Re: AARNet charges - IMPORTANT!!

Joshua Pitcher (jpitcher@nospam.acacia.itd.uts.edu.au)
Mon, 12 Dec 94 23:43:10 EST

> I think this sort of thing was inevitable, considering the
> 'popularisation' of the net. But think about it, those of us doing
> Comp.Sci. and related degrees are really getting a free ride here... and
> at whose expense. Sure, we are all going to say that we use the Net to
> help our degree, but what it comes down to, is that those of us in
> Comp.Sci can browse the Web, read News, d/load the latest Doom .wad, etc
> for free... while all other poor schmucks have to pay anything from 15
> bucks a month, to 5 bucks an hour. I think the real issue here is that
> most of us (not ALL...) simply don't want to lose this meal ticket
> (myself included). But is it fair on the rest of the population. I mean,
> who pays for the Net anyway? Yes it is a point of much contention, some
> say it's the taxpayer, some say it's the student via HECS, others say
> it's both. The fact is, and everyone is going to have to wake up to it,
> that the Net is changing, maybe for the worse, maybe for the better, but
> there is little we can do about it.
>

I think thats a pretty fair call, I'm quite happy to pay for a movie or to
see a band and I even pay for software every now and again!

As and engineering student, I can safely say that 99.98224532143% (sorry I've
got a Pentium :-) of my activity on the net has nothing to do with my course.
In fact, the only coursework I do on the net in _occasionally_ mail my thesis
supervisor. So as much as I enjoy the service for free, If any charging
scheme is to be implemented, I think a user pays system is the way to go.

I do not wish to pay a general levy if I'm just using email while Joe Bloggs
is on IRC and Mosaic 6 hours a day. Nor would I mind paying a couple of dollars
to dowmload the latest Linux version if need be.

In short, there's no such thing as a free lunch. If the uni wears the
additional cost of 'timed' net access, we will pay for it one way or another.
I'd rather it be user pays.

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: Joshua Pitcher: jpitcher@nospam.acacia.itd.uts.edu.au :
: jpitcher@nospam.ftoomsh.socs.uts.edu.au :
: vk2kjd@nospam.vk2xsb.ampr.org :
: PO Box 253 Pymble 2073 :
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P.S. Will this alterating of net charges cost the university more?
(just an afterthought)?