a
source of information that fulfills James Mill's criteria for
both more oversight over government and a more informed popula-
tion. In a sense, what was once before impossible, is now possi-
ble; everyone's letter to the editor is published. (Hauben,
"Interview with Staff Member," "The Amateur Computerist," v.4
n.2-3 p. 14) What is important is that Usenet News is conducted
publicly, and the unmoderated Newsgroups are uncensored. This
means that everyone can both contribute and gain from everyone
else's opinion. 

     The importance of Usenet News also exists in that it is an
improvement in communications technology from that of previous
telecommunications. The predecessors to computer networks were
the Ham Radio and Citizen Band Radio (CB). The computer network
is an advance in that it is easier to store, reproduce and
utilize the exchange of information and ideas. It is easier to
continue a prolonged question & answer session or debate than was
possible. The newsgroups on Usenet News have a distribution
designation which allows them to be available to a wide variety
of localities - local, city, national, or international. The
distribution designation facilitates the exchange of more ideas.
A person can chose how wide or narrow his or her messages will be
broadcast. The problem with the Internet is that in a sense it is
only open to those who either have it provided to them by a
university or company that they are affiliated with, or they have
to pay for it. This limits part of the current development of the
computer networks.
     
     An example of a public enterprise, however, is a computer
service called Cleveland Free-Net in Ohio. Cleveland Free-Net is
operated by Case Western Reserve University as a community
service. Anyone with a personal computer and a modem (a device to
connect to other computers over existing phone lines) can call a
local phone number to connect to Free-Net. If members of the
public do not own computers, they can use Free-Net at the Cleve-
land public library. Besides Usenet News, Free-Net provides free
access to a vast variety of information databases and community
information. Free-Net is just one example of the computer net-
works becoming much more readily available to broad sectors of
society. As part of it's databases, Free-Net includes Supreme
Court decisions, discussion of political issues and candidates,
and debate over contemporary laws. Free-Net is beginning to
exemplify Mill's principle that democracy requires the "use of
the cheapest means of communication, and, we add, the free use of
those means." (Mill 20)

     This is an exciting time to see the democratic ideas of some
great political thinkers beginning to be practiced. James Mill
wrote that for government to serve the people, it must be watched
by the people utilizing an uncensored press. Freedom of the press
also makes possible the debate necessary for the forming of well-
founded opinions by the people. Usenet and Free-Net are examples
of the contemporary electronic practice of the uncensored acces-
sible press required by Mill. These networks are also the result
of hard work of many people aspiring for more democracy. However,
they still require more help from those dedicated to the hard
fight against tyranny.

                          Bibliography

Anderson, Bart, Bryan Costales, and Harry Henderson.  Unix Communications  
      Indiana. 1991

Hauben, Michael. "Interview with a Staff Member."  The Amateur
     Computerist.  v4 n2-3.

Mill, James.  Essays on Government, Jurisprudence, Liberty of the
     Press, and Law of Nations.  Reprint Kelly Publishers  New
     York 1967

Mill, John Stuart.  "On Liberty" in Three Essays  Oxford, 1975  

Paine, Thomas.  The Rights of Man in Two Classics of the French
     Revolution.  Anchor Books, Doubleday. New York 1989.

Watkins, Beverly T. "Free-Net helps Case Western fulfill its
     Community-Service Mission."  April 29, 1992  Chronicle of
     Higher Education  p. A21

Xref: sparky alt.amateur-comp:124 alt.activism:17606 sci.econ:8160 talk.politics.theory:4553