[ Prev | Next | Index ] Wed Feb 21 23:15:45 MST 1996 : caferick@cruzio.com,
Santa Cruz, CA USa

                                Independence

                               Richard Lingua

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     So, itıs a matter of freedom of speech. Itıs about the ability to
     express yourself any way you want. Well, maybe. More likely, a better
     term would be independence. Itıs Washingtonıs birthday on the 22nd.
     One of the leaders who fought for the value of independence. Someone
     who, among many there have been, thought that independence was worth
     dying for, whatever their reasons.

     I cherish that independence. That independency allows me to learn
     about every subject imaginable on the net. It allows me to communicate
     with the community thatıs there. And Iım doing it for very little
     money. My local Internet Service provider will allow me to post a 10MB
     page for only $10 a month. How many people can I reach by phone or by
     mail for only $10 a month? Can I communicate uncensored anywhere else
     for that price? I realize all these answers are obvious. They belong
     to the same Q&A that Internet pros, ³newbies² and observers have been
     debating all along.

     Let me bring this to a more personal level. In an hour, Iıve checked
     the web sites of my favorite authors. These sites are most often
     posted by other loving devotees of their work. I can read their
     insights, their words of wisdom, their ideas without publisher or
     bookstore as a medium. My only obligation is the one I owe to whoever
     puts up the page, at their own time and expense, because they believe
     as I do. In the same hour, Iıve crossed the world to a web-site in
     France that has a virtual tour of the Louvre. I also checked to see
     where I can find the best price on a Mac (my preferred platform). I
     looked to see what people in my area have used my local provider to
     post their personal web pages. And, in doing so, found a former
     co-worker Iıd lost contact with some time ago.

     Is pornography an issue? Well, thereıs a rub. On the web, do I look
     for pornography/erotica/smut/sex/adult entertainment? Yeah. So what?
     Itıs none of your business if Iım in the Louvre or someone's bedroom.
     If I'm invited in, I have free will. I can go or not as I please. I
     have a choice and if I'm embarrassed I can leave. I promise you I see
     way more women in suggestive clothing and compromising positions in a
     walk past the magazine aisle at Super Crown than on a Yahoo search. I
     see far more personal indignity, exhibitionism, cruelty, ³perversion²,
     unfair and false objectification of men and women, and acts of
     questionable morality on television at any time of day or night then I
     ever saw at any ³adult-oriented² web-site.

     And I am angry.....

     I gave money to a family of three squatting next to shopping cart,
     wrapped in blankets, and sitting under an awning during a rainstorm
     two nights ago. I looked at them and I all could think about was that
     my government was wasting time and tax money on the Telecommunications
     Act? Did that rain-soaked family even know what ³telecommunications²
     meant?

     But, I stated earlier, that I felt that this was more of an
     independence issue than a freedom of speech issue. The best example is
     this. This is the first night in weeks that I've been able to cruise
     the net at leisure. I've been wanting to see how things are going
     since the passage of the Act. I came across the 24 Hours for Democracy
     project at 9.30 PM telling me that I had 21/2 hours to get my own
     message of protest ready for posting. I made it in time. The Internet
     gave me the ability to make my contribution independent of any rally,
     any mailings or phone calls, or any demonstration. It required no
     financial obligation, no conflict with my job, and no journeys to
     places I could not go to. In essence, I was mobilized within half an
     hour. Thatıs independence. And that, is very threatening.

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[Image] caferick@cruzio.com