From Free Life, Issue 20, August 1994
ISSN: 0260 5112

Mention the mail to most people, and the image is of a letter falling through a hole in the front door. One thinks of late deliveries, queues in the post office, red vans and perhaps the occasional fear that an official may have steamed something open.

The computer age has ushered in a whole new world - the world of electronic mail, or e-mail. The art of letter writing, for years in decline with the advent of the telephone, has been rejuvenated thanks to phone lines employed to transmit computer messages instead.

E-mail is already well established in the United States, a country which has frequently led the world in the communications field. Perhaps it is because Americans live so far apart in many places that they have such a strong incentive to find new ways to chat with each other.

Anyway, e-mail is also taking off in the UK and the rest of the world at a growing pace. It is a part of the phenomenon known as the Internet, now exploding across the globe. The Internet creates a world-wide web of communication, with news, views, job details and discussion forums on everything from libertarian politics, to gun control and sex.

I have myself just been set up on the British-based Demon Internet (e-mail address: tom@reptile.demon.co.uk) and have access to news and views on a vast range of subjects, including my own interests of sailing, skiing, libertarianism, journalism, objectivism and British politics. Thanks to this sort of service, complete strangers can strike up friendships, exchange valuable information, keep in touch with friends far away, even hold business conferences and seminars on scholarly subjects.

In many ways, e-mail and the Internet phenomenon demonstrate how the world is becoming a "global village", except this is a village where one gets to choose the neighbours. It also provides more competition for what many e-mail users disdainfully but accurately describe as "snail-mail".

Now, why should libertarians be interested in any of this? Well, in my experience, libertarians are people who like to talk a lot. Some live long distances apart and find the snail mail too slow. There are libertarian and other free-market discussion groups using the internet, as well as socialists. Tapping into this vast resource makes a great deal of sense and is a good way of keeping people in touch despite geographical distance.

Finding out about computer networks and getting started on one is still not very easy in Britain, although this is bound to change as computer firms and telephone companies improve their act. British Telecom has been forced to cut prices in response to the growing competitive threat not just of Mercury, but of companies like American-based AT&T. Cheaper phones are bound to prompt new growth in e-mail.

I am sure that the readers of this journal will not dismiss computer network users as "nerds" or twits incapable of dealing with the real world. It is a world of its own and a valuable tool. It also provides people cut off from regular human contact with an invaluable source of friendship.

A number of weighty reference guides have come out in recent years to inform the curious and boost the knowledge of present users. The present work is a massive and exhaustive guide to the internet, although it seems to be heavily weighted towards the American user - which will limit its appeal in Berkshire, I think. There is, for example, no mention of Demon. The trouble with this subject, of course, is that growth is so rapid that any guide, no matter how comprehensive, is bound to be out of date within a relatively short period. Even so, this is a thick book, and it contains hundreds of addresses and references, and assumes only a modest degree of computer literacy.

It is necessary, however, for any potential Internet user - or "netter" - to know a bit about computers, such as basic commands. My personal experience confirms this. I have been using a Dell 386 desktop computer for about six months and it took some while and effort to understand it. Initially the e-mail set-up seemed confusing and it still has areas which appear complete double Dutch to me. But modern network systems are increasingly being geared towards busy people with lives to lead who do not intend to spend half their lives sitting in front of computers. At the same time, the Hahn and Stout book is not like one of those "computers for dummies" books, which assume the reader to have recently undergone a frontal lobotomy.

Although I wear glasses and sit in front of computer screens a lot at work - I am a journalist - I am not a nerd and have no intention of becoming one. I want to use the Internet, send messages to friends and colleagues on e-mail, and exploit this exploding world to the full without having to grow the brain of Albert Einstein. This book is an excellent guide to doing just that.

Author's Note:

As a footnote, readers should be aware of growing attempts by governments around the world to regulate and censor the content of internet services, such as bulletin boards. Recent moral panics about kiddie-porn are a classic case in point. I understand that the present Home Secretary, Michael Howard, is seeking to legislate in this area. (My knowledge may be in error but any comments on this issue would be most welcome)

Editor's Note:

I recently contacted the Home Office to ask what measures are being considered to control the Internet in this country. Beyond those parts of the Criminal Justice Bill reviewed elsewhere in this Journal, nothing is currently proposed. Indeed, the authorities in this country seem still to know nothing about the full subversive potential of the Internet, and have not even heard about encryption software like pgp. Perhaps we should all keep very quiet for the moment about what we are doing and what we want to do.