Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 09:18:35 GMT
From: disk!tony@uunet.UU.NET (tony)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: FCC Modem Tax Rumor on Compu$erve
Organization: Digital Information Systems of KY
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 580, Message 11 of 11

john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes:

> On Jul 19 at 12:19, TELECOM Moderator notes:

>> [Moderator's Note: Well, here we go again. Someone had better get on
>> the phone to CIS and ask them if they realize the problems caused by
>> the spreading of this report and their request for help ... unless it
>> really is true this time around.

> IMHO, the Bells are not the only ones that would like to see the BBSes
> bite the dust. I am sure the FBI for one is just a little tired of the
> chatter that goes on UNCONTROLLED every day on the thousands upon
> thousands of maverick computer systems. Look what damage just a few
> FAX machines did to the PR of the Chinese government. The Federal
> government has a serious "problem" here, and juggling the rate
> structure of the means of transmission could be a most effective tool
> in keeping the citizens in line. During a recent investigation to
> which I was a party, an FBI agent, after being told about USENET and
> the Internet, exclaimed, "You mean anyone can say anything he wants
> and there is no one controlling what goes out?"

John,

	You seem to be implying that there are people in "...the land
of the free and the home of the brave..." that would like to do away
with our First Amendment right to freedom of speech.  What can members
of the bbsing community do to prevent intrusions on our most basic
rights?  Do you think continued attempts to trample our most basic
freedoms will eventually make America a socialistic state?

	On a different note, however, I might add that there ARE
departments of the government that make vital database services
available to telecommunicaters (bbsers?) at MUCH lower rates than
commercial enterprises offer the same information.  I have subscribed
to Medline for five years or so, and there is no commercial enterprise
that makes this source of medical citations available at such an
affordable price.  I might also add that until several years ago, some
of the government-operated bbses in the DC area were among the best
BBSes in the country.  

Least we forget, the government also runs (or supports to a large
extent) the Internet.  I don't think we should knock the government
excessively.  I think if the government could cheaply make a service
like Dialog affordable to the masses they would be doing a major
service.  I guess I have mixed feelings about government involvement
in telecommunications because on one hand I would like to see more
government involvement, but I say this only if it is going to make
more information available to me at less cost, not less information at
more cost.

	Last, which presidential choice do you think will do the most
to help not hinder BBSING/online data retrieval in the US in the
mid-1990's in America?  I really would like to know as this will be
a definite deciding factor in my vote for president this November.

pdh@netcom.com (Phil Howard) responds to TELECOM Moderator:

>> [Moderator's Note: Well, here we go again. Someone had better get on
>> the phone to CIS and ask them if they realize the problems caused by
>> the spreading of this report and their request for help ... unless it
>> really is true this time around. 

> Given the repetition this rumor has already had for so long, I would
> think the FCC probably would not be able to withstand the political
> fallout of actually trying to (finally) sneak it by.

Possibly.  But just _how_ influential do you think bbsers/telecommunicat- 
ers/modemers are in the US?  Do "we" really have as much power as "we"
might like to believe we have.  Uh, to paraphrase the Firesign Theatre,
"Just who am us, anyways?"  <grin>


Tony Safina -=- disk!tony@uunet.UU.NET