Tuesday, February 6, 1996 Page 4
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
J. Christopher Haiti
Doug Kouma.
Doug Peters.
Sarah Scalet.
Matt Waite.
Michelle Garner...
Jennifer Mapes....
.Editor, 472-1766
_Managing Editor
,. Opinion Page Editor
Associate News Editor
Associate News Editor
.. Wire Editor
.Columnist
f
Bret Gottschall/DN
Free for all
Bill to shake up phone, cable services
Let the games begin.
A promising shake-up of services is on the way for telephone,
cable and long-distance customers.
The changes should mean lower rates for phone and television
services.
But there’s more to this transformation than meets the eye.
A telecommunications bill a decade in the making is awaiting
final approval from President Clinton, and he has said he will sign
it.
The bill would create a free-for-all among telecommunications
providers.
Essentially, it means that customers will have a choice between
phone and cable providers.
Phone companies may soon be offering cable television service
and cable companies may soon offer phone service. And both will
probably offer Internet access.
“We have broken up two of the biggest government monopolies
left; the monopolies in local telephone service and in cable televi
sion,” said the bill’s primary author in the House, Rep. Thomas
Bliley Jr., R-Va„ the chairman of the Commerce Committee.
But squished somewhere in the middle of the bill are provisions
for Internet regulations — the beginning of governmental control
over the now-unregulated frontier.
Specifically, the bill outlaws the transmission of sexually explicit
and other indecent materials to minors under 18 over computer net
works.
And there are questions about whether or not the bill bans dis
cussion of abortion on the Internet.
Congress approved the bill last week, and the Internet regula
tions apparently were not a hotly debated issue.
And that’s too bad.
This bill does many good things. It creates competition where
there has been little or none.
It requires television makers to install a computer chip in new
sets to let parents block shows labeled violent or sexually explicit.
For the most part, this bill paints a bright future for the commu
nications industry by offering the consumer more on-ramps to the
information superhighway.
But unfortunately, it also raises questions about the future of the
Internet and how much government will be able to restrict users’
freedom.
Editorial policy
Staff editorials represent the official
policy of the Spring 1996 Daily Ne
braskan. Policy is set by the Daily
Nebraskan Editorial Board. Editorials
do not necessarily reflect the views of
the imiversity, its employees, the stu
dents or the NU Board of Regents.
Editorial columns represent the opin
ion of the author. The regents publish
the Daily Nebraskan. They establish
the UNL Publications Board to super
vise the daily production of the paper.
According to policy set by the regents,
responsibility for die editorial content
of the newspaper lies solely in the
hands of its students.
Letter policy
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the
editor from all readers and interested others. Letters
will be selected for publication on the basis of clarity,
originality, timeliness and space available. The Daily
Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject all material
submitted. Readers also are welcome to submit mate
rial as guest opinions. The editor decides whether
material should ran as a guest opinion. Letters and
guest opinions sent to the newspaper become the
property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be re
turned. Anonymous submissions will not be pub
lished. Letters should include the author’s name, year
in school, major and group affiliation, if any. Re
quests to withhold names will not be granted. Submit
material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union,
1400 R St. Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Party on
I am writing to praise Bob Ray
for his excellent article about the
administration’s stand on campus
partying. It is about time someone
spoke out against the administration
and its attempt to destroy the greek
system. I am a member of a frater
nity, and have seen the type of
treatment we’ve received from the
so-called Community Service
Officers. I joined a fraternity to
leam about brotherhood, make new
friends and to have a good time. I
discovered that living in a fraternity
means allowing a toy cop to listen ai
my door for female voices after 2
ajn., search through my garbage for
beer cans and shine a flashlight
through my window any time of the
night.
If students want to drink and
party, they will find a place to do it.
Like Bob said, the administration is
forcing students to party off of
campus property. All that does is
increase the number of drunken
students driving home from parties.
Sometime in the future, a UNL
student will be hurt or die in an
accident because of drunken
driving. It is terrible to think that
someone will have to be hurt just so
a minimum wage Community
Service Officer can violate the
constitutional rights of UNL
students.
Ben Yelkin
freshman
biological sciences
Renters of the
world, unite!
A pox of corporate proportions is
spreading its infection across the
city of Lincoln. With the buyout of
the Video Station, Blockbuster
Video has increased the number of
corporate rip-off establishments by
five.
Why do you rent from them? Is it
because you have a major credit
card and are able to get a member
ship? Is it because you like being
told that you have three days to
return the video, when in most cases
this is not true? Is it because you
like renting a movie for three dollars
plus tax regardless of how long it
takes you to watch the movie?
If you rent a movie on Friday at
seven or eight in the evening, they
tell you that you have three days to
return them, but on the exit door it
says “Movies due back by midnight
Sunday.” Is this three days? No, of
course not. Three days is 72 hours,
the time span cited above is only 52
hours. Late fees also are applied
with the same kind of thinking. You
might only be a few hours late, but
you are charged as if you had rented
it for “three” more days.
Would you rather be greeted by
name when you walk in to rent
movies? Would you like to have
help offered to you if needed,
instead of having to wait in line to
be helped, only to wait in line again
when the choice is made? Would
you like to be able to rent movies of
a sexual nature with your significant
other? If you said yes to any of the
above questions, walk into the Blue
Giant, throw your card in their trash,
and head to one of the locally
owned and run mom and pop stores.
James L. Chase
sophomore
physics
UNL talent
unrecognized
I am a freshman Scarlet and
Cream member and music minor at
UNL.
It often has been my concern that
the Daily Nebraskan neglects what
is going on at the music college.
Every weekend, and often during
Bret Gottschall/DN
the week there are various kinds of
performances in Kimball Recital
Hall or Westbrook Music Building.
It really angers me that all the time,
heart and talent that is abundant in
the music college is never recog
nized by the DN. You have to give
the fine arts department some credit
— the practice rooms are filled and
the talent is there, so let it be
recognized! They deserve the credit!
Jenni Novak
freshman
social science
Hurry up and wait
I’m writing in regards to UNL’s
growing numbers of Internet
accounts. Since the start of the
semester, it has become increasingly
difficult to log onto UNL’s modems.
The university needs to add several
modems to enable students to access
their accounts. Currently during
evening hours it takes dozens of
attempts before you get anything but
a busy signal. I’ve been using my
Internet account extensively for
more than two years now and have
never run into this much difficulty.
It’s great that the university offers
free access now with bigred, but
they need to back it up with more
modems, now that so many students
use the service.
Chad Kudym
junior
geography
