When I first read this thread, I agreed with Chris' goal of getting some of
whatever was being smoked. As I thought further however, the concept
represents one expression of what WATPA's stood for from the beginning ...
access to information by all. I began to be troubled by the thought that
possibly WATPA's been striving for something that once available isn't
wanted (kinda like Groucho's refusal to join any club that would have him as
a member).
Creating a federal bureacracy to give out, then monitor availability of
e-mail addresses isn't going to make the addresses useful, even if each
address was given to the lucky recipient along with a computer, modem and
prepaid telephone line with which to use it. Following the previously
mentioned analogy of the telephone system (and/or the postal system), access
to information must begin with knowledge - what is e-mail ... what can I do
with it ... why _should_ I want/use/need it? Following knowledge must be
training - now that I know what it is etc, how/where can I get to it and use
it? After knowledge and training, access on either a free public basis
(i.e. through libraries, post offices, information kiosk's, etc) or on a
subsidized/regulated basis becomes valuable. After all, even if someone
gave me a fishing pole I still wouldn't be able to use it to put food on my
table if I didn't know how to fish ...
Giving out universal e-mail addresses _sounds_ like an easy answer to a
growing problem. But it is too simplistic an answer, focused only on the
symptom (lack of e-mail addresses for the information-have-nots) rather than
on the problem (lack of knowledge and training).
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David J. Rosenbaum DRosenbaum@rcsinc.com
Real-Time Computer Services, Inc. Phone : 914-693-7000
547 Saw Mill River Road Fax : 914-693-7005
Ardsley, New York 10502