Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!apple!usc!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!tmkk
From: tmkk@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Scott Coleman)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: Caller ID:  Is comp.dcom.telecom biased?
Message-ID: <1991Jan29.194128.13756@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 29 Jan 91 19:41:28 GMT
References: <15377@milton.u.washington.edu>
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 41

In article <15377@milton.u.washington.edu> cyberoid@milton.u.washington.edu (Robert Jacobson) writes:
>
>Following is a posting from comp.dcom.telecom, the popular newsgroup on
>telecommunications.  The first part is a status report from Atlanta,
>where Southern Bell is forcing customers to accept Caller ID without the
>minimal safeguards of public choice, like per-call blocking.  But it's
>the moderator's addendum that I want you to especially notice:
[...]
>[Moderator's Note: The service rep talking to the 'older gentleman'
>should have called his bluff on the spot:  If I'd been responding to
>him I'd have probably said "Oh, my! Well, Mr. Jones, we'll certainly
>be sorry to lose you as a good subscriber after X years. It has been
>approved and will be available around February 14. Do you want me to
>process the disconnect order on your service for the same day or would
>you want me to have the service turned off sooner?"  (pause, let him
>take it from there ...)   PAT]
>
>Is this person biased, or what?  Would you want the moderators of all
>of the conferences that handle controversial topics popping off like
>this, making those who hold opposing points of view feel foolish?

Although I certainly don't agree with everything Pat has to say (his
stance that BB Systems should pay business rates is one I particularly
agree with), I still think he has the right to an opinion, same as
everyone else. He has the right to express that opinion. The only thing
I would object to is him censoring those who oppose his point of view
(which I have not seen any indications of whatsoever; he published a 
couple notes from me on the BBS + Business Rates issue, and I've seen
him post lots of other stuff which clearly diverged from his stated
opinion). Sure, he's biased - we all are. But so is the editorial page
of the newspaper.

What to do about it, you ask? What do you do about the editor of the
Washington Post or the New York Times? 


-- 
Scott Coleman                                                    tmkk@uiuc.edu

"Unisys has demonstrated the power of two. That's their stock price today."
       - Scott McNealy on the history of mergers in the computer industry.