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From: west@ru-cs44.UUCP (west)
Newsgroups: net.news.stargate
Subject: Re: Need for Stargate screening?
Message-ID: <877@ru-cs44.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 18-Jan-85 10:35:18 EST
Article-I.D.: ru-cs44.877
Posted: Fri Jan 18 10:35:18 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 21-Jan-85 02:45:15 EST
References: <494@vortex.UUCP> <702@cbosgd.UUCP> <831@hound.UUCP>
Reply-To: west@ru-cs44.UUCP (Jeremy West)
Organization: Reading Univ. UK.
Lines: 54
Summary: Not all Usenetters pay for their use

In article <831@hound.UUCP> rfg@hound.UUCP (R.GRANTGES) writes:
>What is this stuff about the people who pay the bills having the say?
>Of course that's true.  But who are these people? As I understand it,
>they are we.  Each of us has an account with our comp center. Ultimately
>that account is billed to some other account belonging to some corporation
>or gov"t agency or whatever. We have an amount authorized for our
>account over some period of time, like a year. One of our supervisors
>has approved that amount. We ourselves are intrusted with how we go about
>spending the account and for what.

        This is not so for two major groups of users,
firstly and most obviously, the Universities and other
academic institutions. Students tend to be fairly cavalier
in their attitudes (present net company excepted :-}) and
most certainly have no say in the financing of their
department or university facilities.
        In the UK, at least, many academic sites are only
now receiving Usenet through a (govt funded) X25 network,
Usenet being previously regarded as of insufficient value
to justify expensive phone bills at a time of cost-cutting.

        Secondly, not all corporations bill individual
users, writing general costs off as 'overheads'. These
sites may include the most important 'backbone' sites which
are the only source for many other sites who then only pay
for local phone calls. Massive long distance phone calls are
a sure way to bankrupt many small companies or individual
users (and several 'fred@home' sites have appeared on the
net.)

        I believe that StarGate will arrive (and welcome)
and that as a broadcast medium it will suffer from the
strait-laced oppression of a hypocritical society. Thus it
will HAVE to be moderated to get off the ground (pardon the
pun) -- but, let's face it, how much of the current input
to the Net is actually libelous, obscene or an incitement
to crime? The seperate problem of "one voice reflecting an
organisation's views" will be with us even after StarGate
has proved the success I hope it will.

        An individual may not like the idea that what they
say may not be broadcast, but until society as a whole accepts
the right to say what you like to whom you like (and with all the
consequences that may entail) StarGate will have to be moderated.

        Of course, there's no need to create a
StarGate if sites are prepared to stump up the cash.
Unfortunately, sites have already said that either costs
come down or they will leave. This includes at least one
major 'feed' site on whom many others rely. In a fight
between Money and Principle, I know which one I'd back.

--
Jerry.          !ukc!ru-cs44!rdg-cs!west