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