Re: Political participation for whom? [cr-95/9/10]

1995-09-21

Sender: •••@••.••• (Don Porter)

On Sep 20, 1995 01:07:46, 'Cyber Rights <•••@••.•••>'
wrote:


>The point of this (rather long, sorry) explanation is that when we talk
about
>access in this context, we must remember that access must explicitly refer
to
>what *kind* of access, not just how to ensure that many people have
access. For
>me, access must mean that many or most can tap into the system, but also
that
>in doing so they must be able to send out information as readily as they
can
>receive it in their homes or offices

 You raise some very important points about "access", Michael. As with most
things in life, it's going to come in varying degrees, and we need to
decide now what we mean by the term if we're going to do an adequate job of
allowing everyone to participate equally (or as nearly equally as feasible)
in the information age.

Your comments reminded me of a note I saw the other day from a "freenet"
poster who apparently lost his access for daring to reply to Usenet
messages, instead of  just reading them. From his post, it appears that
communications on the system are upposed to be limited to only e-mail
between people who already know each other. Makes it tough to broaden one's
information horizons that way.

The freenet was in Buffalo, which I understand is rather close to you guys.
I don't know if that explains things or not. <g>


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 Posted by --  Andrew Oram  --  •••@••.••• --  Cambridge, Mass., USA
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