[1]                          Editorial

This issue of the Amateur Computerist returns to a general rather than
thematic format. There are a number of articles, however, that
explore whether the Internet will be for everybody or whether it will
be limited to an exclusive strata of society. Also the question 
what role the Internet will play in society is a question that needs
public discussion and examination. Such topics are being ignored by
the media, at least in the U.S., at the current time. Meanwhile there
are plans in the U.S. to change some of the nature of the Internet and
the means of its access. While the Internet was originally created to
make possible resource sharing of human and computer resources, there
are commercial desires to make the Internet into a network that will
prioritize packets and introduce classes of service so that the
packets of those who pay more will be treated in a privileged way and
those who cannot pay more will have their packets treated as second
class. The article in this issue about the cancellation of
programming classes at the Ford Motor Company that led to the creation
of the Amateur Computerist shows that a change in policy can be
carried out in a way that is hidden from the public and contrary to
their best interests. The effort of the staff of the Amateur
Computerist to continue to support the development of computers and
computer education, despite losing the classes has been an important
achievement. Almost 15 years after the computer programming classes
were ended at the Ford Rouge Plant, the Ford Model E program has been
introduced and is making it possible for many Ford employees to have
computers and a form of Internet access. What will be the long term
effect of this program will be interesting to see.

The talk "Is the Internet a Laboratory for Democracy?" presented at a
European Union Conference in December 1999, describes the important
role that the Internet can play in making it possible for citizens to
make some impact on the otherwise difficult problems of their
societies. Understanding the potential of the Internet and the goals
of its early socio-technical pioneers can help to define a path for
those concerned with its continued development.

The article on the State of the Net in Hungary provides a view of how
Internet development is progressing in Hungary and the problems that
the Hungarian people are encountering to be able to have access to the
Internet. This article helps to understand the challenges to a society
trying to develop the Internet and trying to have it serve a general
purpose and socially beneficial goal.

In a similar way, the challenges of Usenet's development and the
effect on Usenet of a company archiving the posts contributed by users
is explored in "Culture Clash: The Google Purchase of the 1995-2001
Usenet Archive and the Online Community."

In this issue we express sadness with the loss to the Internet and the
world of two important Netizens, Michael Muuss and Kerry Miller.

The article on John Locke and the Privatization of the Internet
considers the importance of thinking about the way that the Internet
was originally created and the benefits that a social goal provided
for all users. John Locke's writing offers some helpful ways of
understanding how the benefits of such a shared development are
important to consider and nourish.

Serialization of the article describing the early development of the
MsgGroup mailing list ends in this issue. Reviewing this early
mailing list provides a way to look back at some of the early vision
of creating an online collaborative process. This can help provide
useful perspective toward understanding the current developments and
plans for scaling the Internet. How far have we come and where do we
as a society want to go with regard to the future of the Internet? 
There is a vital need to be raising such questions publicly and
hearing from a variety of voices of users about how they perceive the
path forward. We hope that volume 10 no 2 of the Amateur Computerist
will contribute to catalyzing the much needed public discussion on
these issues.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Reprinted from the Amateur Computerist Vol 10 No 2 Spring 2001. 
The whole issue or a subscription is available for free via email. 
Send a request to jrh@ais.org  or see  http://www.ais.org/~jrh/acn/
----------------------------------------------------------------------