From  News & Features: Connect: The Web: Oct. 26, 1997
from the Orange County Register
http://www.ocregister.com/news/connect/1997/1097/102697/web.html

   The Web
   
   [INLINE] ONLINE RIGHTS: Michael and Ronda Hauben argue for equal, free
   Internet access for all in their book, Netizens: On the History and
   Impact of Usenet and the Internet.'
   
Oct. 26, 1996

   SHOULD NET ACCESS BE A RIGHT?
   
   By LESLIE GORNSTEIN
   The Orange County Register
   
   If we let it, the Internet could help re-engineer our laws, our
   politics, our society -- a virtual renaissance. But first, it ought to
   be free.
   
   So say Michael Hauben and his mother, Ronda, a New York-based team
   whose new book calls for Internet access for all.
   
   The book, "Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the
   Internet," even goes so far as to suggest a bill of rights for online
   dwellers, including:
   
     Equal Internet access time for all.
   
     Equal quality of connections for all.
   
     Banishment of official "spokespeople" on the Net. Discussions in
   chat groups or newsgroups should be free-flowing, instead of being
   censored by newsgroup moderators.
   
     Banishment of personal profit resulting from what others contribute
   online.
   
   More than anything, Internet dwellers must stop thinking of the Net as
   a place for personal gain, instead realizing that they must contribute
   as much as they benefit, the Haubens say.
   
   "The Net is not a service," the book says. "It is a right."
   
   Their book -- both a history of the Internet and a theory on its role
   in society -- was issued through the Institute of Electrical and
   Electronics Engineers' publications office (http://www.ieee.org) in
   Los Alamitos.
   
   Ronda Hauben teaches middle school in New York City. Michael Hauben is
   a student at Teachers College of Columbia University. The two also
   publish the Amateur Computerist newsletter online, at
   http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/acn/index.html
   
   While the book is long on the history of the Net, and on ideals about
   how it could be used for general betterment, it falls short on
   suggesting practical ways to turn us all into Netizens.
   
   In a telephone question-and-answer session last week, the Haubens
   expanded on their views of how the Internet could be used as a tool to
   craft a better society.
   
   Q: In the book, you talk about the role the Net will play in the
   future. What are the biggest changes the Net will bring about?
   
   Michael: People have a chance to air their voices in a forum that is
   both available and open. In the past, even open, public forums were
   much more controlled in terms of editors, etc. I see that leading to a
   more democratic atmosphere overall -- whether it be in politics, or
   whatever social structure.
   
   Ronda: Geography is becoming much less of an issue. It is possible to
   know much more about what is going on in other areas around the world.
   So it is possible to have a much more accurate view, and that can be
   the basis for making laws that are much more appropriate to a
   situation.
   
   It leads to a scientific re-engineering -- a renaissance, almost.
   
   Q: So you don't subscribe to beliefs that the Net is becoming a
   wasteland of babble?
   
   Michael: No. Any signal outweighs any noise. And that is what should
   be encouraged and sought out, vs. what is being called trash.
   
   Ronda: And as this is happening, there needs to be a broader
   government policy to make the Net available to everyone.
   
   Q: So you see the Internet as a utility?
   
   Ronda: I thought that that was how the early pioneers saw it. It is
   like electricity or a telephone.
   
   Michael: If you have ideas out there, where anyone can run into them,
   there is a greater influence than something just sent to, say, a
   representative.
   
   Ronda: One of the big challenges we will see is, will the Internet be
   made available to a broad set of people in the United States? The
   issue is not being adequately taken up by public officials, and there
   is a great hunger among people to have it taken up. We are in a real
   battle right now.
   
   Q: So what's the problem with our government?
   
   Michael: This country, as opposed to Canada and others, is much more
   focused on looking at how to make money off of the Internet.
   
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