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1996-05-20
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┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ │
│ Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 7 Num. 81 │
│ ====================================== │
│ ("Quid coniuratio est?") │
│ │
│ │
│----------------------------------------------------------------- │
│ │
│THE PRIVATIZATION OF THE INTERNET │
│================================= │
│ │
│In CN 7.72 the "Privatization of the Internet" story was │
│mentioned. According to *The 1996 Project Censored Yearbook*, │
│the Internet "was essentially sold last year. The federal │
│government has been gradually transferring the backbone of the │
│U.S. portion of the global computer network to companies such as │
│IBM and MCI as part of a larger plan to privatize cyberspace." │
│ │
│Let's see... We pay taxes out of our pockets; the U.S. │
│government uses that money to build the Internet; the government │
│then gives the Internet to big corporations; then finally the big │
│corporations start charging us more and more bucks for them │
│letting us use "their" Internet! │
│ │
│This past week on C-Span they had Ralph Nader speaking to a crowd │
│in an auditorium somewhere. And one thing that Mr. Nader brought │
│up was how we pay taxes that help keep the universities going; │
│the universities conduct research on drugs; the results of the │
│research go to major pharmaceutical giants; then finally the │
│major pharmaceutical giants charge us big bucks to use "their" │
│drugs! │
│ │
│Yesterday, in the local paper, they had an article about how the │
│University of Illinois has developed new software they are │
│calling "Vosaic"; Vosaic, "a name derived from another popular UI │
│product, Mosaic -- makes sending video across the Internet a │
│breeze," says Julie Wurth, News-Gazette staff writer. This new │
│technology is slated to be marketed by Digital Video │
│Communications, based in Chicago and Los Angeles. The question │
│arises: since the American people have helped pay for this │
│already, they're not going to have to pay again, are they?? │
│ │
│But the point I have in this is that old concern of, How are they │
│going to shut down free expression on Internet? They are working │
│at it from "liberal" Billy Clinton's angle of his tremendous │
│concern about "indecency." Another attack could be coming from │
│the corporados, closely aligned with the U.S. government if not │
│in fact the actual puppet masters of same. I see in the May 6, │
│1996 *Newsweek* (p. 12) that, indeed, "[Internet] Traffic once │
│carried on the backbone has been transferred to private networks │
│owned by companies like MCI and Sprint..." (See also *The │
│Nation*, 07/03/95, "Keeping On-Line Speech Free: Street Corners │
│in Cyberspace," by Andrew L. Shapiro.) │
│ │
│You know these corporados: first they give America their │
│stunning architecture -- McDonalds, Arbys, K-Mart, etc. now │
│blighting the landscape -- and next they give us the shaft. How │
│soon before they start charging us for what we've already paid │
│for? How soon before "some people" don't get as good of a │
│connection to "their" Internet? │
│ │
│----------------------------------------------------------------- │
│ I encourage distribution of "Conspiracy Nation." │
│----------------------------------------------------------------- │
│If you would like "Conspiracy Nation" sent to your e-mail │
│address, send a message in the form "subscribe cn-l My Name" to │
│listproc@cornell.edu (Note: that is "CN-L" *not* "CN-1") │
│----------------------------------------------------------------- │
│ For information on how to receive the improved Conspiracy │
│ Nation Newsletter, send an e-mail message to bigred@shout.net │
│----------------------------------------------------------------- │
│Want to know more about Whitewater, Oklahoma City bombing, etc? │
│(1) telnet prairienet.org (2) logon as "visitor" (3) go citcom │
│----------------------------------------------------------------- │
│ See also: http://www.europa.com/~johnlf/cn.html │
│----------------------------------------------------------------- │
│ See also: ftp.shout.net pub/users/bigred │
│----------------------------------------------------------------- │
│Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt. │
│Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et │
│ pauperem. -- Liber Proverbiorum XXXI: 8-9 │
│ │
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