Re: Web Fees

["Priscilla Salant" <psalant@moscow.com>]

I've been reading a new book called "Lexus and the Olive Tree" by the NYT
columnist Tom Friedman.  He writes about the tension between forces driving
gobalization, on one hand, and people's rootedness in culture and community
on the other.  Globalization, he argues, has come about because of the
democratization of technology, information, and finance.  Not withstanding
Bill's recent post on the increasingly unequal distribution of income, I
find Friedman's arguments very convincing.  And more to the point of
Susan's concerns about charges for internet access -- it just *won't*
happen!  No single firm or collection of firms will reverse the powerful
tide towards universal access.  You can't put the brakes on the information
explosion.  Anyway, Friedman's book is well worth a read.

--Priscilla Salant