FW: Behind the scenes...

Sat Feb 22 20:24:01 UTC 1997

On Sat, 22 Feb 1997, Jim Fleming wrote:

[early internet background description deleted]

> I am disappointed to report that the behind the scenes
> Internet of 1997 looks more like a communist/fascist
> republic than the democratic system in the U.S. that
> helped to create the Internet. In my opinion, this is
> partly because a few individuals have been allowed to
> rise to positions of visibility and power without the
> normal checks and balances that are present in a
> democracy.

Care to name these people ?

> We now have a situation where the so-called "leaders"
> of the Internet support people who run around "blacklisting"
> and denying service to people at the drop of a hat.

Are you talking about denying service to known spammers ?
I don't regard that as '..the drop of a hat.'

How would you describe the spammer industry ?
Do you think they're just a bunch of smart businessmen grabbing value
from those who pay for Internet resources ?

> their societies. This will help to ensure that children
> and adults everywhere have a chance to enjoy
> the wonderful resources that the Internet can
> provide in a truely democratic Internet society (small s).

So in this context 'fully democratic' means we all get to vote on the
question of whether junk emailers should be allowed to send as much junk
as they want ?
Jim, please explain your NSF-paid ideal.

> Thank you for your time...

thank you for your insight.

regards
kim

--
kimc at w8hd.org