Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ukma!uflorida!novavax!proxftl!twwells!bill
From: bill@twwells.uucp (T. William Wells)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: I'm pro Russian
Summary: I'm anti Soviet, but....
Keywords: Soviet, UUCP network
Message-ID: <208@twwells.uucp>
Date: 26 Nov 88 09:03:55 GMT
References: <192@s1.sys.uea.ac.uk> <2326@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Reply-To: bill@twwells.UUCP (T. William Wells)
Organization: None, Ft. Lauderdale
Lines: 62

In article <2326@cbnews.ATT.COM> lvc@cbnews.ATT.COM (Lawrence V. Cipriani) writes:
: but I'm anti Soviet!

That makes at least two of us!

: So who exactly is going to be reading USENET in the Soviet Union.  Joe
: Dissident?  Or a member in good standing of the Communist Party?  Who
: do you think is allowed to have a ham radio in the Soviet Union?  Only
: someone who is ideologically correct, that's who.

A minor problem with this: member of the party doesn't necessarily
mean ideologically correct. It only means someone who hasn't been
caught out at being not ideologically correct.

And ideologically correct doesn't mean hopelessly corrupt, either.
Not, mind you, that I am defending party liners, just noting that
even they may be capable of independent thought.

: Still, the exchange from a USENET feed to the SU would be an interesting
: experiment.  I'm sure they would like to participate in discussions with
: immigrants (i.e. escapees) from the SU in talk.politics.soviet.
:
: Why make it easier for Soviets to have access to technical information
: or assistance?  How will a USENET connection enhance freedom in the SU?
: I'm not being facecious, these questions deserve some attention.

Well, here's my reasoning. Consider that if the USSR wants to connect
to USENET, it is a small matter for them to set up an agent and a
machine. So, if USENET is of any importance to them, they have
already set up such a machine.

In any case, the savings they would obtain through this is certainly
small. It is the difference between setting up an agent and a machine
outside the USSR and inside the USSR. Certainly not a lot of money.

This is balanced against the fact that *any* information sent into
the USSR is destabilizing. One of the things holding the empire
together is its tight control of information.

Consider the effect on some Soviet scientist of say, my casual
discussion of the '386 machine *that I own and have complete freedom
to use*. I can sense the drools already. :-)

Consider the comparison that any intelligent mind will make between
the censorship that is routine in the USSR vs. the anarchic nature of
the USENET.

Consider having repeatedly rubbed in one's face the fact that one's
country, through its own folly, is somewhere between five and ten
years behind, technologically.

Consider the possible countering of Soviet propaganda.

---

All of this depends on the USSR's not censoring the USENET feed.
Might I suggest that the feed ought to be made contingent on the lack
of censorship?

---
Bill
{uunet|novavax}!proxftl!twwells!bill