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From: jonl@pro-smof.cts.com (Jon Lebkowsky)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: EFF and Prodigy
Message-ID: <6753@crash.cts.com>
Date: 6 Jan 91 16:56:17 GMT
Sender: root@crash.cts.com
Lines: 19

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

Mike Godwin asks, possibly rhetorically, why Prodigy stresses
telecommunicating in their advertising. Perhaps the best analogy would be the
robust naked women on the covers of Penthouse and Playboy: it's a lure.

Magazines, commercial television networks, etc dangle content before us as a
baited hook. We bite, and swallow the hook with the worm.

Someone else in this conference disdained my criticism of Prodigy as
unwarranted. I believe he said that his kids like to use Prodigy. Well, I
would like to look at this sort of thing critically: those devices that feed
our consumerism make us feel good, but they're rubbing our tummy while they're
picking our pocket. That's a sham. Consumerism may be pervasive in America,
but I hope and I pray that it's not all this country is about, because if it
is, we ain't got much left.

(Incidentally, thanks to Mike and to EFF for taking a stand to protect our
online freedom)