Xref: utzoo comp.misc:4910 talk.politics.soviet:998
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!rochester!rutgers!att!alberta!pawel
From: pawel@alberta.UUCP (Pawel Gburzynski)
Newsgroups: comp.misc,talk.politics.soviet
Subject: Re: The Russians are coming (to the usenet)
Keywords: Russians, ICC
Message-ID: <439@cadomin.UUCP>
Date: 4 Feb 89 17:27:08 GMT
References: see subjects USSR .... and ICC ... in comp.misc <1405@orion.cf.uci.edu>
Organization: U. of Alberta, Edmonton, AB
Lines: 54

In article <1405@orion.cf.uci.edu>, dlawyer@balboa.eng.uci.edu (David Lawyer) writes:
> I'm told that the (Soviet) ICC (International Computer Club) is
> currently making arrangements to obtain a news feed.  So you may expect
> Russians (and other nationalities from the USSR) to be online in the
> near future.  There are non-Soviet members of the ICC as well as Soviet
> ..............
> It has been alleged that it is against the law in the USSR for an
>             ^^^^^^^
> ordinary citizen to own a computer printer.  I am very sceptical as to
>                                                        ^^^^^^^^^
> the truth of this statement and perhaps when the Russians are on we can
>     ^^^^^                               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> find out about this.  If it is true, we should try to do something
> ^^^^^^^^
> about it.  I infer that many people on the net are not up to date on
> recent events and changes in the USSR and hopefully having them on the
> net will help.
> ............

	What an interesting and simple idea! You will just ask them, they
will respond, and everything will become clear. Where is Steve Goldfield
with his objections about asking native people what is going on in
their country? Now, let us assume that the Russians have made it to the
net. Below is the procedure for sending a mail abroad:

  1. You submit a written application that specifies the destination of
     your mail, the subject, and gives clear motivation why you really  
     have to send it.

  2. You bring a letter from your local Party Committee (or Komsomol)
     supporting your application.

  3. You pass a written test of English.

	A special committee meets two times a month and after careful
examination of the applications decides which of them meet the criteria
of decency. If your application is accepted (which may be quite likely
considering the wave of openness sweeping through the Eastern Block), you
put your message on a special form which now goes to a qualified person
officially responsible for polishing (oops, I'm a Pole) your English.
We are not going to send abroad a mail containing spelling mistakes, are we?
So as a byproduct of this operation, postings comming from the Soviet Union
will be written in a good English.

	So just relax Dave. The quality of their English is going to
impress you and you will certainly learn a lot about their problems with
computer printers (or any other problems, for that matter).


					Pawel Gburzynski

P.S.: I assure you that it actually IS illegal for a private person in the
      Soviet Union to own a computer printer, or a modem, or a photocopier,
      or a (unregistered) typewriter. What would you need a modem for, anyway?