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IP: Freedom, Economics and the Internet
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2000 17:04:38 -0500
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2000 10:56:25 -0800 To: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu> From: Bert Shaw <bshaw () catsco com> The New York Times OpEd today features a piece by Robert Wright about freedom and the Internet. An interesting anology between printing and the attempted suppression of books and ecomomic advances and freedom. WASHINGTON, DC. At the end of the 20th century, American foreign policy acquired a new premise: history is on the side of freedom as never before. The basic idea is that economic and political liberty -- which always had a fairly close relationship -- are now, suddenly, joined at the hip. What joined them is information technology. As President Clinton said in 1998, justifying his policy of economic engagement with China: "In this global information age, when economic success is built on ideas, personal freedom is essential to the greatness of any modern nation." Or, to put the argument in less gauzy terms: These days, for markets to work well, microcomputers and modems must cover the economic landscape. As a side effect, state control of information is eroded and citizens are empowered. So governments that want prosperity must sooner or later tolerate political freedom. <snip> Regards, Bert W. Shaw, M.A. CATSco, Inc. Developers and publishers of HELP-Software(TM) 1531 Chapala Street, Suite 4, Santa Barbara, CA 93101 Voice: 805-963-3206 FAX 805-965-7426 Internet: www.catsco.com
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