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From: jonl@pro-smof.cts.com (Jon Lebkowsky)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: EFF and Prodigy
Message-ID: <6506@crash.cts.com>
Date: 24 Dec 90 04:56:04 GMT
Sender: root@crash.cts.com
Lines: 20

In-Reply-To: message from mnemonic@eff.org

The thing I think it's important to remember about Prodigy is that they're not
about telecommunicating, they're about marketing. Prodigy is essentially an
online catalog. The news, weather, and email features are included to attract
users. It's like a magazine that exists to run ads, where the content is not
the reason for its existence.

They pull out the controversial stuff for the same reason a restaurant cook I
worked with a hundred years ago wouldn't let me put pepper in the mashed
potatoes: it might offend somebody with a sensitive palate.

What's good about Prodigy, to me, is that it has defined some of the issues of
telecommunicating that we desperately need to discuss before we go much
further...and these issues touch some pretty heavy political issues...how we
should run our 'democracy,' if that's what it is, and how that fits with the
impact of 21st century electronic media.

The decisions we make now will shape our future 'way beyond the mere issue of
whether email will be censored or whether databases will be regulated.