per@kps.UUCP (Per Ejeklint /EFS) (11/30/88)
Why are people saying that we shall/shall not let soviet people in to 'our' net? I thought that the international computer net was meant to be international! It is not a question of who is connected to whom, but rather how one connects to the international network. If there are local nets with restricted information, they should not be connected to the world. There are evil Swedes and Irishmen too. An international network created to stimulate creativeness by an open communication *must* be open to everyone that fits the targeted group. If not, it may become nothing more than a knitting club with gossip about neighbours as a constant threat against the purposes of the net. > The benefits to both sides in such relations with the Soviet Union are > usually that they benefit more than we do. A USENET feed doesn't seem > to be any different. Yes, this is certainly true regarding electronics and computer science, but not valid in other high tech branches. Space research for example. But still, is it an argument against letting them in? In my opinion it's just a way of hide our secret wishes to possess power. The power that comes from a secret knowledge. History learns us that protectionism and suspiciousness only delays evolution. Societies that has been open to new ideas and other cultures has received more power than others. Power that comes from a better knowledge. 'No my little boy, You can't have any friends. They eat our food more often than You eat theirs.' >I'd like to make friends of people in the Soviet Union, but how do I know >who I can trust? The university student I help just may end up in the GRU >or KGB someday. No thanks. There has been some yelling about KGB getting a good source of information from the net, if the people in Soviet were let in. It's easy to laugh at this for a European like me, but somehow I can't. Can one really believe that 'our' information is such an important key to the modern technology that 'they' must be kept away from? Or can one believe that the world is so simple that we can talk of 'the good superpower' against 'the bad one'? In my country we are prepared to defend ourselves from both superpowers. And CIA as well as KGB are unwanted guests here. And the same kind of arguments could be heard in the Soviet: connecting us to the US-dominated net may open an unwanted channel into our superior science that CIA can use. We all take big risks answering questions on the net. I might help someone that ends up in Pentagon spying on the defence of my country. Or I might give a hint for people writing evil worms and viruses. Or, even worse, I might, just might, provide a TV evangelist with a seducing quote. We have all better just to keep quiet and disconnect our modems. I'm afraid that the spirit of McCarthy still lurks in the mud. --- Open up the world. Let our colleges in Soviet in! --- -- "The choir sang a capella, which means singing without music." ------------ Per Ejeklint Phone: + 8 799 03 18 UUCP: !mcvax!enea!kps!per Kuwait Petroleum Svenska AB KPSNET: per@kps