(Fwd) Just Say No to Telcom "Reform"

Thought this might interest you guys.


------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Sun, 26 Jan 1997 13:00:14 -0800 (PST)
From:          Audrie Krause <akrause@igc.apc.org>
Subject:       Just Say No to Telcom "Reform"
To:            iaj-futuremedia@igc.apc.org

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ACTION ALERT     Please re-post where appropriate
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Dear Friends,

On February 8, the first anniversary of the Telecommunications Reform
Act of 1996, NetAction and the Center for Educational Priorities are
launching a month-long Internet demonstration to call attention to the
wide gap between the rhetoric and reality of this sweeping
legislation.  

President Clinton and Congress promised the American people that
enactment of the Telecommunications Reform Act would lead to a
cornucopia of technological innovations that would change the nation's
cultural frontiers, expand our choices, dazzle our eyes, and inform
our minds.  Instead, we've been censored in cyberspace, subjected to
TV ratings systems, and prevented from experiencing the benefits of a
truly competitive marketplace by the emergence of "cartels" created by
mega-mergers in the telecommunications and media industries.

This is not reform!  And it's not too late to demand that our decision
makers deliver on what they promised us on February 8, 1996: MORE
competition, MORE consumer choices, MORE widespread access to
information technology.

The Center for Educational Priorities and NetAction are spearheading
this demonstration in an effort to pressure the Federal Communications
Commission and other state and national regulatory agencies to ensure
that the Act is implemented in a way that truly benefits the public. 
We invite you to join this effort by linking to the site at
<http://www.cep.org/protest.html> for one month beginning on February
8.  By linking to the protest site, you will be adding your voice to a
united demand for true telecommunications reform.

The site is currently under development.  When completed, it will
feature brief summaries of the impact the Act has had in its first
year on telecommunications and technology policy, media ownership and
content, and censorship, along with suggested actions to help ensure
that implementation of the Act truly benefits the public.  We are also
creating extensive links to other organizations working on these
issues, as well as to other sites with current information on
censorship, mega-mergers, universal service, school hook-ups, and the
v-chip. We welcome suggestions for additional links to add.

Please let us know if you will participate in the demonstration by
contacting NetAction, by email at akrause@igc.org, or by phone at
415-775-8674. Thanks!

=-=-=-=-=-=-
Ross Wright
King Media: Bulk Sales of Software Media and Duplication Services
http://www.slip.net/~cdr/kingmedia
Voice: 415-206-9906

Ross Wright forwarded:
 
> President Clinton and Congress promised the American people that
> enactment of the Telecommunications Reform Act would lead to a
> cornucopia of technological innovations that would change the nation's
> cultural frontiers, expand our choices, dazzle our eyes, and inform
> our minds.  Instead, we've been censored in cyberspace, subjected to
> TV ratings systems, and prevented from experiencing the benefits of a
> truly competitive marketplace by the emergence of "cartels" created by
> mega-mergers in the telecommunications and media industries.

  Surprise, surprise!
 
> This is not reform!  And it's not too late to demand that our decision
> makers deliver on what they promised us on February 8, 1996:

  Yes it is.
  Nobody in politics gives up the ground they've gained. The fact that
they were able to hose the citizens the first time around only 
reinforces their certainty that they can continue to do so.
  While people are still fighting the earlier, lost battles, they are
preparing for the next one.
  I fully support anyone who wants to continue to fight past battles,
present battles, and future battles, on the level of surface politics.
But I think that their efforts are most effective if they add the
tools and weapons developed by the underground to their battles.
  Let them know that if they want to censor you, they will have to
censor your 'strong' crypto. Even if you choose to fight by showing
up with your gun on your hip, at high-noon, it still doesn't hurt to
have one tucked in your boot, as well.

Toto

Toto <toto@sk.sympatico.ca> writes:
>   Let them know that if they want to censor you, they will have to
> censor your 'strong' crypto. Even if you choose to fight by showing
> up with your gun on your hip, at high-noon, it still doesn't hurt to
> have one tucked in your boot, as well.

Certain unnamed people believe that "strong" crypto, like free speech,
is only for those who use it "responsibly". Privacy is for the elite;
and they wish to join the elite, rather then extend the right to privacy
and/or free speech to the "unwashed masses".

---

Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps