at Wed, 3 Apr 1996 21:00:15 Robin Whittle wrote
>I would be delighted to meet them again, but have not got a
>straightforward way of getting to Sydney. Following such an
>explanation, I would also like to raise the *why* question -
>although that might be beyond the ABA's terms of reference.
>
While most of you will have some idea of Robin's ideas through his postings,
many of you may not be aware of the amount of work he does on
telecommunications issues on his own initiative and at his own expense, eg
excellent work on privacy issues of calling line identification.
I have been lurking on the "NSW" thread but reading with great interest and
am very impressed with the way the group has put together some very useful
perspectives and analogies in a very short time (since yesterday morning!!).
We should perhaps also pull in the issue of 'what is the actual extent of
the problem' - the CIRCIT research
(http://teloz.latrobe.edu.au/circit/schome.html) certainly found that it was
not a major issue in schools; is anyone aware of *actual evidence* related
to home based access to the usual suspects (sex, bomb recipes, racism etc).
However even allowing for the journalist members of the list and perhaps
even a few lurking ministerial staff, real decisions are made in other fora.
I suspect what matters is what happens in, particularly the mass media and
to some extent the formal processes of parliament and the bureaucracy.
All this is leading to a modest proposition.
IF
a) the ABA want Robin to talk to them, and
b) He could do a very useful job of explaining things to them
as an interested member of the public (which I believe he could), and
c) Robin is prepared to go, and
d) Robin can't afford to go
THEN
The members of the link list should band together and pay his fares and
accomodation.
My proposed mechanism (in the absence of working digital cash) is that
members of the list, via the list or directly to Robin, nominate the amount
they would be prepared to put in towards his costs. If Robin is confident
that whatever he needs is met, he goes ahead and calls in the debts, rings
the ABA and books a plane ticket. (Obvious problems of administrative
overheads, chasing people up, non and delayed payers etc but I think it
should work.)
I will kick off with an offer of $20. Only needs 25 linkers at this rate
(from memory there are over 300) to meet basic air fare). Please put your
money where your outrage is.
Discussion welcome.
Jack Gilding
(doing this at my own expense and in my Easter hols so please don't hold
CIRCIT accountable)
end =====+=========+=========+=========+=========+=========+=========+=======
Centre for International Research on Communication & Information Technologies
Jack Gilding, Project Manager, Phone: + 61 3 9248-1174
CIRCIT, 14/300 Flinders Street, Fax: + 61 3 9248-1170
Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia Email: jgilding@circit.vut.edu.au